Day 306: The Day the Time Stood Still

Banda Aceh, Indonesia

I “woke up” to a windy morning by the beach. Sleeping propped up in between two chairs wasn’t fun. Erin and I were the first to venture out to take pictures before rain forced us to take shelter back in the bungalow again.

When Judy, Jerry and Merry finally awoke, we took a walk by the beach. The waves were roaring high and the wind sent sand into our eyes. Yet, that didn’t stop Judy from wanting to take a dip in the sea. For a minute, we saw him having fun crashing into the waves but next thing we knew, he’s drifting further and further into the cliff wall. With the wind, high tide and restless waves, Judy was unable to fight his way back to the shore. The waves pushed him into the cliff rocks. The several attempts that he made in the water proved to be useless and only jeopardized his safety as he kept being sent pounding into the rocks. Judy decided to climb up the rocks and waited for us to call for help. Meanwhile, the four of us thought we could either swim with fins on to get to him bringing him an extra pair to put on, or to throw a body board with ropes on to him and pull him back. None of these worked due to the waves and wind. At last, a few local guys arrived and one of them climbed the tricky cliff all the way out to Judy. Convinced that there’s no other way around and that the tide were getting higher, Judy finally followed the guy climbing his way back to safety. I had to give him two thumbs up for that. It wasn’t an easy feat. Judy performed some serious legs spreading and back arching for that. I stopped taking photo in the end, though every molecule in me wanted to snap away but it seemed a bit unethical during that time of uncertainty

Having almost lost our good friend Judy to the wild nature, we were glad to spend the rest of the afternoon doing safer activities for us city folks like taking pictures of cats, visiting museums, snacking at street food vendors and sipping coffee. Coffee drinking is a way of life in Aceh. It’s deep in their culture. In Banda Aceh, one is able to find streets flanked on both sides with coffee shops filled with locals. I believe it’s because of the lack of things to do in town. There’s no cinemas in Banda Aceh as it’s not in line with Muslim’s teaching. But interestingly enough, supposedly, Aceh’s coffee and cuisines all contain ganja. Although a part of Indonesia, Aceh sort of run with its own set of rules, may based on the Islamic ideals. Whipping is normal punishment in Aceh.

Click this photo below for some animated fun :]

Anyhow, Aceh’s coffee is really sweet and tasty. As for its supposed ganja content, I didn’t really taste and feel its effect. I was, however, delighted to have tried Aceh’s raw egg coffee. It’s an ingenious idea! Why not have breakfast in your coffee. Kill two birds with one stone. Eh? Eh? Eh?