The tale you are about to read will show, contrary to popular opinion, that a fool and his money are not so easily parted. This parable, though set in the small coastal town of Singkil in the strictly Islamic state of Aceh, northern Sumatra, could just as easily have occurred in any Asian country, but it didn't. You see, what you are about to read is no modern travellers fable, nor is it the invention of a wide eyed journeyer seeking to aggrandise a country he loves: no, this tale is nothing but the unadorned and embarrassingly unexpurgated truth. Ladies and gentleman, the eponymous fool of this tale is, as I'm sure my close friends and family have already assumed, none other than myself. The money was both mine and Anny's, my wholly innocent and long
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