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Published: August 10th 2010
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I'm starting to learn that bus terminals in Medan are not actual terminals, but rather one man standing on the side of the road with a book of tickets. The minibus dropped me off here, in front of this man who didn't speak a lick of English. I managed to make myself understood, at least in terms of my need for an overnight bus to Banda Aceh. Though he took this to mean that I was somehow able to understand Bahasa Indonesia because he continued to ramble on leaving me no choice but to smile and nod politely, and hope he wasn't putting some kind of evil hex on me, or asking something equally unpleasant like if I'd had any diarrhea yet. The Indonesians here are full of questions and nothing is too personal for them to ask. Thankfully most of them are satisfied after "Where from you come?"
Bahasa Indonesia, so they say, is a fairly simple language to learn at least in terms of ease of communication. In the spoken form, there are no verb conjugations or gender distinctions, pluralization is noted by repeating the same word twice and tense is indicated with temporal words like 'yesterday.' (So
maybe my "me bus night-time Banda Aceh" wasn't so far off...) In a country as populated as Indonesia (it ranks 4th world wide, just behind the US with a whopping 240 million people), and one as regionally diverse - we're talking upwards of 300 native languages, it was necessary to unite the country under one official language when it gained it's independence in 1945. And while it is widely used, unsurprisingly, only a very small percentage know it as their mother tongue.
The bus arrived shortly and after flagging it down, my pack was thrown in the luggage compartment and I onto the bus. Instantly I had about 20 pairs of eyes on me, studying everything from the length of my eyelashes to the colour of my flipflops. I felt a little like one of those poor caged orangutans, until I remembered I wasn't behind bars and could walk to a seat. As I settled in for the long ride, I noticed I was the only traveller on board, hence the intense curiosity. Aceh is a province that doesn't see much tourism these days.
About an hour into the ride, we made a stop that turned into a
full-blown break-down. I'm not sure if it had to do with the engine, or the AC that started to spark, or the heavy smell of exhaust fumes inside the bus, but the driver decided to call it quits and out we went to sit by the side of a gas station for two hours while we waited for bus number 2. Annoying as this was, it gave the locals plenty of time to ask me all the questions they wanted, and as a result, I happened to meet a lovely woman on her way to visit her in-laws. She told me about her life in Medan and how difficult it has been to find work. She and her husband are forced to live in two separate cities based on where their jobs are located. She works 7 days a week in order to send some money home to her aging parents. And here I am travelling around, simply because I can. It was a real reminder of how unequal opportunity can be, and how priorities differ as a result.
Fourteen freezing hours later (Indonesian bus drivers take note: when you need to use two fleece blankets, the AC is
on too high!), we pulled into the bus terminal in Banda Aceh. A line of taxi and becak drivers awaited us, scanning the windows for potential passengers. As soon as they saw my weary face, they're eyes lit up as if they had struck gold. Tourist means big money! And as the only foreign sap around, I caught a very overpriced taxi directly to the ferry port and hopped on that ferry two hours later.
Shortly after, I arrived at the glorious Gapang Beach on the island of Pulau Weh. A narrow strip of bright white sand, set amid turquoise waters and a jungle backdrop, the beach had a very low-key feel with local families lazing about their cafes, and a group of fraternizing goats and cows wandering up the path. Along with the handful of cafes was the dive centre, Lumba Lumba - or to many a diver here, Mecca. The waters were said to be teeming with bright and colourful fish, sea turtles, rays and even sharks! And so within minutes, I checked myself into a room and signed myself up for PADI's open water course. Let the underwater adventures begin!
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