#back2aceh Day 1 & 2

After a year and a half away from Aceh, I arrived in Banda Aceh on Tuesday afternoon for a reunion tour to visit old friends.  At 8PM I hopped into a chartered car with only one other passenger for a night ride down the west coast to Blang Pidie.  The seven hour odyssey was anything but familiar and nostalgic!  In an overtired punchy mood, I tweeted some of the journey details, using the hash tag #back2aceh.  The tweets require some facility with abbreviated Bahasa Indonesia:

Telah mendarat dgn selamat di bandara Sultan Iskandar Muda, Banda Aceh. #back2aceh #reuniontour—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

The west corridor (Jl.Soekarno-Hatta) of Banda Aceh looks great! Clean & busy but not macet. I'll see the rest of Banda next week #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Even better, the new west coast road is wonderful! On the way to Blang Pidie for a few days; just cruised past Lamno. #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

The driver's lament: dulu wkt sering main prmpn murah rejeki, bnyk penumpang; skrng sdh tobat tp penumpang gak ada lagi #ohnasib #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

I told him: "masa bertobat, masa percobaan mngkn blm selesai." He said: "mngkn sy harus sembayang jg." #nasiblagudangdutalarhoma #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

The other passenger agreed: "if u were cheating on your wife for 5yrs your penance will last at least as long, walau sdh tobat" #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Along a winding hillside, acara curhat suddenly stopped when we heard the unmistakable sound of a single gunshot in the woods. #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Driver stepped on the gas, doubled our speed, and that's how we ended up cruising through Lamno instead of stopping for dinner. #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Driver: better to stay hungry and wait until Meulaboh to eat, we would draw attention to ourselves in lil Lamno w a bule in tow. #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

I said this was my 1st time on the new road, the other passenger said: "don't go to sleep! it's amazing it's beautiful!" #itsdark #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Is it a stretch to argue that my taxe$ to USAID that built the road helped us all dodge a bullet tonite? #SleeplessInMeulaboh #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

Should someone tell Kapolda or WH about the all male Asian-techno rave we just drove by in bumblefuck NaganRaya? #BecauseIWont #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 03, 2012

The next day in Blang Pidie:

These are not soft drinks. #BlangPidie #breakfast #miekocok #back2aceh http://t.co/I5r34PFt—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 04, 2012

Adri's sister laughs at the oleh2 (castenggels) I brought her from Bandung: "kue keju itu buat orang kota" #tetaplaku #BlangPidie #back2aceh—
Jesse Grayman (@kopyor) January 04, 2012

Each tweet has a complete back story of its own… but I’ll leave them as is for now and perhaps elaborate some details later on.

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