Exploring Aceh (4) – From Hero to Zero

When I was in kindergarten, I always sang ‘Dari Sabang sampe Meroke.. berjajar pulau-pulau’ (From Sabang until Meroke, there are a lot of islands..). That song taught us that Indonesia has so many islands, and you could count it from Sabang (the beginning point) until Meroke (the ending point).

When I had a chance to go to Aceh, I swore to myself to visit Pulau Weh (the island of Weh) too. Well, in that island lies the city of Sabang (as mentioned by the song above), and from such Island, the beginning point of Indonesian area was counted. Pulau Weh is not far from Aceh (Aceh was situated in the land of Sumatra, and the other hand, Pulau Weh is a separated island from Sumatra, but under the authority of Aceh’s government).

It took 45 minutes from Aceh to go to Pulau Weh by machine boat, across the sea, and when I landed on Pulau Weh, we took a car to visit.. zero km! Yeah, I thought, I really don’t know what will happen next to my life, so should there be any chance for me to conquer something, at least I had to make it!

When I saw the hiker who wanted to conquer the mountain (for example, the Himalaya), they faced a lot of danger just to do that. And, I always said, “That crazy persons, what the hell do they think to have many very risky situation just to conquer the mountain?! Don’t they have anything else to do? Shopping in exclusive malls for example?”

As soon as I landed on Pulau Weh, I felt the same sensation like the hiker.. to conquer the zero KM! Some kind of curse for me, but unlike the hiker.. of course an aristocrat boy like me should have a car with full of AC to conquer that.. hehehehe..

It took about 50 km from the harbor of Pulau Weh to get the zero km area. I could say that Pulau Weh is very wonderful in the terms of panorama. It was very natural and the beach is beautiful, naturally. The mountains lie here, there and everywhere, and bring a nice warm feeling to us. 10 km from the Zero KM area, I saw forests in the left and right side of the road..

When we crossed such road, the driver said, “Sir, it is safe here. You don’t have to be afraid that some bad peoples will harm you..” Then I look the forest around us while asked, “Engg.. are there any wild animals around here?” And the driver answered, “Sure, some kind like Python (the big snake), Biawak (big lizard) and tiger..” I looked straightly to the driver, “Then, YOU WANNA SAY THAT I SHOULD BE MORE COMFORTABLE TO BE LEFT HERE WITH THEM COMPARE TO THE BAD PEOPLES?” He just laughed along the way by hearing my question..

At last, after 1 hour journey, we landed on the area of Zero KM! This is the point when Indonesia counts its area. I took some pictures (you could see in the folder of ‘From Hero to Zero’) here. There was nothing special to be seen, but at last, like the hiker, you could say the whole world, “Well! I made it here!”

After the Zero KM, the beginning in Indonesia, I just wish that someday I’ll have a chance to visit the ending of Indonesia in Meroke.. of course.. by business trip only, of course..

Since, should there be any money that I have to spend for the trip, I’ll choose New York instead of Meroke.. without any hesitation.. hehehehe..