Through the university town of Darussalam and on to the airport...

Now we could go to the final day of my recent visit to Aceh. Monday 22nd June 2009, after checking out of the hotel and then spending some time with Kak Ann at her office in town its time to leave Banda Aceh for the airport...

The time then was already past 11 am if I remember correctly. While normally we should have been at the airport much earlier as our flight was scheduled to depart soon before noon, Kak Ann who frequently travel overseas especially Banda Aceh to Kuala Lumpur and back assured us that we could check-in late. Actually she sent her staff to do all the hard work while we continued conversing at her office. It was sometime and many times after her worried staff reminded us of the time that we finally made the move to the airport.

Oh. Remember this portion of the Aceh river? This time we took a bridge that is a few kilometres south of the one we crossed on Saturday as shown in the article To Lamuri and the fortress of Indrapatra... .

We took this bridge as it leads to the main road passing through the university town or rather suburb area of Darussalam...

Now, I don't know what Kopelma stands for but I do know Darussalam is a combination of Arab words meaning "abode of peace". For the record Aceh is also known as Aceh Darussalam since ancient times. The town of Darussalam refers to a university centre of commerce and activity which is situated a few kilometres south-east of Banda Aceh or so...

OK. Here I could see the campus of Syiah Kuala University also known as UnSyiah. Named after the venerable 17th century saintly person Sheikh Abdul Rauf Singkel who is also known as Syiah Kuala (look at the article Views around the tomb of Syiah Kuala... ) it is considered one of the main higher institution of learning in Aceh if not the foremost one.

The feel of a student town or suburb is very apparent here with many seen riding motorcycles around...






Now, I can't remember what university or institution this is...







But I understand there's a number of higher learning institutions at Darussalam.

Here it looks like the students are enjoying the sun. I understand that they've just finished having exams...






Here is part of the campus of a university named after another famous person 17th century AD Aceh. But knowing his history as rival to many Sufi masters and a bitter one at that too, I must say I am not amused to repeat his name...










We soon entered into a small rural road...

Rice or padi fields began to fill the view...

In the background looms the monumental mountain called Seulawah...

I'm going to miss this sight... of villagers men and women tending the padi fields using the old traditional way, sights which I remember could still be seen in parts of Malaysia up to the late 1970s before it practically disappeared in the name of modernisation and development...

We soon entered the main highway which connect the airport to Banda Aceh. While the newly-built highway leads all the way to the south-eastern fringe of the city, we rather use the small roads for shortcut and the rural views...

This monument which I have no idea stands for what signals that we are getting very near...

And here we are at the Bandara (Indonesian for aiport) Sultan Iskandar Muda named after the venerable 17th century Aceh ruler. Its time to check-in and leave Aceh taking all the fond memories with us away...