Rural Perlak, the seat of a powerful ancient Islamic kingdom!

Continued from Thursday morning trip from Langsa to Perlak and reminiscing what goes on before...

OK. So we are in Perlak. It's time to head to a nearby rural area...

The area we want to go to is some 7 km away inland from the town of Perlak...


On the way there are plenty of padi or rice fields...

The village scene look rather backwards. One could find very few houses with any sort of modern roofing and even then its only zinc roof...



Almost all the houses we saw en-route use the old traditional roof which one could hardly find in Malaysia anymore... except in traditional jungle huts intentionally made that way or those belonging to the indigenious jungle folks the Orang Asli or the local aborigines...




So far I have traversed some 500 km across many area in Aceh and none seemed as backwards as these rural areas not so far away from the town of Perlak.





But believe it or not, here lies the seat of a once powerful ancient Islamic kingdom, the Sultanate of Perlak. For the record, the Sultanate which is officially recorded as having been established in the year 840 AD and lasted more than 400 years independently was a centre for propagating Islam to the whole Malay archipelago. The reason we wanted to go to these parts is because here lies to tomb of the first Sultan of Perlak, Sultan Sayyid Maulana Abdul Aziz Shah. I will touch more on this in my other blogspots CATATAN SI MERAH SILU and SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) . Feel free to have a look at these blogspots later...






This is a view of the nearby padi fields from the compounds of the tomb complex...






After sometime paying respect at the tomb, it's time to leave...







The route we took to get out basically encircles these padi fields. The road is very small and tight so traffic by car is practically one way...

Soon we're back in front of the rural houses we've seen before...

Then we're back to the town of Perlak. The journey continues only to be told another day... take care! :]

Thursday morning trip from Langsa to Perlak and reminiscing what goes on before...

After a week's hiatus, let us continue the Aceh stories. Continuing from the last article, From Pidie on to Bireuen...

Here is a picture of the main mosque of Langsa, a city some 220 km or so south-east of Bireuen taken Thursday morning, 18th June 2009. So how did we end up here? While I have made connecting stories in my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU, there is a big gap in the storytelling here. So let me fill in the blanks as I show pictures en-route from Langsa to Perlak ya.

Here's a picture as we left Langsa to head back north-west towards Perlak. What happened was on the previous night, Wednesday night that is, we arrived in Birueuen and visited two traditional religious schools...

We spent quite sometime at the traditional schools and by the time we're done, its almost or already midnight...


Our original intention was to visit the tomb of the venerable ancient ruler Sultan Malikus Salih at Geudong some 15 km from Lhokseumawe. While Lhokseumawe is about 60 km south-east of Bireuen, maybe slightly more road and traffic condition made it equivalent to almost 2 hours of driving...



Thus we reached the city of Lhokseumawe sometime around 2 am. As it was already very late, we decided to find a place to sleep first before visiting the tomb during daytime.




Instead we found the hotels fully booked. The next city with hotels is Langsa some 160 km further south-east.





Thus we decided to head for Langsa and reached the city at 4 am or so. Luckily there's a hotel available...




Come daytime, Thursday morning, it's time to head for the intended tomb of Sultan Malikus Salih.







As the route from Langsa will pass the small town of Perlak where the tomb of another venerable ancient ruler is just around, we decided to go there first.






Unlike the trip from Banda Aceh the previous day, this time me and wife took the Innova and followed the Landcruiser...

In fact we started taking the Innova the previous night from Bireuen to Lhoksuemawe and on to Langsa because the driver of the car asked us to join his car. I obliged because it was he who has driven us around Banda Aceh the previous few days using the same vehicle.

While my wife who was then 6-months pregnant was more comfortable with the more luxurious Landcruiser, I said why not take the Innova just for the sake of the driver who has become comfortable with us.

While we could be snobbish with the driver and the rest of the workers if we wanted to, after all, we are friends with Kak Ann who owned their travel and tours company and many other companies here and overseas, not with the workers, I always try to maintain good relationship with people from all walks of life just for the sake of humanity and kindness. Until they cross the lines of decency that is and forgot their place as had happened many times when we allow ourselves to be chummy with people from lower walks of life... not to sound snobbish but it is a reality that necessitates the existence of social classes. After all, I can bet that the many of the same poor people you give face and pity because of their less fortunate material conditions would change overnight and become monsters the minute they become rich and have power.

Anyway, we have reached Perlak here. I shall continue the story-telling another day in my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU , then show some rural views in and around Perlak here ya. Good night! :]