Blang Padang, Banda Aceh
Let's go to the westernmost city of Indonesia, Banda Aceh. Why? Nothing much, just for some change in the usual scenery we keep seeing in my stories. I was in the area the past few days. I think there are some things, that may be 'relatable' (or worth a second look), to some of you my Dear Pinoy Travelers!
Similar to many parts of our country, Banda Aceh has long wide stretches of fine white sand beaches that attract tourists. It is also a 'surfing capital - though many remember it as 'ground zero' of the 2004 Boxing Day Earthquake & Tsunami that killed an estimated 228,000 people in 14 separate countries.
I was not able to roam around as much as I would have wanted, because I was either in meetings or it was raining heavily. But I saw a number of monuments and/or memorials related to that devastation.
In the middle of the city, just across my hotel is a popular place called Lapangan Blang Padang. It is a park (Luneta kumbaga sa atin). Syempre, after the tsunami, they've erected many things such as this:
Inisip ko na lang "ah baka according to the amount of contribution ang qualification ng pag-appear ng watawat, kaya wala ang sa amin dyan". But come to think of it, as a visitor you may just keep it secret, yet you will feel sincerely hurt inside, standing there, not seeing even a silhouette of your nation's flag.
I don't know how to describe the feeling, but it's not a good one to keep in one's chest - masakit sya na klase ng pakiramdam. The monuments and artworks say nothing but Thank You. Indirectly though, it's like a measure of which "friends" helped Indonesia, during their time of need. And we're not in that list.
All the more that it hurts, because it's not as if it is only once. It is everywhere anyone looks!
Actually, at first I thought it really is nothing... but as I kept roaming the expanse of the park, masakit!
Parang ganoon ang arrive... And it does not end there, mind you - as we will see later.
Anyway, those epitaphs or whatever they are called are like fruit slices (Durian) and the concrete is big as a person, so they're clearly seen. I even had to step backwards just to get the shots I needed. They are scattered all over the park, people even walk to read all of them. That is how I knew walang Pinas! There are 80 of those markers (representing 80 countries that helped), spread over an 8-hectare field.
Ganun kalawak ang ginalugad ko, to ascertain na wala talaga ang watawat natin!
By the way, while Blang Padang is a park, it also has many kinds of sports facilities around it. Yes, you could also say this is a sports field. Oh I just remembered The Padang in Singapore. Parang ganun 'to.
For tose not familiar, this park has been so, even way back in the early 1900s. So, before the tsunami, this was already their public park, and there were already interesting things in this place, like this one:
It is a DC-3 Dakota Type aircraft which had its heydays as transport plane in the 1930s to 50s.
Now for those curious, Banda Aceh (although I like to remember it as a place with so many long white sandy beaches and tropical little islands), is in one of the poorest provinces of Indonesia, Aceh. Being so, even before the 2004 tsunami, it has been known (notorious) for being a "renegade province" with insurgency as an issue, rebels being supported by an outside country. Parang ARMM kung sa atin pa.
In fact, in my opiniion, the matter of insurgency and rebellion was mostly silenced by the tsunami. Da!
Anyway, I'll try to feature omore topics about this place na parang sa atin (yun madaaanan ko lang).
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