Word: banda
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...write off Aceh yet. Thanks largely to four weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur operated by the budget carrier AirAsia, tourists are trickling into Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, and for good reason. The city itself is leafy and slow-paced, while Acehnese people are proud, hospitable and keen to make up for years of isolation. Drive out along the west coast and you'll find white-sand bays studded with jungle-clad islands, beaches where 900-kg turtles lay their eggs, and forests where tigers prowl and gibbons peer down from the trees...
...does one reconcile Shari'a law with the freewheeling demands of modern tourists? One answer, say tourist officials, is to emphasize faith rather than fundamentalism. Acehnese are famously devout - their province is often called the "Veranda of Mecca." Banda Aceh's tallest building is one of the minarets of the black-domed Grand Mosque, and the city still moves to the rhythms of five daily prayers. A campaign is now under way to promote it as "Indonesia's Islamic tourism city...
...might work, although Banda Aceh's tragic history remains more of a draw. Unlike Phuket, where the tsunami also struck, Aceh is not simply repairing a tourism infrastructure. It is building one from scratch and tsunami tours are proving popular - particularly in the domestic market. A fifth of Banda Aceh's population was wiped out on Dec. 26, 2004. Today, any trip to the city is incomplete without a visit to a ship heaved a mile inland and stranded amid the houses. On its top deck I meet Tisul Himat, 43, a trader from an island on Aceh's west...
...most foreigners, however, Aceh's main attraction is its stunning natural heritage, starting with beaches like Lampuuk. Just outside Banda Aceh, it has a bay with golden sand and crystal waters. Weh Island, a short ferry ride away, ranks among the region's best dive spots. While skimpy swimwear is definitely out, alcohol is sold - discreetly - to non-Muslim guests at a few beach resorts and Banda Aceh hotels. A bigger problem, admits one tourism official, is the cannabis that grows in abundance in Aceh's hills and unerringly finds its way to beaches where foreign surfers congregate...
...raping a local 20-year-old student in their custody, prompting calls from rights activists for the force's disbandment. Even so, for most regional and long-haul tourists, Shari'a and its enforcers are not the barrier. Rather, it is a lack of even half-decent hotels outside Banda Aceh, and Jakarta's apparent reluctance to grant immigration officials in this once independence-minded province the right to issue visas on arrival, as Bali has done for many years. Solve such problems, and Aceh might one day attract visitors in the numbers it deserves...