Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport...Pride Of Aceh
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2012
1
24
25
Trip End
Mar 26, 2012
Where I stayed
Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
Sunday, March 25, 2012
I was told that the airport was rebuilt from the tsunami donation funds that came into the state after the devastation. Come to really think about it, after truly going through most of the places here in Aceh, I feel that the tsunami had truly brought in more good than bad to the state.
For example, this event had brought about the lay down of guns by the Freedom Fighters and peace has settled in the state after 20 plus years, they have had their own elections and proper governing had been put into place, the entire city rebuilt and many more ....of course at the cost of many lives.
Well, coming back to this airport, the entire architecture is very similar to that of the Brunei Airport. The check in process was super smooth and within moments, we were at the waiting lounge. As we had lots of time, we decided to sit down at a coffee shop inside the waiting area.
Indonesia is quite weird in that sense. One can smoke in most of the coffee shops inside the airports and not only in the designated smoking rooms. Smoking, from my observation, is like a national culture here and of course, clove cigarettes are the most famous.
You can also see form one of the pictures here that even the stall operator is smoking inside the airport. As time drew closer to boarding time, we headed past through the final immigration gates into the waiting room.
The flight was punctual. In a short while, the boarding announcement came. There is one thing that I observed here. Most of the people on board the flight were patients. It is only then I realized that most of these travelers were patients coming to Malaysia to get treatments from the private hospitals here in Malaysia. Even the airport was filled with advertisements from Malaysian hospitals.
Well, that much for the trip from Aceh this time. As for now, the trip was good and I am just waiting to set foot again back in Malaysia and return to my work schedule again.
Comments
The airport is definitely lavish in design....
True Jay, very true.