 |
| Looked like the same ship I road last year - maybe it was :) |
Last year I joined my friend and his family in the city of Medan, North Sumatra for Idul Firtri following Ramahdan, the month of fasting. Knowing I only had a few months left in Indonesia, I took the chance to join them again when they invited me to return for this year's celebration! Riding the overcrowded ship was not as shocking this year, but brought more opportunities to visit with other Indonesians traveling home to celebrate with their families.
 |
| This was my view for the majority of the trip. I slept on the deck where I could have more fresh air and stretch out my legs a little more at night. |
 |
| Getting off at the port in Medan! |
 |
| Food! Following the end of the fast there's lots of eating, which means lots of cooking! (R) My friend's mother prepares rendang (beef simmered in coconut milk), a traditional dish - maybe like turkey at Thanksgiving. (Above) My friend's grandmother cleans up a few fresh chickens that we'll eat sometime during the week. |
 |
| It happened to be one of the cousin's birthday, so she treated us to a delicious meal at the mall. Lots of fun to catch up with the cousins that I got to know the year before and only got to see a few other times during the past year. In Indonesia the birthday person treats family and friends to a meal, too bad I left just before my birthday. :) Here we broke the last fast together, which means tomorrow starts Idul Fitri! |
 |
| After morning prayers on the day of Idul Fitri, the family gathers to ask forgiveness of one another for the past year's faults. It's an emotional time but one that seems to bring peace and a feeling of renewal. We all wore white to match as a family. |
 |
| Idul Fitri lasts two days, but the festivities can carry on starting a week before and/or after with the main activity being Silaturahmi. People visit their family and friends to extend their greetings, ask forgiveness, and catch up. There's lots of eating and so many people to meet. This might be my favorite part of Idul Fitri. (Left & Above) Traveling & visiting family! |
 |
| We even traveled up the east coast of North Sumatra to the province of Aceh. One of the in-laws to the family had grown up here, so we visited his mother and step-mother and family of almost all his 12 siblings! (Above) In more of a village setting, the family quickly went to work cutting coconuts from their backyard and draining the juices for us to enjoy! |
 |
| Visiting so many family members after not having seen them for so long means a meal at each place - in our case that meant two lunches. (Above) We enjoyed one meal of rice, fish, shrimp, vegetable greens, and an assortment of sweet snacks. I am wearing a traditional Muslim hat, although often made of black velvet, the white style I'm wearing here is also common. (Above right) We stopped to snap a photo with a portion of the large extended family. |
 |
| Aceh was known for its freedom movement and resulting violence through the 90s until the 2004 tsunami made it known around the world when 250,000 died . (Above) As we drove along the east coast highway, which was likely the pathway for much relief in the years following the tsunami, we reached the city of Lhokseumawe which was hit by the tsunami, although to a lesser extent than other parts of northern and western Aceh. (Above) The city can be seen in the distance with new housing built for tsunami victims in the forefront, noticeably far from the ocean. |
 |
| These family members were able to share their personal stories with me about how they drove from their homes in Medan to take supplies to those in Aceh following the tsunami and how difficult it was to search for their family members amongst the thousands of corpses, only to finally receive news many days or weeks later of some surviving and others taken in the tragedy. (Above) We enjoyed a morning on the beach and swam in the Andaman Sea. |
 |
| Aceh's main economies are oil and mining, ag, and fisheries. (Left & Above) We were able to witness this fishing technique of dropping a net offshore by boat and then seeing the fishermen gradually pull in the net from the beach. A small crowd gathered to see their catch of mainly small fish, but also a net full of variety. |
 |
| Aceh is a strongly Islamic province, with 98% of the population being Muslim. During our drive along the eastern coast, the only religious buildings we saw were the numerous mosques; some beautiful and large (above), several being built (Right), and others simple yet powerful (Below). |
