Indonesia: Sabang

Thursday, May 11, 2023, Sabang, Indonesia

Sabang is on Weh Island, a small island near the much larger Indonesian island of Sumatra. We most likely went there because it was available to replace one of our other destinations, Mayanmar (Burma), which was cancelled due to civil unrest. Weh Island was first written about by Ptolemy in 301 BC and was mentioned as “Golden Island.” Sabang is the northernmost and westernmost city in Indonesia. They have a monument at the zero point and sell lots of tee shirts. Really a town, Sabang has by far the smallest population of any city in Indonesia—about 43,000 people.

Not many cruise ships visit this port. However, they had put together a makeshift market with awnings at the dock and it was full of shoppers - guests and crew from the ship. A large part of the island population came to see us arrive, even taking their children out of school to come. Most arrived on motorcycles, which is their main mode of transportation. At times we saw 3-4 family members on a motorcycle. 

Indonesia is mainly Muslim, and most of the women in Sabang wear head scarfs, but do not cover their faces. They also drive motorcycles, wear jeans, and go to college.

We walked about 10 minutes into town along the waterfront on a tree-lined sidewalk. It was early enough and with the shade the heat hadn't gotten too bad quite yet. There were many people sitting on benches along the way, most saying hello and smiling. They enjoyed having us take pictures of them and they took some of us, too. We talked with one woman who spoke very good English. She asked where we were from. We found out that she taught English in town.

We were walking by a preschool and the staff waved us in. Many of the kids were missing that day—they were with their parents at the cruise ship dock! It was a nicely set up school and the kids were interested in meeting foreigners from the cruise ship. We visited with them briefly and talked to the staff, one of whom spoke English.

Daycare in Sabang

Continuing on in town, we walked past a fresh produce market and a mosque, then went in a block toward the water and encountered a band playing pop music. It included a couple of women in headscarves singing & dancing. Not much else happening there so we went back to the main drag and started looking for a post office. A French guy who spoke very good English told us where it was. They had one style of post card—of a Mosque. 

Instead, we found a shop and bought post cards. They kindly let  us use their desk to write them out. Their beautiful young (5 years old?) daughter was filling small cellophane bags with 5 keychains each, and stapling them shut with a tag on top. We returned to the post office and mailed our cards.

We were hungry so started looking for a restaurant. We ended up in a local restaurant with really good Aceh Province food. It was spicy and included flat bread, roasted eggplant, rice, and veggies in a spicy sauce. There were bananas and crackers on the table. We noticed the locals were eating with their right hand so followed suit. We were the only foreigners. One of the waitresses spoke English which made it possible for us to order. 

On our way walking out of town, we stopped back at the post card shop. I should mention that every shirt, dress, skirt, etc. had “Sabang” emblazoned on it. Charlie bought a shirt anyway, probably due to the heat affecting his ability to think straight. It was oppressively hot by now so we caught a tuk-tuk back to the port and shopped a bit there at the makeshift market by the pier, then back on the ship and nap time!

When we woke up, we were on open sea and suddenly realized we were missing Charlie’s bag. We’d left it at the restaurant! A few minutes later our phone rang. It was the ship’s front desk informing us they had our missing bag. We found out later that one of the ship’s employees (an Indonesian) came into the restaurant just before we left. He spotted the bag and asked the staff about us. They mentioned our plant-based diet and a shipboard restaurant manager showed the employee our photos and they were able to identify us despite there being no ID in the bag. One of the more amazing things that’s happened on this trip. BTW, we sent him an envelope expressing our appreciation.