Tawau Ferry Terminal abuzz with many Raya travellers
Published on: Sunday, April 07, 2024
With Aidilfitri just around the corner, the Tawau Ferry Terminal here is abuzz with hundreds of Indonesians living in the country starting to travel home to celebrate the festival. - pix Bernama
TAWAU: With Aidilfitri just around the corner, the Tawau Ferry Terminal here is abuzz with hundreds of Indonesians living in the country starting to travel home to celebrate the festival.
A check at 9.30 Saturday morning found the terminal was crowded with people of all ages who had been waiting since early morning to purchase tickets to travel to Nunukan or Tarakan, Indonesia.
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Housewife Sumarni Tape, 38, accompanied by her husband and two children, aged nine and eight, is travelling to Pare Pare. The last time she was celebrating Aidilfitri in Pare Pare was in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This marks our first time travelling home to Pare Pare after Covid-19. Last year, I wanted to go back but my husband could not take a long vacation due to work demands. We miss our family in the village, the Aidilfitri atmosphere in the village and family cooking.
“Hence, today, we took the ferry to Tarakan first and then to our hometown, the journey from Tarakan to Pare Pare is also challenging because it will take more than 10 hours while we are fasting,” she said.
Another traveller, Yusup Lamasape, 45, who works in Kota Kinabalu, had to travel by bus for about nine hours to Tawau on Friday to board the ferry to Nunukan on Saturday.
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“My ferry is at 4pm, I’m tired due to the long journey earlier but to celebrate Aidilfitri with my family in my hometown, I will brave all this. Besides, I can’t always go back to the village,” said Yusup, a cook at a restaurant in Inanam.
He added that he can’t wait to cook for the family on Aidilfitri with the must-have dish, ayam masak lengkuas (likku).
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Meanwhile, Wildati Mohamad, 38, is taking a ferry ride to Tarakan Saturday after spending several days in Tawau to do her raya shopping.
“I often come here and stay for three or four days to do Raya shopping for curtains and carpets at special prices and various colours. I am willing to travel here to shop because it is much cheaper and of better quality.
“Besides, I also took the opportunity to visit relatives who live in Tawau,” she said.
Six ferries are departing for Indonesia Saturday, one ferry to Tarakan and the rest to Nunukan, with the first ferry departing at 10.30am and the last scheduled at 4pm.
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