Senin, 18 November 2013

Very Long Journey: Hat Yai-Bangkok (2-end)

Surat Thani, Finally
the story continues here

Finally, Our most awaited time came, train came and we immediately boarded to the train. Since there was seat number, we went to our seat. The Train departed at 1 pm (delayed again after delayed).

The first 30 minutes of the journey by Train was so much fun. The view over the window was good and fortunately, there was no people sitting in front of us, so we could occupy the both sides of seat.Furthermore, we found out that our train would be long and the fun would not be any longer. the Train stopped in ALL STATIONS, small and big stations. That was making this train walk so slowly.

As the train run further up north, the more people coming in. Then the seats around us were fully occupied. We started making conversation with young men in front us using our English. It was not helpful for us to kill the boredom since nobody replied nothing but smiling at us. Okay, we decided to not continue the conversation. The train continued running and stopping in each station. So frustrating but no other things to do expect sleeping, awaking, sleeping again, stretching the body, walking a bit. Yeah, then we arrived Terribly late, the clocked ticked at 9-ish pm (GMT +7, not GMT +8 anymore).

As we were super late (but we used to it since we are Indonesian. So, we were okay. One of our advantage of being Indonesian in terms of flexibility of time, we would not complaining a lot). We started looking at the schedule board again, then we found out that there were several foreigners waiting for train to bangkok too. I personally was very happy to see it. After long discussion with Candra (it was kind of wasting time since we discussed nothing except the one who should go to ticket counter). I then should go to the counter. I asked the officer there and She said that all the tickets to bangkok for that night were sold out (since the only trains would leave that night only special express which was expensive for us). I came to Candra and we discussed again about this (although we found out our long discussion was wasting time again). The only option for us was to stay over night in Surat Thani (which is unplanned) and wait the train for tomorrow.

We were hungry (again). We walked outside the station and started wondering around to find restaurant open in this late (10 pm already and it was completely dark and quite around the station). We were hopeless to find restaurant open and we were very tired to walk against the station. We fortunately found out the street vendor selling heavy meals for us. We came there and started asking what they cooked. It was something like Tom Yam and Fried Rice. Candra worried about pork contains in their food. He ordered and asked thme to not use pork in the soup. And what Did I do?? I did nothing, i did not order any since i didn't want spend money and i was kinda run out of penny. We (only candra actually) enjoyed the foods, then we walked to find any convenience store to find any drink or snacks. We turned and found two convenient stores with has different brand name, 7-Eleven and Family Mart. I turned into Family mart side since i was walking in that side. I was so lazy to cross the street to go to 7-Eleven. We bought some from that store (including Thai SIM Card for both of us). I finally could enjoy my meal (it was just small bread with custard inside costing me 10 THB and  a bottle water). We finished 'enjoying' the night and came back to station. I asked the foreigners there and they mostly already had ticket on their hand since they booked earlier. I was no more happy finding out that they already had it hehehhe.

I decided to take cheapest class again to go to bangkok, and the decision went to Rapid Train (it is named rapid with ordinary seat). Candra kept insisting me to use better class, but i warned him again that he could go by that class but i would not join. Again, that warning was enough to shut him up of complaining. We bought ticket to venture to Bangkok scheduled at 16.47 pm NEXT DAY for 217 THB, not bad price..

NEXT DAY??? What??? yeah, no option! Candra again asked me to find out hotel out there, and i again told him that no budget for that. Then he stayed with me eventually hehehe. We slept in the train station in Surat Thani (We thought that we would be alone there, but there Was some locals (again, no foreigners) doing the same, and some homeless people). I didn't care about my belongings but my documents and camera. We finally could sleep beautifully in train station and we wake up next day with painful back, neck, entire body felt so bad hehehe.

We knew that our train would depart at 16.47. Then we had enough time to explore the city. Hell no!! Yeah We had enough time, but not enough money to do that. But we should go outside from train station or die getting bored there. We needed breakfast for the morning since I only had bread in night as dinner. We started walking and exploring the city. We thought that the city was small enough to walk. As we walked,w e found out some restaurants opened and We stopped in the restaurant selling porridge, thai porridge. It reminded us for a minute about Typically Indonesian breakfast, Porridge with chicken. We entered the restaurant and started ordering. We knew that the porridge used Pork on it, so Candra could not eat that porridge, But yeahhh I could consume that (Thanks God, I could eat pork hehehe ). I ordered The porridge and Candra order Noodle with soup and some savory snacks. The Porridge was spectacular, it was so delicious. It contained cut pork and some basil with some thai spices. Actually, we planned to find KFC there, based on Google Maps we could go for 1 more kilometer, but we surrendered eventually.

While we were eating, we asked to use the power socket to charge our phone. We ate the meals a bit long to wait the charging. about 45 Minutes, we finished and paid to the seller and say 'khap khun khrap -thank you in thai'. We took our phone  (we would not forget that)  and got going from the restaurant. We walked as the morning started leaving. We met the monks walking around the streets (they are kids, so they might be monk student). We saw a big building (not really big just occupied with large yard). We crossed the underpass bridge to go to that place hoping that we would find something wonderful or unique out there.

It was then a school, an abandoned school probably since there was no activity. We saw further there was crowd nearby. We went there and yeah, there crowd was there (not out there anymore). There were many food stalls opening and there was a hall where everybody (not everybody, but the main attraction I guessed) looked at. We were there and we didn't want to miss this opportunity to see the city's 'attraction'. First we had no idea what happened there (I knew then when i arrived in Bangkok). So, the visualization is There were many boys waiting in line, Polices, and some people sitting calling the name of the boy there. The boy looked alike criminals with some of them had tattoos all over their body. I thought that they might do some  criminals.

We had no idea, and kept asking people what it was and again none knew english. Then we just left them and went to wander around again. Eventually, we stopped again in that school and did not do anything. That day was super hot, and Bags were with us and appropriate sleep in station made us (only me I think) sleep in front of school. It reached midday already and we were hungry, we went to the crowd again, not to see but to buy food since there were abundant food stalls there. I stopped in cheap stall who offered me 'Pad kra Pao (a typical thai food, stir-fried pork with basil leaves and rice obviously) just for 20 THB. Okay, I decided to bought that but Candra couldn't buy that, he bought rice with chicken. The taste was so so, enough to fill empty stomach. We went to the 'main attraction' to figure out what it was. We kept guessing what it was, and eventually our guesses were totally wrong.

It was 2 pm and we came back to Station to wait there. Before reaching station, we saw good restaurant with many foreigners come in and it had wi-fi. Yeah, we decided to wait train in that small restaurant. Since it was free wi-fi, we had to pay more for so-so food. I ordered pancake costing 80 THB (Much more expensive than my breakfast). Candra ordered for coffee. We enjoyed the good wi-fi there owing the whole table for about 2 hours before coming back to Station.

The time came there, train came at 5 pm, and we were scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 5.05 am NEXT DAY. So it was kind of OVERNIGHT TRAIN. and we were seated along the way, not slept!

The journey was better than before, train just stopped in certain station, BUT it stopped for about 30 minutes in Hua Hin and Prachuap Kirikhan (i hope i spelled correctly), total it stopped for 1 hour for those two big stations where i could see foreigners joined us in cheap train.

We had nothing to do along the way again. It was totally boring! No entertainment for us! Just Both of us and Train's sound. We starred over the window and it was completely dark, nothing interesting!

We arrived in Bangkok at about 7 am, and we seemed reveal happiness! WELCOME TO KRUNG THEP (Thai name for Bangkok).

This experience earned me a lot! I am proud of being Indonesian after all. To Be Indonesian is not that bad as we think. You will earn a lot of 'immunity' once you go out there! And for sure, I am lucky to have this experience while i am young since i have more energy to do that! Going backpacker with this condition may not good (even for me) but it had a lot of memories I will keep till i can open it.

See you in other journey stories!

Locals waiting train, and they slept over in station too

The Station

A lot of foreigners since it's the main hub to famous Koh samui

Front of Station in Night

from our food stall

Monks walking around, and some people gave alm

They kept walking

Surat Thani City in the morning

My thai porridge with prok and basic leaves

The porridge restaurant, seems very famous


Big Road

The city and it was hot

the Crowd

My Lunch, Pad Kra Pao

they ate the same like mine heheh

the ambience

the main attraction

View from Train

Over the Window

Train looks like

Metropolitan city, BANGKOK Already :)

This is BANGKOK MAIN STATION, Hualamphong
So far for this experience, It took me 2 days to reach bangkok from Hat yai hehehehe



Very Long Journey: Hat Yai-Bangkok (1)

Here I wrote again about my hiatus from school and grabbed my bag to Thailand.

So the story is about the long(est) journey to Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur by Hat Yai and one more stop which is going to be written down later.

My friend, Candra, and I ventured up to Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur after a day trip in the Malaysia,s capital city. We went straight crossing the border of these countries by Bus. the journey from KL to Hat Yai (Thailand's big city nearby the border) was as we expected. We rode a very nice sleeping bus taking us about 8 Hours. We started boarding the bus north bound before midnight and arrived in Hat Yai at 7 am.

The story started from Hat Yai. The bus dropped us in some place i have no idea inside the city. It's a Pool for our bus to stop. Once we arrived, people recognized us either malaysian or thai. Once they found out that we were Indonesian, they started talking in malay-broken-bahasa language. They kept asking for ride and kept talking. Candra was new for this, he responded them, but i asked him to avoid and just go.

One of the main intersection of Hat Yai city
We finally could stay away from them, then we were like lost in the strange city souther Thailand. We started looking for the sign to Train Station since we planned to use train to go north bound because it's more affordably cheap.




we wandered the streets. It was morning and the activity was not ready yet since the city seemed sleep still.

After wandering around about 20 minutes, we could find the Train Station by following the direction sign (Thanks they wrote it in both english and thai). I could not imagine how if they wrote only in Thai.

We went directly to the schedule board of train. Then we found out that train to Bangkok directly was not available in Ordinary class (Ordinary class is the cheapest class train in Thailand. It is very slow and the seat are very hard. No-AC available, but the window can be opened to get fresh air if it's getting hot. Some ordinary trains are free for Local or thai speaking asian who can pretend to be local). After we looked at the board, we discussed where to go and what to take. Candra, again, insited me to use direct train which is expensive for me. But i completely refused to use it and I warned him that i would not go with him if he still wanted to take that train. Then he finally agreed with me to take ordinary train, and we decided to take Ordinary train to go to Surat Thani, as the furthest north bound of ordinary train from Hat Yai Jn.

The Station name in both Thai and English
Train was scheduled to depart at 10.48 am and we were there at 8 am. We bought the ticket for two for 110 Thai Baht (THB), it means 55 THB each. Pretty cheap for long journey as stated we were scheduled to arrive 17.55 and it is about 290 km away.

We were very hungry, we boarded out from Station and looked for the halal and cheap restaurant around the station. We walked across the street to find Mosque first for Chandra to pray.  But then we altered our mind to have breakfast first. Then we stopped in Muslim restaurant nearby the station. They could speak malay and we started making conversation with them. Candra ordered Thai well-know sour soup, Tom Yam, and it was Halal for sure. And I ordered for Thai Fried Rice. After about 15 minutes, we finished our nice meals and paid to the owner of restaurant obviously (We are not criminals to not pay for this). We asked them where the nearest Mosque was. The young lady, who could speak perfect malay, pointed to walk straight the big road. And yes, we followed her suggestion. Once we walked along the street we could find any tower, as the mosque identity from distance. We stopped in another muslim restaurant. There was a mid-age lady and she could speak malay as well which is very good for us so we didn't need to speak in english. However, She couldn't understand the term 'mosque' or 'masjid (as in bahasa)' then we were in trouble then. Fortunately, Candra had installed thai dictionary in his smartphone and he started typing and showing to the lady (we didn't know how to read the alphabets), and surprisingly, She knew that word and she pointed to keep walking straight crossing underpass and nearby the market.

We arrived in traditional market and there was no any sign of existence of mosque nearby. We asked young lady there and finally we found somebody who could not speak malay, and we were already smart we showed her the word for mosque in Thai, and she pointed us to turn and walked along the alley to find mosque. We again followed the locals' suggestion. Then, Not surprisingly, we found Mosque there, Quite big mosque but it was closed, but unlocked.

We entered the mosque and directly went to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there was no bathroom (or even toilet). I was then in trouble. We expected that the mosque there was like in Indonesia which is equipped with toilet o even bathroom. Candra only could use the mosque then. He went inside the mosque to pray and i was waiting for him. He finished praying and walked toward me.We packed our belongings in our small and annoying bags. Suddenly, a man came approaching us, and he had beard (heheheheh). We found out that the mosques was built by Pakistan-Thailand friendship foundation and we knew that he was pakistani who could speak english, malay, thai, and for usre urdu. We asked to leave and he gave blessings for us (i am not sure but i hoped for that).

Other passengers waiting the same train with us
We arrived back in Train Station at 10.30 after we thought that we were late and we run to catch the train. Then we found out that the Train was delayed and scheduled to depart at 12.30. And we had 2 more hours of waiting. We decided to stay inside the station since we were very tired after long journey and we would have another long journey by slow train. We were waiting along with many locals (couldn't find any foreigners using same class as us, they all took much better class heheheh). Candra went to toilet and changed clothes and paid for 5 THB. I didn't do that since i had to pay.
the sellers waiting the buyers to kill boredom

The Rail way track
We patiently waited for train until it came to us. The waiting time was so long! We had nothing to do except to watch the locals speaking and selling their stuffs.

to be continued ........
Local seller

Selasa, 05 November 2013

Story of Our Life

Here comes to write again. I just watched One Direction's Latest video, Story of my life , I thought to write down , and yes, I did it.

And the story will go differently with 1D's. However, our story is astonishing as theirs.

"And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The ground beneath my feet is open wide
The way that I've been holding on too tight
With nothing in between"
(One Direction, 2013)

So, I didn't ask for permission to my friends to write down about them, But i am sure they will surely agree. The story began from SEA Games 2011 held in Jakarta, Indonesia. We are a group of hippies students who are searching for the best of life by questing the way to do it. But i won't tell the details about it.

Story of our life of the bangerz. Bangerz here might be derived from Miley Cyrus's latest album. However, We had our name (without z) way before Miley released. She might be inspired by ours.

The story is about 4 peeps. Let me cover up their real name with fake but awesomely fantabulous name. they are Bangsen, Bangjuk, Bangle, and Bangsuk. They seem so obvious, but none cares!

We are living under others' spell. Jealous and envy come and go amongst us. But that may strengthen us to not be crooked.

I can say that Bangsen is the perfect amongst us. Bangjuk always envies to us since she has no time to hang out and lives far far away from us. She always rejects the invitation unless she is threaten by. Bangle always envies to the our achievement, especially in traveling abroad. She's the only one of us who is not yet abroad. She really wants to make it soon, But she is so demanding to choose the country she wishes for, it's like unrealistically hard, but still visible to do so. Bangsuk, the only of them who is not graduated yet, envies since others are already graduated and he is cramped to finish his final thesis. And Bangsen, he already achieved all what others does envy.

And I utterly believe that we will succeed to be in our dream. We might be in Dreamland, but we are not in wonderland. Bangjuk will have prominent job soon and commute to the reachable place. Bangle will go abroad either for traveling or international conference. and Bangsuk will graduate soon. Bangsen will be always stunning as before.

Now, Bangsen is in Turkey to continue his 'pilgrimage' learning turkish, arabic, and for sure islamic studies. He's the pious-est amonst us. You will have bags of wishes and lucks in Turkey. He will have been there for 2-3 years from now. We will reunite in Turkey for sure.

Bangle now is enrolling for pursuing her Master Degree in Chemical Engineering. She is the most excellent amongst us in terms  academics. Once she is done, she will undeniably awesome. 

Bangjuk now is job seeker. She is sort of picky person, but she knows the best. She must be hired by prominent company and she will be smelling money everyday!

Bangsen now is doing his thesis. He may be late in graduating, But he promises that he will reach the fittest.

So, All the best of us! We will have our story written in the  big book that everybody will read easily. And for sure, We will have silver lining after the things occurred desirably or undesirably.

Love that never before !!