Catching Fire (HK-MCA-SZ part 1)

The trip was actually not planned before. It suddenly happened about a week before on-the-go. There was inaugural flight from Bali to hongkong from low cost carrier, Tiger Air Mandala for 0 Rupiah return (we just needeed to pay for fuel surcharge and terminal tax in HKIA, total for return ticket i paid for 300,000 IDR). So I thanked to my friend, Fachry for telling me about this. 

So this would not be going to be solo traveling as I did initially. We would go with 7 people. I just knew 2 of them, that would be a problem to me. The preparation to go there for the D-Day for me was really complicated, i was still busy with my stuffs and others were too. No exact plan and budgeting to do made this traveling just on-the-go. Hongkong was cold, reported about 9 C, which was very cold for tropical person like me.

Since the flight was from Bali to Hong Kong, I had to book flight ticket from Jakarta to Bali, after we, Fachry and I, sought for the cheapest flight, the choice was Lion Air, flight from Bandung (not Jakarta). We purchased online costing us 335,000 IDR (which was more expensive than my flight to HK return). The flight was scheduled to fly at 12.00 and it would take 1h45mins.

We, the 7 people, agreed to meet up in Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, so we basically had different flights to go to bali.  I went to bali with Fachry from Bandung. We took Van from depok to go bandung. It was early morning to take van to bandung. It would take us about 3 hours. Thanks to Aya Travel for takis us to bandung early morning at 5.30 am for 70,000 IDR.

I personally slept along the way to bandung since I was sleeping at 1 am and had to wake up at 5am. When I woke up, we already arrived in Bandung with a little baby traffic at 8 am, 30 mins faster. We were all empty, so we had to be all set before flying since the foods in-flight would cost us more. We had our heavy breakfast in Bandung for 9000 IDR each. We were done everything there, toook public transportation to the airport. It cost us 4000 IDR and took for 30 mins. We arrived in airport at 9.45 am.

WELCOME! Selamat Datang

I was so surprised with the airport, it is airforce airport equipped with all the dorms for the military. We had to walk a bit to get to the terminal. And finally I was there. The airport was suprisingly SMALL, the SMALLES International Airport I had ever seen, even smaller than Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Angeles City, The philippines.

The airport has only 1 terminal for both international and domestic flights. The check-in counters were all stuffed and looked very compact and congested with many passengers trying to check in. We were done all for this. FYI, it was my very first DOMESTIC FLIGHT, I was so happy and proud of myself to make this happen. Actually name on ticket was wrong and it as miss-typed, i was worried to not be able to check in or i needed to pay extra. However, Indonesia will always Indonesia, they didn’t pay attention about the name on ticket as long as i could provide them the correct ID card and the booking code written on ticket.

We were waiting in the airport lounge till the gate to board opened. There was one water gallon for hot and warm water for free, so I filled up my bottle with water there to prevent the in-flight dehydration. The announcement for passenger LION AIR JT960 to board was released through the loudspeaker. Frankly, the speaker worked terribly, we all passengers couldn’t hear properly  whether our flight or another  to board.

There was no tunnel from terminal to the aircraft, we had to walk across the land to the aircraft. For me, it was a bit far from the gate to the aircraft, and that was not ergonomics for elderly to walk to. I took several pictures along the way. We were seated based on the seat number we obtained when we checked in. The aircraft was full that time, and everybody was seated to their seat already.

Husein Sastranegara International Airport Main Building

Wuhuuuu, we were ready to fly!! Or we were supposed to fly at 1200 noon. However, the silly mistake was occurring. So actually there were two passengers who were not supposed to in-flight (that was i got from the announcement from the cabin crew). There was an argue in the aircraft from the official of LION AIR and those passengers. And surprisingly it took almost 1 Hour to solve this problem before it was actually flying. So it reminded me of MH370 MAS Airlines about two fake passengers, and it could be possible. Everything was done, everybody was murmuring complaining a lot about this. Yah, as long as i could catch up the flight to Hongkong i wouldn’t mind.

People had to walk more than 75 meters to reach the aircraft

I am Home:The Phlippines (March 2013)

So i posted this quite late, but i would like to share about my first days in the Philippines.

I arrived in Clark's Diosdado Macapagal International airport, in Pampangan, about 2 hours drive north of Manila.And I was welcomed by my very warm-hearted and super nicely friendly local, Darby.

I know him from couchsurfing. I sent a request to stay in his house for a night and he was ok with my request. He detailed all the explanation about how to reach him and when and where to meet. I met him in the Mall in Pampanga.

We introduced ourselves and before we headed to his house he asked me to join him shopping for foods. I was so excited to join with local to shop. Actually I was hungry since i didn't get any meals (meals mean rice for me :p ) just grabbed bread while waiting for him. Actually he was 23 and i was about too turn 22 that time. i am struggling to pursue my bachelor degree but he is already working in very nice place in government for SME program (CMIIW). The first thing that awed me.

What we purchased in the super market? (i didn't buy any from there anyway. only he did). He bought some seasonings to cook and vegetables. Then in the midst of shopping he showed me the 'java rice' derived from java island in Indonesia (when i live) and rice. They call that one because they think it's originally from there. I'll tell you what the java rice is later in Javanese's view.

We were all done shopping, time to go back home! (his home). Before we went to small money changer stall in the local market, so surprised that they even had money changer in this place, then i was thinking about the abundant of balikbayan. We rode a tricycle (pronounced traih-seeh-kohl) to reach his home. it was motor tricycle, and it took about 8 minutes to reach his house. a bit near but he told me that he thought i might be tired so he didn't want to ask me to walk. And to be hones, i was so tired but i pretended to be ok. 

Oh finally, home in local filipino. I met Mrs. Bognot who opened the door for us. She was very nice mom and friendly. She's definitely mommy. Darby handed over the stuffs he bought to his Mom. We talked a bit about where i was from, my activity, bl bl blaaaa. Then he asked me to wait a moment while she will cook for our dinner. I was so happy to have that one, dinner with local family. But i know it wouldn't take 5 minutes to prepare and cook the all. So I chilled out in living room, put off all my bags to the floor. I was still unsure where i would sleep that night.

Darby was going upstairs to change his working attire then he went downstairs. He asked me to join him seeing around the city. He has hobby for jogging and running (which is those are not me, i am not that physical fit hehehe). Okay we went out the door started roaming the road in the dusk. A few minutes later we passed intersection with under reconstruction food eateries mall. He told me about how the young people spent their night in weekend. We continued jogging (actually walking) to see his University. His uni looked small compared to mine, but it was the best uni in that province (i guessed) and nice church he and his family belong to.

We were quite tired then we stopped for young coconut. He bought me a plastic of sweetened young coconut water, for 10 Pesos. We walked after several minutes we met a child beggar, she begged to us (and i was saying inside that she was begging to the wrong person). Suprisingly, Darby gave his unfinished drink and i gave nothing. I was thinking it was rude to give that, then  it turned out that it was normal in the philippines. You cant do that in Indonesia,, here the beggars dont want anything but money only. enough with that surprised, we stopped again to fish ball stall to buy that street snacks, i was loving that snack, cheap and delicious.

We ventured back to home, and actually i was getting hungrier than before and hoped for the dinner soon. We arrived home and surprised, the dinner was not yet ready hahahaha. Then okay I stopped thinking about dinner, i thought about where to sleep. Then darby invited me to go upstairs and asked me to bring all my belongings but shoes down. Yeah, that the place i slept, darby's private room. I'll say that his room was very cool. not that big but enough for everything. very well-packed, sophisticated but simple. I still remember that room. He gave me additional mattress  for me to sleep. we talked a bit and just to-knot-each-other time. His mom then called out to go to dinning room to have dinner. Anyway, his father was home too. Mr. Bognot was so friendly as well, less talkative, looked firm but nice.

The foods were ready! Mrs. Bognot served us the steamed rice, chicken (with curry and it was not spicy), stirred fried eggplant, and java rice! She asked me about Java rice. So Java rice in the philippines is Rice cooked with special seasoning that makes it yellowish look and it tastes like 'nasi goreng jawa' in Indonesia. So basically we call it Fried Rice here in Indonesia.

Mrs. Bognot was TV series lover. She has very good knowledge and very nice to talk to. We were done with all the dinning, it was late time to go to bedroom. 

So it was time to sleep!! No I mean. Darby was very smart guy. He knew almost everything I knew but i knew few what he knew. There was no dull in our conversation. We decided to watch a movie from my laptop, so we watched Hindi movie called ENGLISH VINGLISH, and I think he must have loved that movie. We talked about random things so there was no dull of use till the time clicked to 1 am, he had to work in the morning so time to officially sleep.

How Are You doing up there?

The winning TEAM!!! (The picture made me start missing old days)

In the middle of the night, I starred at the laptop and suddenly I coundn't resist to not open facebook page. The facebook of one of my groups (I am quite popular by having many groups in my page heehehe). 

So what happened with that?

I somehow miss my friend who is now pursuing his dream in Thousand miles away country from Indonesia. He is in Turkey now. And he seems enjoy a lot the days there (days when no any connection hehehe). How are you there my friend?

For a glimpse, He is the best Friend I have that I met him in the college time. He is very attractive and Smartly Brilliant. Once we talk to him, we will find him very nice person. He is very friendly and has a lot of friends. He is very determine and one thing that I am always jealous from him is He has tons of lucks behind his back. I know why he gets that, it is not coming no reason, but he gets it from his piousness. Piousness? Yes, he is the very open-minded pious person that I every see in my life for 22 (or more) years. He is very diligent in terms of daily praying. He will not even forget to miss even once no matter what he is doing, to pray is somehow his priority. I see him very inspirative young guy that i rarely find now.

He is now in Turkey joining in Turkey islamic foundation giving opportunity for foreigners student to join their ashram (or boarding house) to intensively learn about Islam and Turkish language is as the official language. And obviously, He can speak turkish and now he must be getting better. He is now only able to access internet in weekend and even weekend, I am pretty sure He must have fun out there, stay away from internet checking the greetings from home country. I assume that he must have fun there.

He is one of the smartest and Resourceful friends i have. and he has both. We met and then became friend because we have the same hobby, Watching and following about badminton news. Firstly, I didn't even think to find one loving about this, then he came and yeah we found the chemistry and then till now we are friend.

We found that we lived in the university dormitory, but we lived in the different tower. Along with another 2 guys, we enjoyed the dormitory life. We love hanging out, spending money for foods and nothing hehhee. 

One day, one changed amongst us. He then begun moving away from university dormitory and decided to stay in Islamic Cultural Center by one of foundation from Tuerkey. The 'residents' must stay there and they provide free bed and foods, also turkish and islamic learnings. Then i felt lonely in dormitory, everything changed. However, we still could meet and hang out together less intensively for sure.

He has big willingness to earn money due to his life in his hometown. He was born and raised in the family who is not rich enough to cover the expense of his family. He has more than 5 siblings (forget the exact number) and he is the second child (if i am not mistaken). He is the only well-educated in his family the he moved to Jakarta to hope for better future by having good opportunity in studying. Since his stay in College life, he has been very independent in terms of financial. He is very smart to find any opportunity in raising money.

Then, we joined in the same foundation granting us scholarship for our achievement, actually we had successive GPA during the first semester, then the GPA dropped easily till now. We didn't participate in the foundation activities a lot until we were announced to Join one of the coolest program of this foundation, a leadership camp. We were the lucky bastards who had the very good opportunity compared to others. The camp was held in the Military Academy. We were forced to live discipline and had alot of boring sessions talking about leadership. And, from this activity, I knew that he is VERY GOOD SLEEPER hehehe. He can sleep anywhere anytime and can wake up immediately, another thing I amaze from him. We succeeded to finish the camp for a week then we went back. The bond amongst us getting harder like Hydrogen bond somehow, hehehehe.

Semester by semester passed by, Until we join the next series of leadership camp. That was one of our best time to spend with. Then we found other 2 girls to join our group, yeah we are groupies (??). We joined the selection for SEA Games 2011 in Jakarta expecing for money. The long selection made us very tough somehow to earn money  (then this event changed our mindset already, money maker heheh). After long wait, we could get involved to this event by becoming volunteer. We had to skip the classes for more than a week, but it was worth activity. Another luck for him was he was placed in the center of jakarta as volunteer for transportation, staying in nice 5 stars appartement equipped with Wi-fi and daily transportation fee and he could still join us, but for me (and 2 girls) had to stay away from campus and completely miss the week classes. That was super unbelievable.

Then the Volunteer activity was fruitful. We earn money for that 2million Rupiah, and that was a lot for us. I decided to sign up in immigration bureau to proceed in making passport. I already got my passport and I decided to buy ticket to fly to Singapore and decided to start backpacking in southeast asia for teh first time abroad. I told him my big plan, the he seemed very interested in my plan. He then proceeded his passport and bought the flight ticket too.

I Flew earlier than him and arrived in Thailand a week earlier. I already wandered in Thailand then he arrived there. Our plan was to cross Lao PDR (country in southeast asia). We finally met each other in Ubon ratchatani (city in east Thailand) to cross the country to lao. The journey was awesome, it needs another section to tell about it. He is the best travel mate i had. then we ventured to Vietnam, then he continued to Singapore and Malaysia to join conference and what did I do?? Go back to Indonesia hehehe

Time passed by. We earn money more and more as we are private tutor, and somehow we called ourselves as cheap premium private tutor, or all-you-want tutor hehehe. We hanged out more frequently to eat out and see out.

in semester 6, we missed our research proposal submission and we didn't do any to pursue it. Then guess what? In that time, I decided to travel, and he was super lucky. He got easier topic to nail, and in about 2 weeks he finished his proposal and then till the thesis he could finish punctually. The defense was unbelievable. He was another super lucky, and he is always lucky, or I can say, he is well-prepared and can see the what to do and what to learn without wasting any time.

He then graduated from University, We celebrated the graduation, and Happy Graduation.

Graduation Party

Once he started becoming no longer student, we met more frequently. We ate out and hanged as always.

Calm and seize the day!

Till then he really supported me to nail my thesis (and till now hopefully). We somehow planned to start our business, and the idea was raw enough and started. We met in certain evening,  i was about to talk about it, the he informed me about the good-and-bad news to me. He would go to Turkey in early November. I was totally shocked, between sad and happy. The news was so sudden although I knew that he would fly to turkey anyhow. I couldn't say anything but cheered him up.

In his last wish before go to turkey, He wanted to go to bali. I really supported and suggested to take it now or never. I forced him to go to bali no matter what, I could borrow him everything, and MAGIC, he went to bali then back to Jakarta happily, safe, and sound. HE IS AWESOME!!

Then the time came, He should leave Indonesia very soon, and i couldn't see him off in airport, another mistake i did probaly to not see him off.

We skyped finally after 2 weeks his stay in Turkey and told us many things. I suggested him to write the journey through blog, and hopefully he is working on that now.

I do want to write your story somehow. If i can work on it, the story will be blockbuster and worth reading as inspiring for many people to always chin up like you. You are very inspiring and amazing.

Keep inspiring and Stunning, mate there! Keep being updated also enjoy Safranbolu and Turkey as what we talked about before (i won't share here heheheh).

Missing you is dark grey all alone (coutersy RED-TAYLOR SWIFT)

p.s. whate makes us unite? because we love buying fancy things with all our small income hehehe

Good luck there! 

From Jakarta with hopes

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

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 !!

AIESEC versi gue

Helooooooo semua, kali ini gue bakal mengepost tentang AIESEC. Betewe, gue bakal pake bahasa Indonesia karena emang gue lebih jago menulis dalam bahasa Indonesia daripada Bahasa Inggris yang buat gue susaaaaaaaaah banget. Dan ini juga biar dapat mesej yang mau ke sampaikan dari tulisan ini. Dan di tulisan ini ga bakal ada gambar-gambar alay atau polos tulisan doang hehehhe

Oh iya, AIESEC, itu apa sih? yang belum tau langsung aja klik disini gue langsung bawa ke situs AIESEC UI yah. lohh, kok UI?? ya secara gue lahir dan gede di AIESEC UI. hehehe. Jadi secara umum menurut gue AIESEC itu organisasi internasional yang diisi oleh pemuda (yaitu anak-anak mahasiswa) gitu dengan bermodalkan kepemimpinan dan pertukaran pelajar (Exchange, tapi bukan student exchange yang seperti biasanya). Dan AIESEC itu udah gede banget scope-nya.

Gue gabung di AIESEC sejak april 2011 gue diumumkan keterima sebagai salah satu anggota di AIESEC UI. yang gue tahu tuh AIESEC itu harus pake bahasa inggris, nah kan gue mau banget memperbaiki bahasa inggris gue yang amburadul ini dengan gabung di AIESEC dan juga gue suka yang internasional-internasional gitu.

Setelah gue di AIESEC Lebih dari 2 tahun, orang-orang pada ngenal gue sebagai anak AIESEC daripada anak salah satu jurusan di fakultas teknik UI. Ya wajar sih, isi facebook gue semua tentang AIESEC dan kroni-kroni-nya hehehhe. Terus kan di AIESEC identik dengan orang asing atau bule-nya. Nah, makin banyak tuh yang penasaran ama gue pastinya, gimana enggak, banyak banget koleksi foto gue ama bule (bangga??? engga sih) yang beda-beda tiap waktu, sampe temen gue julukin gue Germo Bule hahaha sakin gue sering bawa bule ke rumah dia. Okay itu buat intermezzo aja.

Sekarang ke inti dari isi post gue di sini. sebagai Informasi, AIESEC itu dikenal dengan kehidupan glamor dan serba hedon a la barat-baratan serta tempat orang tajir lah, atau nggak menengah ke atas. Itu yang gue dapat dari temen-temen gue non-AIESEC, dan itu pun ga cuma satu atau dua orang aja, tapi buannnyyyaaaak. Gue sebagai anak AIESEC dan juga teman-teman mereka kudu bersikap objektif kan, dan menurut gue mereka ga salah juga. Memang AIESEC ini isinya (sebagain besar) anak-anak seperti yang gue tulis di atas. Jadi lo anak-anak jenis mereka dongs?? anak-anak party all night long, tajir gila, hedonisme, uang takbakal habis?? Hmm.... gue berharap sih seperti itu hahahaha, tapi kenyataannya gue mendekati lah (maunya juga...) hehehe, gimana enggak, kalo di tempat lain mereka bingung cari tebengan mobil, kalo di AIESEC bingung cari parkiran mobil dan juga bingung cari orang yang mau dikasih tebeng ehhehehe (lebay dikit sih)

Jujur aja, gue bukan dari kalangan yang elite a la Anak AIESEC yang terkenal seperti di atas. Dan memang AIESEC seperti ini, tempat para anak-anak yang beruang lebih, tapi tidak menutup kemungkinan yang tidak buat menjadi anggota juga (Ini kayaknya di AIESEC Seluruh dunia kayak gini). Gue, seorang pelajar di kampus UI yang merantau ke depok dari kampung kecil di kabupaten Banyuwangi yang bisa dibilang beda 178 derajat dengan kota jakarta (hampir 180 derajat). Gue anak seorang petani tradisional di kampung gue dan gue bukan dari kalangan yang bisa dibilang berada, tetapi guu hidup "cukup" kok buat daily basic needs. Bukan yang dibilang berkecukupan yah! tapi buat hidup bisa lah di jakarta dan depok. Dan gue sekarang udah membiayai hidup gue sendiri (dengan dukungan orang tua dong pastinya, tapi sudah tidak secara finansial lagi).

Lhoo?? Kok lo masih bisa eksis di AIESEC???

Mana gue tau kan. Karena menurut gue di AIESEC ini gue ingin mengembangkan diri gue, terserah mau temen-temen gue setajir kayak apa mank gue peduli?? gue peduli banget malah, jadi gue tau diri kapan gue menempatkan diri gue, dan ga mungkin kan gue ngajak tuh anak makan di warteg murah yang bisa dibilang kurag bersih? Naik angkot juga?? boro-boro naik angkot, jalan kaki dikit aja ga mau hehehhe. 

Terus ada junior gue nanya ke gue (gara-gara gue sering ngenalin bule ke doi sih), "Kak, AIESEC enak ga sih? kayaknya seru deh. Tapi mahal ga kak kalau mau jadi anggota AIESEC??" langsung gue shiokkkkk banget denger kata doi, terus gue bilang aja "You pay what you get, pay more get more!" heheheh sambil bercanda. Terus gie bilang ke doi kalo yang lo lihat Anak AIESEC yang serba borjuis itu bener juga membuat gaya berpikir dia seperti itu, tetapi dia juga kudu lihat gue, gimana gue hidup yang harus makan warteg hampir tiap hari biar bisa hidup dan kehidupan serba "miris" gue hehhehehe....

Dan di sini gue bilang, Gue bukan orang yang seperti itu, dan gue tau diri dimana gue menempatkan diri. Kalo dibilang AIESEC Isinya anak hedon, yang lo cuma lihat bagian itu aja, tapi kalo lo ngelihat keseluruhan, lo bakal dapat banyak dari yang sekedar itu. Lo ga perlu ikut-ikutan hedon, ke bar tiap malam, makan di restoran ternama tiap hari, lo kalo tau keterbatasan lo, lo ga perlu maksain, yang perlu lo paksain adalah gimana lo bisa dapat insight sebanyak-banyaknya serta pengalaman yang luar biasa di AIESEC. Dan gue dengan kehidupan gue seperti ini, syukurlah bisa mengikuti alur AIESEC dengan baik dan sesuai arah, walaupun kadang-kdang masalah finansial membelit, tapi itu bukan halangan!! Jadi, Kalo lo pikir AIESEC itu mahal, lo coba lo rasakan dan lo cari dari diri lo!! Bisa jadi itu adalah bentuk kecemburuan lo! :)

Have a nice day

Depok, 20 agustus 2013