linger

Udah 12.01am, tomorrow will be our last day in Malaysia, so tonight we all packed our Bag and planning to put our luggage at Imam’s flat. Tomorrow is a long way to go, there are lot of places that we want to visit and also want to enjoy our journey without having bags in our back.

We’ve planned that at 7.00am we’ll be arriving at Imam’s flat and pick it all up at 8.00pm. Its nearly 1.00am, hmm.. feel so damn hungry. So Lya and me decided to make a noodle.. just for the sake of our strange appetite. Santi fells a sleep and not a single movement awaken her. Even a scent of delicious noodle had no side-effect. She might be too tired to even remember where she was. At 1.30am, Lya and I soon feel a sleep. Time flies so fast; by the time we realize it’s already 6.00am. I don’t even remembering sleeping. I decided to let others make the first move, and that is taking a shower. It feels like my body had been pinch down by a numerous shoes.. Considering, I spent so much time picking the best shoes. My back hurts so much, can’t afford to wake up.

After along way to consciousness finally I began to wake up. It’s my turn to brush up. For a while, I kindda realize that this is the final moment of my existence at Malaysia, oo.. so sad. We are moving so fast and totally forget the weight of our bags.

Touching the parking lot sounds so relieving, we must get a cab to take us to.. Brickfield was the name of the street. Finally we get our self a cab, but Imam had told me the cab rule in Malaysia, “please be careful when renting a cab, the driver was so unlike in Indonesia, you cant just merge in and told the taxi driver where you went but ask him whether he want to take that us to that place or not”..

Gee, kindda shock a bit, but that’s the rule. So when we stopped the taxi, I opened the door and “can you take us to Menara Pelangi, Jl…..bla..bla..” and surprisingly the taxi driver just laugh. I get more confused.. am I doing something wrong..?? He must read my confuse ness clearly and saying, why don’t you get in the car, and I’ll take you there”.

O my God he’s so nice. After a short notice, I finally get my self a courage to ask him what is he laughing for? And he said “I guess you guys are tourists ha? Its okay, now just tell me where do you want to go..”. So I just read the whole address that Imam gave me.. Then he starts to laugh again and said.. ok.. relax I know that place. And the conversation continues.. I began to enjoy talking with him, he told us to visit Langkawi, the Malaysian paradise.. the view is just breathtaking. Did I mentioned that The taxi Driver face was enak di liat hehehee.. sarapan pagi!!.

Suddenly Imam’s dormitory is a head of us. Hmm, what a shame, byee cute taxi driver. Apparently sleepy Imam forgets to tell us that we should ask the cab to wait because.. there is no transportation near here. Anyway, we call it morning walk, it’s simply because its early morning and we just have to walk.

It is our last day in Malaysia, tonight we are going to Singapore by train, but this time good bye back-ache, hello bed. (We are going by train, and the tickets are for sleepers, so instead taking the SEAT we go to Singapore in BED).

So after taking a short walk, we finally arrived at KL Central to buy night ticket. It seems to be a great decision because there won’t be any ticket left when we get there at noon. A short after Santi went to the bath room, we are surprised that apparently KL has a shop specially for luggage deposit.

Hmm… in that case we won’t have to bother Imam early in the morning don’t we??

But its okay, after all we could save some money right.. (teteup ngirit.com)

We decided to go back to the Hotel just to freshened up, take a bath and had a breakfast. 10.00am, at the KL Plaza Suite. We ask the receptionist whether we are allowed to check out from the Hotel at 2.00 pm and the answer is YES YOU MAY.. what a lovely day.

So instead of rushing, we are also able to rest our back and feet for a while. 11.00am, we went to GIANT market in order to buy some food or a snack for a gift. We spent almost one an a half hour there.. Lya bought lots of fried fish noddle, while I bought chocolate wafer, plum and socks. Could you believe that socks cost only MYR 0.99 per each? Great price and yet with the best deal. 12.30am we leave Sungai Wang Mall and decided to go for another shopping. Lya decided to buy another “Vincci” shoe and me a simple shirt of Giordano. Malaysia is a great place to shop, I’m so in love with this country.

13.30am we rushed in to the Hotel and prepare to leave. Everything has settled and off we go. The hotel was great, the receptionist were fine, and easy to talk with. So, 2.00pm sharp we are officially leave that lovely suite. Trying to waste our time just up to 5.00 pm, we take a simple ride down town using RapidKL (a very fantastic bus). It was rapid all right, considering it was Monday, and at that hour kids are just finished school.. and also adults who were on their way home or moving towards from home. Anyway, we end up enjoying our days in RapidKL, selain nyaman.. the seat was so comfort we don’t even want to move. But finally we have to, caused the bus have to stop. In the last terminal we have to ride another bus in order to get to our next crazy point. On the way to the next point, we met a lady with her two child are selling cakes made of flour added with certain recipe.. that makes it taste like “otak-otak”. Duh, jadi inget ama Jakarta. Beli deh kalo gitu…

After buckling up, we arrived in KLCC.. (back to where we started). It rains.. a heavy one. Tapi karena perut dah laper.. Off we go, demi mengisi kekosongan yang ada diperut kami. Ketika sampai di depan pintu masuk KLCC.. the situation was crowded, people are wondering around but none of them have the eagerness to leave that place.. the rain stopped them!!.

Akhirnya food court terlihat bagaikan surga. Tetapi kok kenapa Food Court ini ga terlihat sama dengan food court yang kemaren ya?? Hmm.. saking gedenya nih plaza, food court ajah ampe dibagi dua bagian.. Dah ngeliat makanan, lupa deh ama kewajiban, kita asik haha hihi ampe lupa ama waktu.. sh**t dah 6.00pm, Imam belum telpon.. where the hell that guy.. we need to take our luggage.

6.30pm, 7.00pm.. he finally called but had a bad news.. "Ga ada taxi guys.. hujan lebat disini, can’t you go down here..!!"

We decided to take a cab. Di KLCC ada sih tempat pemanggilan taxi, tapi kita harus in line for 1 hour.. full booked. Wah dari pada-dari pada.. meningan kita keluar KLCC.. dan cari taxi sendiri..horay!!

Good idea!! Lya, terpilih untuk duduk di station while Gw ma Santi ke kost-an Imam. Taxi disana quite confusing.. ternyata kalo lampunya ON berari TAKEN, dan kalo OFF berarti AVAILABLE.. lha meneketehe.

Gw ma santi cuex banget nyetopin tuh taxi.. and ternyata, there’s a guy sitting and saying, “sorry ladies the cab is already taken”. Setelah berjuang demi waktu.. finally our cab is arrived, well ga suddenly arrived sich.. we fight till our last blood!! I quickly entered the cab and saying, Menara Pelangi, Brickfield. And he also quickly says.. OK but you have to pay RM 8, cause the traffic was bad, then I started to bargain, well how about RM 10.00 but you have to take us back to KLCC. And shockingly he agrees.. damn my so called AURA.

He started to chat and I’m starting to chill.. his face not too friendly.. tapi teteup, like and old wise man says: Don’t judge a book by its cover, alias.. BACA DULU RESENSINYA!!

This was the conversation:

Taxi Driver (TD): why do you want to go to brickfield?

KD: to get some stuff at my friend’s house

TD: stuff?? (with a suspicious looks)

KD: yeah, I short off deposit some of my luggage there, we are going to Singapore tonight..

TD: ooo.. What do you do in M’sia

KD: Vacation

TD: and your friend?

KD: He studies here..

TD: O.. you’re from Singapore.. (see where my BAHASA takes me??)

KD: No, I came from Indonesia

TD: so you guys are also a student?

SANTI & I: Nup/ Yes.. and then I continued, we are studying and also working.

TD: I see, how old are you..

KD: (duh kenapa sih, am I look desperately eligible??) I’m 24.

And then journey ended when we entering Imam’s dormitory. He also says, I don’t wanna wait more that 10 minutes. Ok.. well that’s a new information!! Reaching Imam, luckily quite easy, I just reach the phone next to the waiting room and called him. He rushed down carrying our massive luggage.. but then saying, “oo. I forget the chocolate”.. hurry up ok bro.. saying that was not easy to do since the Taxi Driver kept looking at us.. duh kenapa sih 10 menit itu terlihat jelas "ticking" dikepala tuh orang!!

Finally Imam’s arrived but immediately realise the colour of my face.. “kenapa” he says..?? “The Taxi Driver is horrifying, I’ll email you aight bro..” and then off we go.

The conversation continues:

TD: What is your religion?

KD: Hindu and You? (he’s more likely a Indian, so I assumed he has the same religion as I do)

TD: I’m Christian.. and you (pointing at Santi..)

ST: I’m a Moslem

KD -> TD: O..i thought you are a Hindu..

TD: Oo.. from the look of my face?? Well my grandma was a Hindu but when we arrived here, my parent decided to take Christian as their beliefs.. so I end up Christians.

KD: oo.. I see..

TD: So, whose your GOD, Siva or Krishna..

KD: (Nah, ini nih yang ga gw prepare.. ) Ok, siva and Krishna are another version of GOD, They usually performed in different kind of task and forming. While my GOD is above them, Hyang WIDHI.. (yak seperti kalian semua, penjelasan gw percuma.. di GA NGERTI)

TD: So, what time do your train left?

KD: emm.. 9.30pm

TD: oo.. its 8.00pm.. we must hurry..

KD: daaa..!!!???

KD to Santi: Nut, ternyata traffic nya ga jauh beda ma Jakarta ya… Macet Santi: mungkin gara2 ujan kali ya..

TD: You guys can speak Melayu??

KD: No.. Indonesian..

TD: Mostly the language are the same..

KD: Iya sih.. (ga ngerti nih…he started to explain the situation of KL at night and so on..)

KD & Santi: ooo…??!!

Akhirnya KLCC is a head, duh perasaan lega kayanya ga berlebihan dah.. hehehe. The taxi driver tampak sangat baik sekali.. dia ngebantuin nurunin semua luggage kita dan ga lupa bilang.. Take Care.. duh coba taxi driver sini kaya gitu..

Setelah kita rushed up.. cepet2 deh nyari terminal 1-2 untuk get on board. Duh ga sabar pengen cepet2 tidur!! Dan ternyaya pas nyampe dikereta, seat untuk para sleepers tuh ENAKH BANGETH… Kita bisa stretched, menggeliat, ngulet, you named lah.. pokoknya semuanya.. damned its GOOD!!

Ga ada masalah yang berarti selama checking point baik di Harbour Front, di Woodlands.. begitupun pas ketika mau balik, cuma yang rada confuse adalah pada saat pengisian form..pake paduan ngasal.com lah pokoknya.

Tapi biarpun sebegitu capenya, ga ada yang ngalahin rasa excited kita selama perjalanan. Nothing compares those experience.. well perhaps malam pertama nanti kali ya.. hehehehe!!

Anyway, back to the soul train!! Akhirnya, sampe ke Singapore, meskipun kita pengennya jalan2, tapi waktu juga ga kalah penting!! Jam 12.00pm kita harus kembali naik ke BATAM using the Wave Master boat. Waduh, masih jam 9.00 nih.. kemana ya?? Akhirnya, secara gw banci poto, gw ama santi pergi ngiterin Harbour Front poto2.. mak.. kaya ga berasa di pelabuhan.

Setelah puas, we decided to take an early check in. Dasar gw jalan ama anak2 yang berjiwa sangat sosial .. masa sempet2 nya mau nyumbang darah!! Halooo… jauh2 amat nyumbang darah di Singapore.. (secara gw juga takut), sempet terpikir mungkin nih anak2 amazed sama merchandise nya kali yaaa.. (sorry guys.. i kidd, I know you are such a kind hearted person..). And my finale answer was "No.. ga bisa, ga bakal sempet guys.. !!" dan merekapun setuju… fiuh!

The boat leaves at 12.00pm sharp. Happily ever after, nyampe batam jam 1.00pm, off course masih harus nunggu lagi soalnya the plane left at 2.30pm (mudah2an ga DELAY).

Akhirnya.. (duh gw terlalu banyak make kata akhirnya ya??), the plane departure tepat.. heran.. and tumben. GOD blessed Us!!

INDONESIA I’m coming Home.. There’s nothing like in Indonesia, kangen ama polusinya, calonya, kendaraannya (yang walaupun dah sekarat masih ada yang beroperasi). Tapi tolong ya Indonesia belajar sikit dari Malaysia, pengen katanya memperbaiki pariwisata Indonesia, ya tengok-tengok lah tuh Negara sebelah (cieeee..cinta, cinta, cinta oo.. Malaysia), ga usah sok ngikutin USA.. man, that country has establish for more that 200 years old.

So.. visiting Malaysia was a blessed. Great country, Great Food, Great People, Great Culture and Great Shopping Centre. Can’t wait to do it in another time..

My so called “The Journey” will not worked out successfully without any help from, Hyang Widhi my dearest GOD, my parents and my brother who supported me all the way, my boss whose letting me take my early leaf, Imam as the host, all the people who had been very helpful in answering my massive question, Air Asia hopefully always fly safely, The Immigration, The KL Plaza Suite receptionist that helps us in and out, The Taxi Drivers and above all all the people that read this story.. "Guys..believe me PEGEL was a worthy feelings..!!"

***

Ps. believe me this is not the END

Stunning As Ever

At 1.00 am, the lady next to me leaves the train at Kesement station. Still far a head and we got another 9 hour to go.. ETA at 9.00 pm. The Delay makes us run far from the schedule. We supposed to be arrived M’Sia at 7.00pm and had planned to enter the PetronasTower, cause its opened only in the morning..

Keadaan di Kereta agak “rusuh”.. people start complaining. Well I guess they’re all wanted to arrived home as soon as possible. Through all the bumps and bruises finally: Kuala Lumpur ladies and gentleman.!! Whoopee.. akhirnya nyampe juga di KL Sentral, pusat dari segala aktivitas di Kuala Lumpur..

Sempet rada bingung, soalnya kok ga ada inspeksi sih.. biasanya kan pada saat mau masuk Malaysia ada pemeriksaan paspor gitu.. Daripada ntar ga bisa keluar meningan tanya ke information aja, and then we finally sure that it’s all ok.

9.30am, kept calling to Imam’s phone but there’s no answer.. after a brief confusion, we decided to go to the Monorail station in order to get to Bukit Bintang Avenue (the fabulous place to hang out). And after paying RM 2.10 each, we are able to get into the monorail.. Gosh just like riding a rollercoaster but just not in the open air. We can see almost every view of KL.. including Petronas Tower, The KL Monument, almost every great building.

By the end of the 5^th station, we finally arrived at Bukit Bintang Station. From the “LOOK” you can tell that this is the place for tourist to hangout. People gathered for lunch or just sight seeing. It’s a cool place actually, not much of a Malaysian people. The street was filled with open air café such as Starbucks (they exist in almost every where..), Haagen Daas, Coffee Bean, Turkish Ice Cream, 7 eleven, Planet Hollywood, and surrounded by a giant mall called KL Plaza (that’s the place where we’re all going to stay). Next to KL Plaza was JW Marriot and right across the street was the Regent Hotel.

The street was not too loaded with people yet the heat is burning me.. one spot that catch my eye was a coffee shop that turn on their TV so damn loud, that you can hear it in almost 300 meters. Apparently they are watching the motoGP race that was held at Sepang Malaysia. What a great spectacle, even less Valentino Rossi is currently hanging for the world championship title. God, I just wish I could go to Sepang to see my hubby, but the delay and other make it impossible for me to go there (like a wise man says: kalo JODOH ga kemana..)

Anyway, we entered the KL Plaza looking confused. Where the hell is that apartment.. berhubung kalo malu bertanya sesat dijalan, makanya jangan malu bertanya..Thanks to the security we finally found out that The apartment lies on the 5^th floor INSIDE the Plaza. By the time we get there.. the lounge hotel was so crowded, seems to me that everybody want to see the race, you can tell by the way they dressed. Everybody is wearing Rossi’s number, though the colour not in yellow but no big deal.

We decided to book a room, though so many things going on in our head.. (nah ini pelajaran penting lagi.. try to keep our head chill, and concentrate otherwise we can’t absorb important information) we are too tired to look for another, I guess this is the place, that’s it. After waiting for 10 minutes, finally we are able to speak with the receptionist. He told us that there is no empty room and the room won’t be confirmed until 3.00 pm, the other word is we are on the waiting list. The chaos appears to be continued. (at this point you perhaps suggest us to check another location.. but we don’t.. alias males!). Santi suggest that we should look around, who knows we end up getting another place to stay, but we are too tired to even say no.

Lya concluded that this situation occur because of the MotoGP race, everybody visits Malaysia, probably there’s no other HOTEL left. There you go.. great conclusion I guess. We decided to call Imam.. maybe he know the best answer for all this mixed up. Imam also drowned in the situation, he don’t know whether there’s a left over Hotel nearby.. what..!! (tenang Bro, the blame is not all yours, after all, our present shocked him also).

A quick decision was made. YUP, we’ll take the risk.. we have to booked that Hotel. Ok.. once again.. we entered the receptionist room and ask If there a room for us. Still he can’t confirm his answer, he kept saying that no empty room up to 3.00pm. Well ok then, we ended this so called mixed up situation by giving him a full payment of the Room rates which is for RM 220.00 per night in advance. Then he promises us to inform right after the room is settled.

Imam finally called, by that time everything was too late. The room was already been booked and that’s it. There are no regret or what so ever.. just another great experience. Finally we can rid off our big bag and enjoy Malaysia.. at last.

Imam decided to meet us at KL Plaza, quite long before I get the chance to meet him. We even had the chance to buy drinks and walked around the Bukit Bintang Street. Too bad for Santi, she lost her money, we don’t know how it happens.. its just happened. Imam encourages me to buy DIGI (CDMA-nya Malaysia) so communication will be easier. Not much for SIMpati to hang in there, the International Roaming eats my “pulsa”.

He takes us to the most great place to eat..  Remembering that we haven’t ate anything (nasi gituu..) since yesterday and also a bit lack of sleep. Thanked God not one of us is suffered from illness or having a stomach-ache. The place called “Chee Meng” well that is the last word that I can remember. Hunger makes me loose my brain. He shows us the special menu and there you go.. its lunch time. He helped us to set up the plan. The entire place that we ought to see and how we get there, caused Monday he won’t be able to accompany us, due to his study.

Short after we had our lunch, we decided to go back to the Hotel to see whether our room is ready. Its 1.30pm not a single phone calls from the Hotel. Anyway, we still move our feet towards the Hotel expecting that there could be a miracle. Unfortunately the room wasn’t ready yet. We decided to fleshing up our body by taking a shower.. Luckily that big hotel got a Toilet that quite sophisticated (ga rugi boo…). Almost 2.15pm, Imam patiently waiting for us until we’re all ready. We had planned that our next stop was the chocolate factory.. he convinced that this store had the most delicious chocolate ever.. nothing compares. Be sides of its low price, the taste is nothing to be doubtful. After buying 1-2 boxes of chocolates, we decided to put the chocolate in the Hotel and then continue the journey to KLCC.

3.00pm, arrived at the Hotel, Imam told us, if by any chance the room still isn’t ready, he will soon cancelled our transaction. But good words came from the receptionist; the room is already set up. Woops, what a day. We soon take our luggage to the room (no. 600) and fixed everything up (hmm.. kata Imam room rate nya tergolong mahal, but soon after he checked the room, he quickly said "it’s worthed").

3.30pm, the next stop will be KLCC, but before that we decided to go to the Sentral Market “Pasar Seni” to find an antiques for my boss. The market is much modern that I thought it would be.. the stores are well organized which is why the price are different between one and another. The stores up front, offer us a bit higher prices than the stores at the back. There is lots of stuff to see but too bad the price makes me pull back my desire to buy. But still we buy one or two of the merchandise just for a gift.

Then we continue the journey to KLCC or more known as Suria Plaza, the most eligible plaza to see, had the most complete collection of famous brands and not mentioning, lies a Shoe Store, that I’m sure most of the girl recognize the place.. its called “VINCCI”. What makes us dying to go there? Its the price that cost so much lower than Indonesia. Be sides of the most updated model, it’s also provided an INTERBRAND DISCOUNT. Meaning, if you buy 1 of their collections, whether it’s a shoe, bag, wallet, or watches, you can get a 15% discount for another collection. As long as the transaction held in 1 day.

Quite impressive right, this is the situation that happened only today. (Considering this is my first trip to Malaysia, and didn’t know if there will be another one).

WE SHOP TILL WE DROP, by the time we realize it is almost 6.30pm, we forgot all about Imam, and the most important thing is our plan. There are still lots of places to go, china town for example, I’ve to buy merchandise for my boss. We decided to ends our madness and back to the real world. Still at KLCC (Suria Plaza), Imam takes us to a fountain, which is look gorgeous at night. We soon take some pictures, right in front of the fountain. So many people gathered there with different reasons, there are couples in love, family that spent sometimes together and don’t forget the black market sellers who sold a branded watch with such a low price.

Its 7.30pm, I’m definitely hungry and so did Lya & Santi. Imam decided to take us to the KLCC food court where all the finest food gathered. There are line up of food stores that offer great menu, but our eye set up to the “Arabian Food” one of their menu was …damn I forgot. Indonesian called it as “Nasi Kebuli”.

I prefer to eat with Chicken as the side menu, Santi prefer to add goat and Lya with the squid. We all experience a weird sensation while eating the food, cause each of them had a special taste, rich spices and definitely a delicious one “maknyus” (maap pa Bondan.. saya pinjem ya).

Now, we are full and happy. Then china town here we come. There is not much to see at china town. The market is filled with imitation brands. More or less like Mangga Dua, I guess, but the goods had higher quality than Mangga Dua. We seem to be not too interested with the goods, but the fruits instead. Plum was sold with a very cheap price, cost only RM 10.00 for 10 fruits. You can’t find that in Jakarta, plum is too much expensive out here. 10.15pm, we ends our journey. Thanks to Imam, today was a blast and ended quite well.

One other thing that COOL in Malaysia is that, they have this transportation called “Rapid KL” cost only RM 2.00 each. We can travel all around KL buying only 1 ticket and up to 11.00pm the bus is all ours, we can travel as much as we like. Each of the bus had their own traffic lane; we can easily change buses in every Rapid KL bus station in order to change direction. “Murah Meriah”. One of the most important elements in supporting Malaysia’s tourism board.

Its 11.00pm by the time we arrived at Bukit Bintang St. Though there’s still a racket at one corner but it doesn’t bother me that much. But things that bother me the most was.. we don’t know how to get in the Hotel??!! Can you believe that, shoot.. the only way we know was through the Mall and definitely already closed. There must be a way to entered the Hotel. After a short walk, we found a small door signed “KL Plaza”, assuming that was the right way.. there we go, we all can breath freely. Expect to meet an elevator that can take us to our suite, but then again there are more than just 1 elevator??! We decided to take the risk.. we all stepped in to that elevator though not one of us really sure where did that thing take us.

6^th Floor, that is all that I can remember. But when the door is opened, whoa.. well what do you know, we entered a night club hehehe.. a pretty lady stands there to welcome us.. after the elevator is fully opened.. we all start to stare at each other, confused, don’t know what to do. They surely can tell through or outfit that its so not our intention to go there.. so she just smile. We threw a smile back and also asking for an apology (until now I kindda confused, why do we have to apologized.. we’ve done nothing wrong..).

Back to the 1^st floor. Now I’m sure that we should ask some one for the direction. Thanked God, there’s a man who still working at the Hotel and quickly guide us to the right elevator. Regardless all the confusion that we’ve been through, there’s nothing to be remorse of. Feel so tired, yet still there are things that need to be done.. (to be continued)

Prologue:

Cerita mengenai perjalanan gw sama temen2 gw ke Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). sebenarnya dah mau gw release lamaaa banget.. cuman kemalesan gw kok kayanya bisa mengalahkan segalanya ya. Bermula dari gw baca buku berjudul “Traveler’s Tale”.. nah it opens all of my frozen nerve and bad brain into a dream machine. Gw berniat mem-publish cerita ini.. yah walaupun cuma di BLOG tapi ya udah lah lah.. at least it means something rather than not!! So.. from the very beginning..

***

September 9, 2006

Woops.. sudah jam 11.00 am, seharusnya gw dah menuju rumah Santi (nama ini sengaja ga gw samarin, biar nih anak ikutan terkenal juga..) di Manggarai soalnya kita2 mau menuju Airport dengan Airport Bus alias Damri yang ber basis di Gambir.

Setelah gedebak-gedebuk nyari kamera dan beli film (maklum versi Jadul, tapi setidaknya bisa mengabadikan moment2 yang ga jelas..) akhirnya nyampe di tempatnya Santi tepat jam 12.00pm, setelah chit-chat sedikit dengan tantenya akhirnya kita menuju ke Gambir.. Quite a long trip, cause apparently the Bajaj driver didn’t know the “short cut” to Gambir Station, ok.. so we all have to be patience.

Bad news.. Santi forgot to bring her cell phone, which is it might become handy while we are in Batam.. since “fren” can be used in any other part of province, automatically. Right on schedule.. we arrived at Soekarno-Hatta at 1.00 pm and not too long, Lya (nama nih anak juga ga gw samarin.. teteup, biar terkenal juga) also has stepped her foot at the airport almost at the same time.

Fiuh feel relieve cause plan “A” runs really well.. no body is late and we can all checked in sooner. After a short queue.. we finally got to the Checking In point, where every body has to count their luggage and then pay the airport tax for IDR 30,000.oo. But there are a shocking moment happened in that place.. we met an old lady whose doesn’t know that she supposed to pay more Rupiahs in order to get on board.. What a pity, she even shows her wallet to the manager in charged, who is happened to be a GOOD LOOKING (I swear.. keren abiz nih orang..) guy and took only a minute to realise that he is also a KIND HEARTED person. Sempet ada pembicaraan yang cukup lama antara si Old Lady dengan si officer dan akhirnya sampai pada suatu kesimpulan kalo tuh ibu2 dianterin sama si orang ganteng ke Gate A7.. Whoa what had just happended? Begini.. ternyata si ganteng membayarkan pajak boarding si Ibu dah gitu pake acara nganterin lagi.. (coba gimana kita2 yang berada tepat dibelakang si Ibu, suddenly wish that we were that lady.. huaaa)

Ok, we’re all smiling.. and wondering.. kok masih ada ya orang kaya begitu, we’re lucky to catch that special moment, soalnya jarang banget. After checking in, we all went to the gate A7, and wait for the plane. Still 2.30 pm, a long way to go. According to the ticket we are supposed to be departure at 3.30 pm. So to kill our bored felling, we decided to take a trip.. and find a decent toilet to go take a pee. Kindda wondering, how does an International Airport kept their cleanness.. almost every toilet that I’ve entered was smelly, dirty and no tissues, gimana kalo bule pengen pipis.. hmm dah males banget kalee. What were they thinking? It’s supposed to be public services, and we pay lots of taxes just to go inter island. Such a Bad Management.

Akhirnya, setelah muter2 dan nyumpah2 gara2 ga bisa buang air kecil.. bayangin aja masa harus nunggu ampe Batam..!! ternyata waktu telah menunjukkan 3.30 pm, senangnya hatiku. Tapi kemana pesawatnya?? Kok ga muncul2 ya.. Semuanya masih silent, ga ada prior notice. Para officernya juga masih tenang2 aja.. duh kenapa sih.. jangan2 DELAY lagi nih.. padahal diBATAM kita masih harus ngejar kapal yang ke JOHOR BAHRU.. duh..

Akhirenya jam 4.15pm “gate” itu dibuka.. seperti biasanya.. semua orang belomba-lomba untuk masuk.. persis kaya naik metromini kalo hari senin!! Plan B was suddenly formed.. (sebenarnya ga belum ada juga, tapi biar keren dikit lah..) a.k.a NEKAT. Tepat jam 6 kita menginjakkan kaki di BATAM Airport dan langsung berusaha untuk mengambil semua bagasi kita.

Finally we take a a cab to Batam Center (hmm pake nawar ya bo.. jangan mau kalo dikasi harga mahal..), the place where all the “party” begins. The taxi cab confirmed that there are no boat leave to Johor after 5.00pm (itulah mengapa pesawat delay sangat merugikan).

Akhirnya, tanpa mengurangi segala semangat yang ada.. kita menelpon Imam Buchari (temen gw yang sekarang berdomisili di Malaysia demi menuntut ilmu, dia itu pinter btw, sangat educated dan ga berkeberatan kalo g pake namanya.. ) soalnya kita rada ngerasa hopeless. Took a quite long time until Imam finally answer the phone, he told us to take a boat to Singapore (Harbour Front) and then continue the journey to Malaysia by train (letaknya ada di Tanjung Pagar railway station)!!

One problem solved and we’re finally settled down. But that is just not it.. the last train leave Singapore at 10.00pm, and now is 7.00pm (Indonesian time) it means that 8.00pm Singapore time.. sh**t we only got two hour to go.. Otherwise we have to stay in Singapore and wait for the morning train. (Just recently found out kalo ternyata ada nyank namanya "Night Bus".. take only 6 hours.. catet!!)

We don’t have any $Sin, secara.. kita ga siap banget, semua mata uang asing ditukar ke RM, akhirnya rupiah terakhir kita, dituker ke $Sin. While we are busy thinking about custom duty (fiscal), we met a lady that suggested us to buy the “Wave Master” ticket, it’s the most reliable boat ever and also its owned by the Singaporean.. ok, great advised. We finally bought the ticket (return) for $Sin 18.00 each. Right on 9.00 we arrived in Singapore, “Harbour Front” is the exact name .. it’s a very clean place, well at least that’s what I saw at night. Entering that country wasn’t an easy thing, there are so many checking, light interview and suspicious looks (secara, Singapore negara “denda”).

As Imam says, after we arrived at Harbour Front, we have to take a cab to Tanjung Pagar railway station, there we can buy the train ticket headed to Malaysia. Lazimnya di semua pemberhentian, di Singapore juga ada calo taxi, Cuma bedanya, lebih sopan, ga maksa dan terkesan gentle.. tetapi sekali calo, tetep aja calo. Dia kekeuh bilang kalo harga taxi itu sekitar $Sin 35.00 tapi kalo kita naik sama dia, di diskon jadi $Sin 25.00, weleeeh.. mahal banget ga seeh. Santi akhirnya turun tangan, dia nawar asal sebesar $Sin 20.00, eh taunya Uncle William setuju.. hehehe. Well what do you know, the ride was awesome.. Mercedes dude.. (duh lupa seri apa..) Cuma a brand new one, wah sophisticated lah.

Akhirnya sepanjang perjalanan kita ngobrol, si Uncle William ternyata pernah ke Jakarta, Bandung dan juga Puncak. Dia bilang, di puncak agak membosankan, meskipun udaranya dingin, dia ngerasa kaya orang tua banget.. kerjanya Cuma minum teh, ngobrol trus langsung tidur.. (tapi suer dah bow, tuh orang bener2 dah tua, ada kali 60 taon umure). Dia bilang night life di puncak kurang, dia ga bisa “ajeb-ajeban”.

Biarpun uncle will adalah seorang calo, bisa dibilang dia adalah a great example of a very good calo.. dia ninggalin mobilnya gitu aja, cuma buat nganterin kita masuk ke railway station plus shows us the place where we have to buy our ticket. He even says the magic words..”take care”. We considered that as a blessing.. we definetely need that. The train was already on his way to leave, its near 10.00pm, but luckily there are still enough seat for the three of us. It will be a long way for us .. 9 hours to go, the ticket cost $Sin 30.00 per each (quite expensive).

9.45pm, we ran the fast as we can, we are afraid that the train will soon departure. We also have through another checking, at the railway station. After a long checking, we finally able to breath slowly… fiuh. Our seat is at K3 coach, seat 11, 12 & 13. Horay, plan C worked well..tinggal nunggu nyampe Malaysia aja nih..10.15pm, 10.30pm, lho kok kereta belum jalan ya?? Finally 11.00pm the train officially departure.. duh delay lagi nih.. jam berapa ya bakal nyampe M’sia??

Tiba di station Johor Baru, penumpang baru masuk.. kebetulan gw duduk sendiri, rupanya banyak TKI asal Jawa yang berangkat naik kereta ini. Kayanya sih tukang kayu sama bangunan.. wuidih bawaannya rada serem, gergaji dan lainnya. Baunya pun khas.. rokok kretek banget. Right next to me sits a lady, well mid 40 I guess and looks friendly, I decided to ask her about M’sia custom checking. She told me that we don’t have to take a passport check at Johor Bahru, because the Singapore Policy has already done that at woodlands, the final border between Singapore and Malaysia.

The lady continuing ask about when did the train left Tanjung Pagar, as I were saying 11.00pm, she clearly shocked and said wow quite a delay, you might arrived at Malaysia at 9.00 am in the morning. (o iya.. didn’t I tell u, that for a sec she thought that I came from Singapore and went to M’sia for vacation, well perhaps that’s my BAHASA just rather too much.. hehehe).

The train keeps on going, there are to many stopping, said the lady.. she guess there are something wrong with the train. Well she has guessed right.. the train had an engine problem, smokes keep on coming out through the engine.. (to be continued)