one year ago

i've been meaning to post this, but i couldn't get a decent internet connection in this past week :)

this is what i went through a year ago... well between november 25th to december 2nd. it was my last adventure before i became 'boring' :p i hope you enjoyed this. i wrote this a year ago, and it's a bit long, so before anything, thank you for reading :)

hi all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have a story to share...

well, first off, gue bukan nyombong yaks, dan mudah2an ada pelajaran yang bisa diambil sama temen2 dari perjalanan gue ini :P
as some of you know, gue kemaren jadi innocent bystander yang kena imbas dari penutupan bandara suvarnabhumi (i'm there for a week i still have no f'n idea how the hell to spell that :P) yang bikin gue super panik, karena gue harus harus harus ada di jakarta tanggal 3 desember buat upacara di kantor baru yang menyenangkan itu (bebas ular untuk sementara soalnya di tengah kota bukan di kampung... i'm sorry inside joke hehehehehe) and yes, i have willingly and voluntarily admitted myself to another psych ward hehehehe nggak gue emang daftar di PU dan alhamdulillah masuk, it's a thing you do when you grow up you see, you have to accept certain things, changes your path, and compromise with reason, it's for my parents, they deserve it, god knows how bad of a daughter i've been to them... anyway......................
moving on, karena gue harus di jakarta sebelum jam 7 tanggal 3 desember, jadi yaaaaaaa i have to be creative and find any means of transportation to go home....
agak panjang ya novelnya :P, secara ini cerita detail kejadiannya, especially the last days, jadi kalo ada waktu mau dibaca silahkan... dan nama2 di tulisan ini nggak ada yang diganti atau disamarkan, because i'm so grateful for each and everyone of them :) and btw my friend from outside geo, my friends from college call me taz, and sometimes i refer myself as tessi... so there's no confusion :), oh yeah i wrote this in indglish :P so.. :D

first off, let me tell you the kind of chronology of this mess....

well, the PAD (or we just call it the yellow shirt, yellow shirt ya bo, bukan yellow jackets, kalo yellow jackets kan anak UI...bangga bener LOL) anyway, the PAD had been protesting in thailand for quite sometime now, if i'm not mistaken they've been protesting since may outside the government buildings, but no words or no action has been taken by the PM (somchai... or ex PM right now) and then on november 25th they decided to take the airport, knowing it'll do great damages and it'll put somchai in a lot of pressure. a smart move btw to get international attention, really if i wasn't trapped in there or if i didn't have my thing @ the 3rd, i would join them, and i am really giving them standing ovation for their action... tapi yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... gara2 mereka gue jadi setengah gila gitu deh di bangkok

hari pertama, gue kira it was nothing, you know, it's the airport, INTERNATIONAL airport... so you know, if there's anything, the government would take care of it immediately, karena ya menyangkut kepentingan orang banyak, nggak cuma orang thailand, tapi warga dunia juga, so i took it lightly, and when my mom called and tell me to go home i just told her "it's nothing mom, relax"

boy how i was wrong... tapi gue nggak apatis juga sih (secara omongan nyokap) gue ngecek2 jadwal penerbangan di chiang mai sama di phuket (2 bandara international yang punya penerbangan air asia dari situ ke kuala lumpur), just in case, tapi tololnya gue, karena gue ngerasa things will get better tomorrow, ya nggak gue booking... i wish i had though :(

the second day, i turned on the tv, not understanding even an inkling of the word (except sawasdee and kapunka, and when they agree they said kap...kap...kap which sounds like the raven on the street :P) tapi image yang gue liat buset, nggak ada perubahan... tessi mulai panik LOL
pas gue makan pagi, gue nemuin kevin (temen gue di SPAFA.. yang nyelenggarain conference-nya red.) dan gue nanya sama dia, gimana situasinya. trus dia bilang "no changes yet, and i'm afraid it'll get worse" jreng!!!!! tessi makin panik lagi. trus gue discuss sama dia, soalnya abis conference itu gue ada business meeting sama dia tentang proyek gue, karena kita kerja bareng emang, SEAMOLEC, SPAFA, dan satu lagi APCEIU (mau tau kepanjangan masing2... ya lo google aja lah, kan udah gede) masalahnya kalo kayak gini caranya hari jumat (which is the next day, hari kedua ini hari kamis) tim gue mau dateng untuk ikut rapat, so menurut gue kalo tim gue nggak dateng, it's no use to have the meeting. ya yang mau dibahas, harus dengan tim gue nggak bisa gue sendiri. trus dia bilang nanti bakal kita diskusiin sama jeongmin (pihak APCEIU). okay, tessi berharap jeongmin bakal waras dan bilang ya udah kita cancel aja meeting ini kita liat bisa ketemu di mana lagi. that was not the case, she still insisted on the meeting with whoever we have right now, which really pisses me off in some ways, ya gue yang udah panik gila gitu, dia yang nyantai2 aja. dan sama sekali nggak mikir jalan pulang, sedangkan gue udah berputar otak gimana caranya pulang. dan tim gue nggak bisa dateng, gue udah bilang untuk dibatalin aja itu pesawatnya.

hari ketiga ya bo... gue heran, kok belon ada perubahan ya... well, gue nanya sama temen gue di spafa lagi, namanya jay, whether there are changes or not, dia bilang "the airport still closed" jreng jeng!!!! trus gue bilang deh sama dia "in that case could you book me a flight from phuket to KL." dan hari itu gue emang rencana mau skip conference-nya 1/2 hari dan ketemu sama temen gue. it's done, jadi ya.. gue nggak tau apa2 sampe jumat sore. pas gue telpon orang spafa lagi jumat sore, namanya paew (gue manggil dia phi paew, phi in thai means kakak), she is really my hero my savior my everything lah, ya udah gue telpon nanya reservasi gue trus dia bilang "ada flight yang direct dari phuket ke jakarta, tapi kita liat dulu ya, kamu masih waiting list di flight itu, besok pagi saya kasih tau lagi"
*sigh* agak lega, karena ada direct flight from phuket to jakarta, mudah2an dapet. malem ini gue mau makan dinner bareng temen2 gue di bangkok...i'll just worry about that tomorrow then.

hari sabtu, which is hari ke 4, gue meeting dong. meeting sialan yang nggak bisa diundur itu (nggak boleh sih gue bilang meeting itu meeting sialan, gara2 meeting itu gue juga bisa pergi :P) my korean partner, masih nyantai2 (god bless her really), gue agak2 anxious, soalnya gue belon tau tiket gue udah ada ato belon. pas makan siang, langsung lah, bagai petir di siang hari, p'paew nelpon dan bilang "there's no available seat for you for the phuket flight, and all flight from phuket and chiang mai, and krabi all full booked." sehari sebelumnya sih emang gue udah buka message di facebook gue dari rully hadis (my good colleague in indika) telling me that all means of transportation to get out of thailand is all booked until december 8. biar mampus nggak tuh, that means included, the train, and the express busses. gue panik, sepanik2nya cpns yang harus upacara tanggal 3 dan belon resign dari kantor lamanya panik :D and i even consider renting a car and drive my skinny ass out of thailand myself, but the idea went away as quickly as it comes, and i was glad i had a comfort (a tall glass of heinneken...no :P seriously no...) tapi setelah meeting itu, baru deh tuh orang korea satu panik, nggak bisa pulang juga, dalem hati gue kemana aja ni bocah 2 hari yang lalu, saat gue kebakaran jenggot sendirian dan dia nyante2 aja... emang lola (loading lama), eager to get on the internet that day, jeongmin itu masih sempet2an nanya sama gue "do you want to go shopping tonight??" OMG jf'nc!!!! gue udah nggak mikir belanja lagi kaleee, gue pengen pulang, gue harus pulang, gue bilang "no, i want to spend a quiet time @ my room" tapi dia bilang sih "we're going out to a drink tonight, so if you want to come and let loose you're welcome." and i said "okay we'll see."
setelah gue bebas dari cengkraman tu bocah, gue langsung pergi ke warnet yang sangat gue cinta itu... ternyata nggak buka bo, jadilah gue pake warnet tempat laen, dan ketemu orang2 pilipin yang dari conference juga, and btw stranded juga kayak gue. with them i feel more relaxed, i don't know, i just feel more comfortable with the philipines, mereka tu bisa ketawa2 disituasi yang tolol ini. and i feel a little better too after my time in the internet, and decided to calm down and take some SP (self portraits) @ rama 8 bridge. and i found this SP theraphy thing really works, it's fun to take your own picture :P

hari minggu, pagi2 kita dijemput sama orang2 spafa, mereka responsible banget deh, mencoba untuk menenangkan kita dan bawa kita keluar dari bangkok (knapa nggak skalian ngajak kita ke kamboja terus cari pesawat dari situ aja ya.. :P) well anyway, i get to meet p'paew again, and asked her about my flight, pokoknya p'paew itu tiap kali liat gue mukanya langsung berubah jadi kasian gitu bo... memandang gue seperti anak yang malang :P
i told her "i really have to be home by the 3rd, i don't care which way i have to take." trus dia bilang dan gue inget banget, dan itu membuat gue terharu dan merasa emang gue was taken care of "we tried to find many ways for you, even we consider to book you a flight in cambodia, but we're afraid it is not convinience and safe for you." (her exact words) dan disitu gue tersentuh, she really cares!!! trus gue bilang sama dia "i don't really care about convinience now, i just have to go home."
trus jadilah kita pergi ke 100-year-old market, outside of bangkok, like 1 1/2 hour drive. i know it sounds like i'm enjoying the trip, nggak bo... gue jalan karena it's a way for me to be near p'paew, jadi gue nggak usah telpon2... my phone bills was another thing... sutralah nggak usah diomongin... :D
sepanjang perjalanan, gue masih mikir, gimana caranya gue pulang... gue harus pulang... dan gue frantic banget, telpon sana sini untuk tanya soal upacara di PU itu.... which i had done since thursday sih, gue udah bilang sama PU kalo gue trapped in the chaos, dan kemungkinan nggak bisa ikut upacara, pihak PU-nya bilang "ya dicoba aja dulu mbak, kalo masih nggak bisa, nanti kasih tau lagi" nggak nolong banyak sih, yang penting mereka tau situasi gue.
sesampenya di 100-year-old-market, p'paew deketin gue dan bilang "ayu, we have a ticket for you to go to by train to butterworth." trus gue tanya butterworth dimana tuh, trus dia jawab "in malaysia, you can go by bus to KL there and have your flight from KL to jakarta. they said it's not a long trip, so you can go by tomorrow." omigod there IS God!!!! gue langsung telpon emak gue, which @ first she spent like 3 minutes saying "i told you so" and another 3 minutes telling me why can't i just go immediately. i told her, half yelling half desperate, half whining, half wanting affection "mommy i called you for comfort, it's not like i'm having a vacation here, all tickets are full booked. that is the fastest ticket that i could find. please mom, i called you for comfort, i'm having a panic attack here." and i was tearing up in the middle of the market.. which was quite embarassing and i put on my shades quickly to cover my tears. yeah well, she went soft, and she just tell me to go home quickly and more importantly safely, which was comforting, and i had never missed her as much as i did that day.
perjalanan pulang dari 100-year-old market gue sms hazi, temen gue di singapore, and a travel junkie, untuk nanya gimana caranya dari butterworth ke KL, dia bilang naek bus yang super cepet itu bisa 5 jam doang, lega gue, tinggal bilang p'paew to book my flight from KL to jakarta for the latest flight of the day, gue buka peta gue, yang tadinya nggak pernah gue buka karena gue kesel banget ternyata peta bangkoknya kurang detail (please deh yu, 1:20000, lo kan anak geo, harusnya tau gimana detailnya peta itu... ya... maap yaks, lo pada kan tau ip gue berapa di geo) anyway, pas gue buka peta gue, keliatan lah butterworth itu, ternyata kota di malaysia deket sama pulau pinang. jadi just to be safe, i decided to also book a flight from pinang to KL.
i was smiling.. i am relieved, my flights are booked, i should be home @ 10pm on december 2nd.

it's december 1st, the day i should be home by plane @ 8 o'clock in the evening, but then, because of the protesters, i can't go home by plane, i have to take the train to butterworth, and took a cab from butterworth to the airport in pulau pinang, and then took a flight from pinang to KL and then finally took a flight home from KL to jakarta. good it's all settled. i checked out of the hotel, and hang out at spafa and ate a great lunch, which i found out that Kang, my friend from spafa yang bareng di workshop kemaren makannya banyak bet.. LOL. trus, p'paew juga bilang sama gue kalo sebenernya hari ini tuh keretanya udah full book, tapi karena dia punya koneksi di stasiun kereta, jadi lah gue dapet tiketnya. see again there is God. ya udah, jam 2 gue cabut dari spafa, karena kereta gue dateng jam 3... i am going home!!! with p'prapai as my driver, amazing guy he is, i had some conversation with him in broken english, and off to the train station.
udah nyampe neeh, koper gue udah settled neeh, a little side story, gue taro tas gue yang berisi wilbur dan babe (for those of you who do not know, wilbur is the love of my life, and babe is my favorite lens from my everlasting friend :)) diatas koper gue... tanpa dinyana2... (apa seeh) gubrak, koper gue jatoh bo.... dan jatohlah tas gue itu. for those of you who know me, you know that i don't like a camera bag, because it's puffy and huge, and really a haste to carry around. jadilah wilbur dan babe itu ada di dalem tas gue unprotected. i thought to myself it's alright lah, biasanya juga nggak papa... boy i was wrong :( turns out pas gue buka di kereta ya bo, babe's filter was shattered... i was panicked at first, tapi setelah gue inget itu cuma filter, gue langsung merasa tolol dan terus langsung gue bersihin. well anyaway, where was i, oh yeah, the train station. i was @ the train station, and p'prapai was telling me to wait for him, he's going to park his car. so i was standing there, waiting for him, where suddenly i hear an announcement saying something butterworth and something hat yai. lagak2nya sih, itu buat gue... dan bau2nya kayak pengumuman di stasiun yang "untuk rangkaian kereta api tujuan depok-ps minggu-manggarai-kota saat ini rangkaian masih dalam perjalanan menuju stasiun bogor melintas stasiun tanjung barat..." yang artinya kalo untuk gue pada saat itu adalah nggak kuliah!!!! :P well anyway, gue nggak ngerti, dan p'prapai masih parkir mobilnya, tapi gue liat dia jalan, dan sambil ngedengerin, dan raut mukanya udah lucu.... halah apa lagi ini...
trus pas dia sampe gue mau buka mulut nanya sama dia, dia ngasih signal 'nanti dulu' trus dia dengerin announcement-nya dengan seksama, dengan reaksi yang sangat bukan yang gue inginkan "oh no!!! *insert some thai curse word here*" trus pas pengumumannya kelar dia bilang sama gue "there's flood in hat yai, train cannot go to butterworth." WTF... but at this point all i can do is just laugh @ the situation. my f'n luck... and this trip is getting more and more interesting now. the trip itself was an adventure, but this???!!! gosh this is hilarious, i bet the man upstairs is patting himself on the back for the joke he played on me :P. p'prapai called the office to have p'paew explained it to me in plain english about the situation. tapi biar gimana gue harus pulang, gue bilang sama p'paew, don't worry i'll find a way, i just have to get home. gue liat peta ajaib gue lagi, dan tanya sama p'prapai jam berapa gue sampe hat yai, trus dia bilang nggak tau, yeeeeeeeeeee bocah, kadang pinter kadang agak2... :P gue bilang tolong tanyain kali nggak kapan gue nyampe secara gue nggak bisa nanya sendiri. sekalian tanyain dari hat yai ke butterworth berapa lama kalo naek umum, tapi just to be sure, i called my mom who told me to call bu rosidah in KL. so i did, i called her and ask how long would it take from hat yai to butterworth... or even better to penang. to my comfort she said @ the most 7 hours. trus p'prapai bilang sama gue kalo keretanya itu bakal sampe hat yai sekitar jam 1/2 7 besok pagi. thank god almighty it still works. see my flight from penang is @ 5 pm, so, if would arrive @ 6.30 am and the trip is 7 hours, it shoud give me enough time to go from hat yai to penang. i'm smiling again, now all i have to worry is to find a transportation from hat yai to penang... which from what i know from bu rosidah, i could take a minibus, and they even have the bus too there. i texted my mom again, and told her if all goes well i will be home by 10 pm on december 2nd.
p'prapai was really great, he told me to take care and be positive, maybe by tomorrow the banjirnya udah surut jadi bisa sampe butterworth, good man, he really is, and i thanked him as he brought my luggage to the train, and off to hat yai i go (still hoping to go to butterworth though).
the train ride was another thing, keretanya tuh sepintas kayak senja utama, ato mutiara fajar, ato apalah itu yang biasa kita naekin dari jakarta ke jogja ato ke sby ato kemana lah di jawa. gue udah siap mental untuk tidur dengan tidak nyaman, meringkel2 gimana, dan satu tempat duduk ber2....
ternyata, nggak cuma satu tempat duduk sendiri, itu tempat duduk, bisa menjadi tempat tidur yang sangat nyaman, lebih nyaman dari kasur tiup di kontrakan hehehehehehe... jadi, di setiap tempat duduk hadap2an, ada kayak overhead compartment gitu yang tadinya gue sangka dulu tempat koper kali ya... ternyata itu tempat tidur!!! jadi yang bangkunya ganjil dapet diatas, yang bangkunya genap dapet dibawah. bangku gue genap, jadi gue dapet dibawah, which is bigger bed, and a view!!! (soalnya kan jendelanya dibawah). nggak cuma itu, keretanya juga bersih, kamar mandinya cukup bersih buat wudhu dan segala macemnya itu, airnya melimpah, dan seprei dan selimutnya juga baru dan bersih. gosh it's more that i really hope for. gue tidur dengan sukses, dan pas gue bangun, i have to remind myself that i was on a train, not my room, that's how comfortable it is.
on the train ride, i met up with benjamin and chris, a couple from singapore. chris spoke thai, god bless her soul. so they sort of adopted me and arrange my van from hat yai to penang.
well, as you know, the train stopped @ hat yai, ternyata banjirnya emang parah bo... kayak jakarta 2006 kemaren... asli. no wonder lah. jadi pas sampe hat yai, kita langsung deh tuh, berburu tiket. gue akhirnya dapet tiket ke penang, thanks to chris, gue brangkat dari hat yai jam 9.30 dan mereka janji sama gue sampe ke penang jam 1.00. phew, good, my plane leaves @ 5, which gives me plenty of time. ya, telat2nya paling gue nyampe jam 2 lah bo... jadi ya... i should be good.
berangkatlah gue dari hat yai ke penang, and said my goodbye to benjamin and chris, and picked up a new friend wei along the way (no pun intended). wei is quite a travel junkie too, like most singaporeans. she's really nice because she speaks a little thai i guess (logat perbatasan tapinya) sama mandarin juga, but not too much melayu though. :D by this time i really missed speaking bahasa LOL. jadi ya... gue di van itu dengan harapan sampai ke penang paling telat jam 2 siang. Jam 11:00 gue diperbatasan thai malaysia, imigrasinya lama bo, gue nggak tau ya, orang2 imigrasi thailand ini pada punya tv ato nggak, mereka selalu mempertanyakan visa orang2 luar ASEAN jaaaaaaaaaaahhh bo... lo ga liat apa aiport tutup jadi mereka harus nyari cara untuk keluar. this time, i'm glad i have indonesian passport, jadi nggak repot. so i spent about 1 hour in the imigration. sesuatu yang gue lupa.... malaysia sama thailand beda 1 jam... sampenya gue di malaysia... berarti bukan jam 12, melainkan jam 1... jam satu dong ya.... tessi mulai panik lagi.
supirnya mau makan dulu... manusiawi, granted, kita makan 1/2 jam trus jalan lagi hampir jam 1/2 2 kita jalan. amazingnya, katanya ya, kita nggak bisa ke butterworth soalnya banjir.... bo the sun was shining bright that day... banjirnya dimana gue nggak ngerti...again i think the man upstairs is having a few laughs at me right now... it's okay i deserve it :) yeah well jam berapa tadi.. jam 1/2 2... tessi ngantuk, jadi tidur :)
jam 3 kurang 1/4 gue bangun, gue liat "welcome to penang" aaaaaaaaahhh.... we're here i thought. bentar lagi, mencoba menenangkan diri. trus gue nengok ke wei, dan nanya "masih lama ya?" trus dia cuma nyengir, ga tau, trus nanya ke raymond (a malaysian group we travel with) dia bilang ya skitar 1 jam-an lah. Anjrit, tessi panik setengah mampus, berarti gue sampe penang jam 4, pesawat gue jam 5!!!!! mampus gue... mampus gue... mampus gue!!!!! frantic, i called the airlines, dan nanya setelah ini ada pesawat jam berapa ke KL trus ada tempat duduk nggak, pesawat abis ini jam 6:40, tapi it's full booked!!!! panik, gue telpon travel agent yang dijakarta, sama sih nihil juga... omigod, so i REALLY have to get in the plane or else, i would miss my KL flight, means i have to stay the night in the airport, meaning, i can't make it by 7 o'clock tomorrow. i was really panicking. i called my dad in frantic and cried, all my old man told me is to stay calm, keep praying everything will be okay. i told the driver to be fast because i have to catch a flight. 3:30 we were crossing the bridge from butterworth to georgetown (pulau pinang)... there has to be a traffic, sumprit ini sutradara dan script writternya keren mampus dibikin deg2an sampe abis. jadi jembatannya lagi dalam perbaikan, yeah there's a little traffic jam, nggak stuck sepenuhnya sih, tapi ya.... cukup bikin ketar-ketir. but @ last i got into the sungai....halah kok lupa namanya, nibon, apalah itu, @ 3:50!!!!!! i got a cab immediately which i told him i have to go really fast, i have a flight @ 5 o'clock, so i have to be the airport by 4. he said not to worry, he could get me there before 4 (the airport was quite close you know). ya udah, masukin luggage, and off i go to the airport. yep, he got me there before 4 alright, 3:58!!!! there is God!!! gue lari ke ticket counter, got my ticket printed out, dan untungnya penerbangan domestik ya bo, jadi nggak gitu ketat banget, dan gue masih bisa cek in!!!!! omigod, something good happened to me today, finally!!! i was on the right track :)
i got to KLIA @ 18:00 as scheduled, and took a cab to the LCC airport and waited for the plane home, which was delayed for like 30 minutes, but from everything i've experienced today, 30 minutes delay was nothing.
i landed safely and hapily (never be so thankful to be home) in cengkareng @ 10:30ish, and i got my lugage and get out of the airport @ 11, gave my mommy a big hug and a kiss, never been so happy to see her.
and finally landed on my bed @ 1:30, there was a traffic jam soalnya kan lagi bikin jalan baru tuh di kamal kalo nggak salah, trus belon lagi supir mayasari bakti yang mabok and started to just hit everyone... serem bet bo... sumprit. but here i am, on my comfortable bed, spending the last two hours typing this 2-page or even longer novel on my epic adventure :P

but it is though, kind of a great closure before my great commitment (working with the government i mean) and you know what??? i can't wait to do it again!!!! right buriQ???!!!

the lesson i learn from this:
never underestimate a political unrest, especially when somchai is the PM LOL
people are nice, people are good, unplug your earphone and talked to them once in a while they could help!!
people still ask me question what race i belong to... *sigh* like i said i am my mother's daughter :)
always have a plan b, c, and d, search the internet, keep updated have a map... it really helps!!!! (aduh anak geo... :P)
God is everywhere, and trust me, when you ask for something nicely, he would give it to you, i have faith in that now

and i would like to thank the following people, and i've been thanking God all throughout this essay, so He knows he was first :)
p'paew!!!! my savior really, spafa has been nothing but great for us who was stranded so great big hug and a giant wet kiss
all the spafa staffs, p'prapai, kang, jay, pui, p'noi, and all of them i can't recall their names, omigod, they made me feel safe
siti hazirah binti mohammad :P for giving me tips and keep checking up on me... thank you hazz!!!!
mommy... for being so kind @ the end
bapak... for keep checking up on me
buriQ yang mau jadi tempat sampah gue :)
all my friends who's been checking up on me.. i love you all... big hug and giant wet kiss!!! :P
my everlasting friend..... who will be there in the time of need always... words cannot express how glad i am to have you :)

thank you for reading this... panjang banget emang, tapi ya... maybe you can learn something from this :) like the backpacking route to go to thailand hehehehehehe

love you all!!!!!

big hug!!!!!
-me-