Day 1 and Day 2: This was Our Dream, Bangkok

Aku, Kamase, dan AEDCEE #4

Day 1 and Day 2: This was Our Dream, Bangkok

Halo, this is my 4rd Story about Aku, Kamase, dan AEDCEE. Well, inshaa Allah, I will give you 10 stories about my journey to Bangkok. These are:

1. Aku, Kamase, dan AEDCEE 2015 #1. It just a little teaser from my series. Hihi

2. The Art in being a Minority. This story includes of my feeling in being a Muslim in Bangkok.

3. Inshaa Allah, there will be a Way to Catch Up Our Dreams Hand in Hand. This story includes of the reason why I should go to Bangkok. 

4. Day 1 and Day 2: This was Our Dream, Bangkok. This story includes of how I went to Bangkok and my first impression in getting here.

5. Day 3: Lost and Love in Bangkok. This story includes how mas Didit, Suci, and me had a lost and love story in Bangkok.

6. Day 4 and Day 5: My First International Conference. This story includes all the things about AEDCEE.

7. Day 6 and Day 7: I'll miss you Bangkok.

8. Do You Want to Read Our Paper? This is a resume of our paper (this will be published after our paper had published in the proceeding).

9. (empty space to prepare if someday I have a new inspiration hihi)

10. Resume of Aku, Kamase, dan AEDCEE.

Monday, May 27th 2015

Bengawan Train

I and mas Didit arrived to Lempuyangan Station in Yogyakarta. We were waiting Suci to come here. I thought that Suci’s dormitory is not far from this station. Five minutes more. We would go to Jakarta by using Bengawan train which would be go in 3.30 pm. What should I do?

“Miss, please wait your friend in the train.” A security guard told me. I thought it was true. I started to scan my ID card and went to the train. Before I went to the train, Suci had came.

“Mbak El.”

“Suci. Come on!”

Alhamdulillah. We were not at the tail of the train. “My friend was not ready to bring me here. She was sleep and drive a motorcycle so slow.”

“But Alhamdulillah you arrived here.”

“Yeah.”

We were walking together. I saw mas Didit was walking behind us after he had took his bag from his friend.

Ting tung ting tung ting tung ting tung ting tung ting tung. A Bengawan Train to Jakarta will go now. All of the passenger may sit on the train. Thank you. A special sound in the train told us to sit. Bismillah. It would be a very long journey.

“Mbak, this will be our first journey to foreign country.”

“Yeah, Suci. Do you remember that this is our dream? We were talking about this a year ago.”

“This is not our dream. But this was our dream.”

We were talking along the road and we were happy because we had a new older-brother. His name was mas Didit. Mas Didit was so kind person. One thing that I cannot forget it is when mas Didit said to us in WA (because we were not in the close seat), “Suci Ellena, are you hungry? I have some Beng-Bengs, a malkist, and a box of milk.” I thought it is a preparation for AVANTE member hihi.

Our trip stopped in Senin Station Jakarta at 1.00 am on the next day. We had prayed in a mosque before we were eating Padang food. A small Padang Restaurant which mas Didit usually eat when come to this station.

“How many?” I asked.

“2 times.”

“Hahaha. Why you say usually mas Didit?” I and Suci laugh at him. Mas Didit just give a smile. Yeah. Like usual.

After we had ate, we were going to Suci’s house at Tangerang. We were using a taxi and arrived at 3 am. Suci’s parents was so happy because that was like a surprise because Suci didn't have a permission from her dormitory to come home not in a holiday.

In Suci house, we were talking about so many stories and also some stories about Suci in the past and it was so funny. We then went to airport by using a taxi at 2 pm, went to airplane at 5 pm, and arrived to Don Mueang Airport at 8 pm. 

Before I tell you what happen next, I will tell you what Bangkok is first here.

This is Bangkok. 

Bangkok is a capital city in Thailand which was built in 1782. It is 2,325.37 kilometers away and needs 3 hours of flight from Jakarta. A long time ago, Bangkok is a commerce center in West of Chao Phraya River in Ayuthhaya Kingdom. When Ayutthaya was defeated by Burma Kingdon in 1797, King Taksin made a new capital city, Thonburi. Thonburi was a part of Bangkok. A new King, King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke then made a new named which was so long. But people of the city rarely use Bangkok than the other name. In the administration of King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn, there was so much building of transportation and infrastructure in Bangkok. It is the reason why we can look Bangkok as one of some famous cities in ASEAN after Singapore and Malaysia. By the development, Bangkok has a lot of skyscraper building. Do you know? Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that was never colonized. 

Source: maps.google.com

A View over the Sky

It was my first time to fly in the night because there is no Bengkulu-Jakarta flight in the night. I could see a lot of arrange lighting over the sky. It is Bangkok. I could see the lights were like some lines which build some structural pictures like squares and triangles. And I could see some lights were walking along the structural pictures. And yeah. It was some cars. But we couldn’t a picture by our cameras because our camera does not have a good auto focus. 

In the Airport

When I step my feet in the airport for the first time, I asked to myself, “Is this a dream? I am going aboard for the first time with my beloved friend, Suci.” We were arrived in Don Mueang Airport because since 1 October 2012, all of the Air Asia flight should arrived here. If you want to go to Suvarnabhumi Airport, you can use a shuttle bus. 

We took a picture in front of the King of Thailand photograph

That picture is a picture inside Don Mueang Airport. We were a team that knowing nothing there. We didn’t have an Internet connection and a tour guide. We just believe in the information box. We had asked the information box and they said that we can use a shuttle bus to Mo Chit and then use BTS to Phaya Thai.  

Source: www.transitbangkok.com

Do you know? We didn’t use this map in Thailand because we didn’t have an internet connection and we didn’t have an idea to capture this map in Indonesia. Hihi. But we could do this, couldn't we? You can get this map in http://www.transitbangkok.com by fill out your destination. After we had asked to the guide, we found shuttle bus.

A view inside the shuttle bus

A view inside shuttle bus

That was a situation inside the shuttle bus. You can look a driver, a conductor, and some passengers here. If you use this shuttle bus, you have to stay in pray because a driver drives so fast because Bangkok is not a crowded as like as Jakarta.

BTS

After we had arrived to Mo Chit, we were looking for the BTS station. Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok which has 2 lines, Sukhumvit and Silom. The two lines has a lines interchange at Siam Station. BTS is a kind of transportation that is so comfort. It has 3 street levels where the ticket booths are in the first level. Besides BTS, the other transportation in Thailand is MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transport).

How to buy a ticked

Before we use the train, we have to buy a ticket by using ticketing machine. First, we have to choose our destination station by using a map or the road map on the ticket machine. If we want to go to Asok, we have to choose number 31 and put some coins in the box which just accepts the 1, 5, and 10 baht of coins. The card and the change will be came out from the box. We can use the ticket to entering the next part of the station. After we had entered the card, we were waiting the train in the waiting room. This is the waiting room.

 

Waiting room in the station

A situation inside BTS

Seven Eleven

After we had arrived to Phaya Thai, we would buy a sim card in Seven Eleven because in Thailand there is no sim card and voucher seller except Seven Eleven. Can you compare with Indonesia? Yeah, I love Indonesia. But, do you know what just happen? We cannot buy a sim card in Seven Eleven because it was sold out. Oh God, what could we do? 

We met Amin and Patrick, two tourists too but I don’t know where they came from. They helped us to call mbak Darti by their cell phone. Alhamdulillah. Mbak Darti said that we could wait her in front of the Seven Eleven because she would pick us up by a taxi. 

Waiting mbak Darti. Can you see a building over us? It was a railway of the BTS

Amazing Experience

At this place, we had a new experience. We saw some Muslim bought something in Seven Eleven and than asked us, "Halo. Are you from Indonesia?"

"Yes." A man, a woman, and 2 children were so happy. 

"Oh yeah. We are from Arab. Are you Muslim? I just saw you from your jacket. There is an Indonesian flag, right?"

"Yes, we are from Indonesia and we are Muslim."

"So what do you doing here?"

"We want to follow an international conference."

"Ok. Do you have money?" The man told us to open our wallet and show him our money. Actually I was afraid at the first time but they were not like some thieves. After he had counted our money, he gave two sheets of 1 dollar to me and Suci and a sheet of Arab money to mas Didit. 

"Well, thank you so much Mister." We said.