7641 Miles* Away from Home

*In case you're wondering, it's 12296 km.

Datang dan tinggal di luar negara kelahiran itu tentu saja berbeda dengan datang untuk urusan traveling atau sekedar visiting. Dan pengalaman settling in bakal berbeda untuk masing-masing orang. Kalo saya sih banyak yang perlu diurusin sendiri. Seru sih, jadi belajar banyak pengalaman baru (will write another posts later, maybe). Dan banyak kesempatan untuk menertawakan diri sendiri, karena melakukan hal-hal konyol (maklum newbie). 

Jadi saya disini tinggal di shared house sewaan dengan kontrak setahun. Rumah yang saya sewa ini sudah fully furnished sebetulnya, tapi peralatan kecil-kecil gak tersedia. Sementara teman-teman lain ada yang tinggal di shared house yang sudah komplit, tinggal datang, bawa diri dan baju saja, saya masih harus mengusahakan sendiri barang-barang semisal bantal, seprai, duvet, panci, wajan, peralatan makan, dll.

Daaan...baru 10 hari saya disini, sudah ada random feeling tentang rumah dan kampung halaman. Entah ini homesick atau bukan, yang jelas saat ini saya pengen banget makan sayur daun pepaya. Disini boro-boro daun pepaya, kangkung saja mesti diimpor dulu dari Thailand, mahal pula harganya pas sudah sampai kesini. Harga seikat kangkung bisa 10 kali harga di pasar dekat rumah atau di abang tukang sayur keliling.

Ini bukan di India kok, suer :))

P.S: This post was written randomly in the first night of my first lecture, and i've already got pre-, during- and post-reading lists for my course, which are quite.....a lot. 

Jabal Rahmah dan Ondel-Ondel

Jabal Rahmah

Jabal Rahmah (Mount of Mercy) adalah salah satu tempat yang paling saya ingat selama kunjungan saya umroh April kemarin. Ya tentunya selain tujuan utama yaitu Masjid Haram dan Masjid Nabawi.

Saya mengunjungi Jabal Rahmah di hari ketiga pas berada di Mekah. Selain Jabal Rahmah, agenda hari itu mengunjungi Jabal Tsur, Mina+Mudzalifah dan Jabal Hira. Pokoknya tema wisata kota Mekah ini adalah wisata gunung (Jabal=gunung). Dan memang topografi kota Mekah itu bergunung-gunung. Beda dengan di Indonesia yang kebanyakan gunungnya tanah atau batu kapur, di Mekah gunungnya batu. Dan orang membangun kota ini dengan memotong gunung berbatu.

Dan di tempat lain yang saya sebutkan itu mobil tour saya cuma lewat saja. Turun pun cuma sebentar, gak nyampe 10 menit di Jabal Tsur. Maklum, 8 dari 10 rombongan umrohnya orang berusia paruh baya keatas :)

Praktis, cuma di Jabal Rahmah ini saja yang turun agak lama. Dari awal saya sudah excited, karena muthawif(pendamping umroh) bilang disini bisa foto sama onta. Entah kenapa saya terobsesi naik onta. Dulu waktu ke Taman Safari Indonesia sama teman saya ini saya udah ngebet ingin naik onta, tapi gak keturutan karena kesorean :(

Jadi waktu dibilang di Jabal Rahmah saya bisa foto sama onta senanglah saya (wait, jadi excited pergi ke Arab cuma biar ketemu onta? | ya enggaklah!!)

Setelah sampai Jabal Rahmah saya langsung disambut bau kotoran onta. Dan mata saya langsung jelalatan nyari onta yang bisa dinaikin. Tapi, saya kecewa berat. Bukannya ketemu onta malah saya ketemu ondel-ondel disana. Onta yang saya bayangkan itu hewan padang pasir eksotis berwarna coklat, berpunuk dan berpelana kulit.

Onta beneran

Yang saya temui disana hewan berpelana karpet tebal warna-warni dan berkalung bunga imitasi. Dan diatas punuknya sudah seperti tenda kecil berwarna mencolok dan hore sekali. Persis seperti ondel-ondel berhias. Terang saja saya langsung ilfeel. Walaupun kata muthawif, semakin bagus hiasan ontanya semakin mahal tarif naik ontanya. Batal deh acara naik ontanya. Bahkan saya juga malas mengambil fotonya ondel-ondel ontanya.

Onta apa ondel-ondel?

Gambar dari sini

Jabal Rahmah sendiri adalah bukit kecil yang tingginya sekitar 15-20 meter dari permukaan tanah di kawasan padang Arafah. Jangan dibayangkan padang Arafah ini padang pasir berbatu dan tandus seperti padang-padang lain di kota Mekah. Banyak pohon ditanam di padang ini, jadi tampak cukup hijau untuk ukuran padang pasir. Pepohonan yang banyak ditanam disini biasa disebut Pohon Soekarno, karena dulu sewaktu kunjungan Pak Karno ke Arab Saudi beliau yang menyumbang bibit pohon ini. Pohon ini cukup membantu "mendinginkan" jamaah haji saat wukuf di Arafah.

Konon, suhu tertinggi di Arafah pernah mencapai 50 derajat Celcius waktu siang. Sampai-sampai pemerintah Arab Saudi mendirikan tiang-tiang tinggi untuk menyemprotkan hujan buatan, karena saking panasnya.

Itu kelihatan kan sprinklersnya? :D

Menurut cerita, tempat ini adalah tempat bertemunya Adam dan Hawa yang diturunkan di bumi. Dan menurut kepercayaan, Jabal Rahmah ini adalah tempat mustajab untuk berdoa minta enteng jodoh. Jadi tempat ini selalu ramai dikunjungi orang walaupun tidak sedang musim haji. Yang umroh pun datang ke tempat ini untuk berdoa.

Orang tua mendoakan anaknya agar cepat dapat jodoh. Istri berdoa agar tetap langgeng sampai kakek-nenek sama suaminya. Suami berdoa agar bisa kawin lagi langgeng dengan istrinya. Yang masih muda dan single seperti saya tentu saja berdoa biar dapat pasangan hidup #eaaa #bukannyasayadesperate #lhakansayadoanyasamaTuhan #bukankemanusia #iyaiyaneng #hashtagnyakokgakkelar2sih

*My prince charming, gak usah sungkan pake GPS atau nanya alamatku sama orang ya, jangan nyasar terus. OK? :D*

Sayangnya sepanjang tangga menuju puncak Jabal Rahmah yang ditandai tiang beton berukuran kurang lebih 1x6 meter ini banyak pedagang dan tukang foto dadakan yang mengganggu pengunjung. Mereka memaksa kita mau difoto oleh mereka. Saya sempat diminta tolong oleh seorang ibu dari Turki untuk mengambil fotonya dengan background tugu di Jabal Rahmah, eh dengan seenaknya si fotografer amatir merebut kamera polaroid ibu itu dari tangan saya. Ya jadinya kita tarik-tarikan kamera lah. Dan akhirnya setelah si fotografer itu disemprot sama si ibu, baru dia melepaskan pegangannya.

Belum lagi pengemis-pengemis cilik dan *maaf* cacat yang bertebaran di tangga menangis menjerit minta sedekah. Gak di Arab atau di Indonesia, di sekitar tempat-tempat seperti itu pasti banyak pengemis. Bukannya tidak mau memberi sedekah atau apa, tapi menurut saya memberi uang begitu saja tidak akan membantu mendewasakan anak-anak itu.

"Give a man a fish and he won't starve for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he won't starve for his entire life" - Chinese proverb

(tapi mereka kan masih anak2, lagian songong banget kamu neng, sok bisa ngajarin orang | ya emang ini kan sotoy dan songong2nya saya)

Balik lagi ke Jabal Rahmah. Diatas bukit ini biasanya para jamaah haji/umroh berdoa. Ada yang cuma melihat-lihat dan berfoto. Beberapa jamaah dari negeri lain yang solat lantas berdoa. Ada juga yang berebutan menulis nama dengan spidol di tugu beton penanda puncak Jabal Rahmah itu. Sampai-sampai bagian bawah tugu itu menghitam penuh tulisan. Konon, kalau menulis nama sendiri dan nama pasangan, maka hubungannya akan langgeng. Kata muthawif saya, itu semacam tourist trap, lha wong sewa spidol untuk menulis nama saja harus membayar 5 real.

Bawahnya item banget, itu bekas spidol semua

Padahal kalau dipikir-pikir, untuk menghormati pertemuan dua manusia pertama di muka bumi ini gak perlu menulis nama segala. Toh jaman Adam dan Hawa waktu bertemu juga tidak menulis nama di tugu. Boro-boro nulis nama, spidol saja waktu itu belum ada. Bahkan tugu betonnya pun belum ada sepertinya. Jadi doa saja cukup tanpa harus berlebihan berebutan menulis nama seperti itu.

Ah, tapi ini pemikiran saya sendiri. Biasalah, sotoy :)

Somewhere in Middle East

Breakfast

A mosque by the sea

Orchid Edition

Another pics to share with ^_^

Greeny White

Single Fighter

Artificially Uniquely Singapore part II

Still a posting bout my traveling experience to Singapore. At 3rd day, we went to Singapore Botanic Garden. No direct way to this place by MRT, so at first we took MRT to Queenstown station. Actually, Commonwealth station is closer to the place than Queenstown, we just didn't know yet, eh :D

Then we took a bus, twice (forget the number) and got the closest bus stop with the Botanic Garden. It was at morning, but the temperature was quite hot already. We entered the garden, walked along the road and stopped near the swan lake. Then we walked again among the trees crossing the Ginger Garden to the Orchid Garden.


We saw the souvenirs shop, just sightseeing cos we can't afford to buy those expensive souvenirs (very low budget traveler we are :D). There are many Risis Orchid. The Risis orchid is a handcrafted model of Singapore's national flower. Real orchids are dipped in 24K gold and made into pins, brooches, earrings and pendants.

I myself like the orchid garden cos i could see lots of orchid and took the pics of many species that i've never seen before. But i had one question after saw those orchids. How do they keep it all bloom? Then the answer was coming right in front of my eyes. There are gardeners who brought fresh flowery orchid plants. Those flowery orchids then being arranged in some spot. Well yeah, so the curiosity was closed.


Then we continued to the museums. There are Singapore Philatelic Museum and Singapore National Museum on our list, but we didn't enter them cos they aren't free (again, low budget traveler mode on).


We just walked along the street, saw some directions in bus stop's plank. Then we found the Chijmes, which is not in our itinerary. Hell yeah, it is a chic place so we entered it.


Chijmes, was a Catholic convent and now a multifunction complex used for dining, entertainment and also shopping. The architecture is gothic style. According to wikipedia, it won a Merit Award in the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2002.

From Chijmes we continued walking around the street (yeah walking) to Bugis street. While we were walking we passed the National Library of Singapore. And we decided to enter it. Fortunately there was an exhibition held, named Rihlah. It's an exhibition of Arabs in Southeast Asia. So their origin is Hadramaut, somewhere in Yemen. First they came to Southeast Asia as merchant. They were spread to several city (as i remember, in Indonesia they came to Batavia and Malang, just that two city i could remember ^_^). Instead of merchandising, they also spread Islam to the local people.


After ate lunch at Bugis street, we went to Kampong Glam to look for mosque. Took the bus, we stopped by near the Bussorah pedestrian. And Sultan Mosque is right ahead the pedestrian. After had a pray, we walked along Kampong Glam area.


Many shophouses here, along Arab street, Baghdad street and Bussorah street. Souvenirs such as keyholders,T-shirts and many more are sold here. Textiles, carpets and Muslim's religious items are sold too. They blend with shophouses for crafts, art galleries, curious shops and restaurants. The whole atmosphere is pampering my sense.

A couple minutes after, the hard rain poured. We stayed at front of a shop terrace to wait the rain stop. As we were sitting, i watched people still walk away under the rain (using umbrella of course). What surprised me is the Singapore citizen seems not afraid of thunder and lightning. Unlike me, they just keep walking. I'm kinda afraid of the lightning and thunder (heard some stories bout people who were hit by lightning). Maybe, no one here in Singapore ever been hit by the lightning :D

Well then, we followed them. We walked under the hard rain till bus stop and then we went to Harbourfront station. My next destination is Henderson Waves actually. But it was night already when we got Mount Faber. It was dark too. So we canceled and went back to Harbourfront station. But there's still one place to go, the Chinatown.


I was pretty tired and hungry when i got here, so i couldn't enjoy the warm atmosphere. Le rouge est partout. I was dizzy to see that red color all around @_@. And my legs, felt like they need to be bandaged. In hunger, we were trying to find some food here, but all i saw around are pork and lard menu. Hopeless, we went back to Bugis, but even KFC was already closed.

Finally, we decided to buy something in supermarket. We found instant cup noodle, and they are halal (thank God). So each of us bought two cup noodles, for dinner and breakfast T_T

The morning after, i woke up late. My legs still felt painful. Plan of the day was just went to Bugis to find some souvenirs. This moment we went to Bugis on foot. Our Singapore Tourist Pass was just for 3 days use, and it was the 4th day we were in Singapore. Moreover, Lavender to Bugis street ain't too far, just a couple blocks right ahead.

After bought some things we went back, on foot again, in hurry. Cos our check out time is 12 o'clock and we finished shopping at about 11.45 :D
Luckily our backpack were already been packed, and so we check out from hostel then took MRT to Changi. By the way when we were boarding, i saw a beautiful creature God ever made :"> *hyperbolic*
A goodlooking man named Faisal, a Fly Emirates' employee (i saw it from his id :D). Unfortunately i didn't take his picture T_T

*tips:
- don't forget to return ur Singapore Tourist Pass card to get SGD10 deposit return
- after buying a single ticket for MRT you could also return the ticket and get SGD1
- muscular pain reliever is a MUST! i use Counterpain balm *ngiklan mode on*
- some museums are closed on Monday

Artificially Uniquely Singapore part I

This is my first backpack travel abroad. I'm soooo excited cause of some reason, such as:
1. First time i use my passport (while i got with sweat and struggle *lebay mode on*) and get it stamped by the immigration :D
2. First time i prepare all itinerary to travel abroad from scratch
3. First time i go backpacking travel with my sista
4. First time i feel the atmosphere outside my beautiful Indonesia ^_^
5. And sooo many first time experience

I went to Singapore on Sat noon, by plane (i got cheap fares due to Air Asia promotion). Took the MRT from Changi to Lavender station (my first experience using the MRT too). Ofcourse i bought the ticket first from the ticket counter. It was the Singapore Tourist Pass for 3 days. I'm pretty much adaptable with those card (by seeing locals use it first) :D
Just tap it on MRT entrance gate's scanner or if you take the bus, tap it on scanner near the front door. And when you stop, tap it again on scanner before you get out of the bus.


After arriving at Lavender station, we (I and my sista) looked for The Amigos Hostel. I already booked 2 bed at this hostel couple days before. We should turned left till found the Lavender street. But we turned right and get confused. Then hard rain was pouring down. So we were running to the closest shelter. Well, what an experience to start a trip. Lost, got wet of rain and hungry. Luckily, my sis brought 2 packs of nasi bungkus from home.

So now here we were, in Singapore, in the middle of garden shelter of an apartment, under the hard rain, wet and cold, ate the nasi bungkus heartily (it was the nicest meal i ever ate in Singapore, lovely home meal ^_^). After finished it, ah we ran out of drinking water T_T but we kept walking to find the hostel.

And after got lost (walk for a couple of blocks) we return to Lavender station and turned left. Finally we found the hostel, yaaayy. Small one, with hideous entrance gate besides the Lavender Hotel. The rooms are quite clean, and we share room with 6 other peoples cos it's an 8 female dorm room. I dont mind with it ofcourse, cos we got low price. Worth enough for us who used the room just for sleep and keep our backpack while we went around the city.

Soon after checked in, we went to Little India. As i guessed before, there must be a lot of Indian people there *ya eyalah :hammer:*. One thing i can't forget bout this place is the smells. Herbs, incense and so many things. What a new place to see and new experience ^_^


Then we continued to Clarke Quay to see some night view of the city. It is a nice place to hang around, to eat or even just to walking around. Kinda romantic place too (if you're here with ur couple :P). After finished with the night view we turned back to hostel and took a rest.


The day after, we woke up early and took MRT to the City Hall station. Then walked along the river to reach the Merlion statue. Many interesting things to see on the way there. Till finally we reached the Merlion park and took some photographs (as a proof that we've been in Singapore hehe).


Then we continued to Science Center (still by MRT). It is a cool place to learn about science things. There are mathematics' room, space science, sound exhibition, etc. And, yeah a roaring T-rex will welcomes visitors at entrance.


After took some photographs and played with some educative playthings there we continued to Sentosa Island. We took a bus at bus stop across the Science Center to Jurong East station. Then took MRT to Harbourfront station (this MRT is soooo helpful during our trip). Then we walked to the Vivo City to took the train to Sentosa.

We saw Merlion statue there, this is the third i've seen after those two in Merlion park near The Fullerton Hotel. There are two more actually, the fourth Merlion is located at the headquarters of the Singapore Tourism Board at 1 Orchard Spring Lane. The fifth Merlion is located at Mount Faber.

The choice of the Merlion as a symbol for Singapore has its roots in history. The Merlion commemorates the ancient name and the legend taken from the "Malay Annals" (literary and historical work from the 15th or 16th century) explaining how Singapore received its present name. In ancient times, Singapore was known as Temasek, which is Javanese for the sea. It was then as it is today, a centre of trade.

At the end of the 4th century A.D., Temasek was destroyed. As recorded in the legend in the "Malay Annals," Prince Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya empire rediscovered the island later in the 11th century A.D. On seeing a strange beast (which he later learnt was a lion) upon his landing he named the island Singapura which is a Sanskrit word for Lion (Singa) City (Pura).

The Merlion, with its fish-like body riding the waves of the sea, is symbolic of the ancient city of Temasek. At the same time, its majestic head recalls the legend of the discovery of the Singapore by Prince Nila Utama, when Singapore received its present name.
www.newasia-singapore.com

At Sentosa Island we met Eni, our neighbour who works as a TKW (female labour) there. She brought her Philippine's friend (if i'm not mistaken) named Bing and another Javanese TKW also (i forget her name) who marries a local citizen. We went to the Siloso Beach and walked across the-damn-shaky-hanging-bridge to the quay.


The beach is umm...so artificial i think (the rumor is the sands are imported from Indonesia). They polished it up and make it as a tourism object. The government are very concern of the country's potential and they develop it to attract tourist. I wonder, if Indonesian government could do the same, how many tourist will be attracted to come? Our land and water are extremely beautiful and extraordinary exotic *lebay lagi deh :D* but i can't agree more with my own sentences ^_^


Here we were treated by Eni and Bing. They bought us meals for dinner. We ordered vegetarian food cos we're avoiding pork and lard. We also tried Bandung (a-rose-scented-and-tasted-drink) and Es Kacang Merah. Thanks to them both for treating us, so we could save money ^_^


At afternoon, we were parted cos I and sister want to see the Song of The Sea show. It was a pretty good show, a musical show combining with lasers and fireworks show. Though some of visitors worried because lightnings strike often at the sea (the show is held right at the beach), overall the show was amusing. After the show finished, we came back to hostel to take a rest and get prepared for the journey in the next day.

*tips:
- if u're traveler with high mobility, Singapore Tourist Pass is a worthed choice.
- tap water is drinkable (for you who want to save money, cos mineral water costs about SGD1.2 or above)
- i recommend to use umbrella than raincoat when it's raining (unless ur raincoat is chic, so it could be worn all the time, moreover it won't be easy to protect ur camera and take a pic if u wear raincoat)