Time to leave Malaysia, before getting caught by immigration officer because of overstay. So we (my Mom, cousin and me) took the Express Sinar Pagi train to Singapore. It was a long 7 hours journey with a boring scenery. Scenery of Jakarta-Bandung train was much more beautiful than these flat lands and palm estates. Reached Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Singapore on afternoon, greeted with "Welcome to Malaysia" banner and Malaysian flag... what the hell?? Just noticed that the station and also the railway along the Singapore belong to KTM, the train operator which is owned by Malaysian government.
Singapore, 14-16 June 2007
Took a cab from station to the hostel. It turned out that the driver was quite pain in the ass! Not friendly at all and blamed me because of not showing the map to the hostel. "If u had shown me the map, u would have paid less because I wouldn't have taken u around and around" (he did not say exactly like that coz he spoke in his bloody singlish). So I replied "How should I know, u're the driver, I've already shown u the complete address!" "I don't know the numbering, if u want to complain, go directly to my company!" hah, he found his own excuse. Are all Singaporeans like this guy? When reached the hostel, he purposedly dropped us at the other side of the road, and did not help us taking out those 3 big briefcases from the trunk, huh... what a gentleman!
We stayed just nearby the Bugis Junction and the Bugis MRT station. Soh said the escalators in Singapore run faster than those in KL. Well, she was right. I was also surprised just after stepping my foot on the escalator at the MRT station... whoa! We spent the afternoon by cruising the Singapore River. The recorded voice in the boat said that previously the river was very dirty and smelly because of the trading activities on the river and it took 10 years to clean the river. Wow, how long will it take to clean the Ciliwung river in Jakarta??
The next day, it was raining in the morning and it stopped just before the friday sermon. We were going to walk around at the famous Orchard Road, but we were stuck inside the MRT station during the rain. So we decided to take MRT to Little India. We went to Mustafa Centre, the giant 'toko kelontong' or 'kedai runcit' in malay. Seriously, it looked just like 'toko kelontong' (what's the proper english translation of 'toko kelontong' anyway??) based on the arrangement of goods that does not follow the esthetics of the 'high-class' department store, and we can find everything here, from clothes, i-pod, teapots, bags, chocolates, jeweleries, etc, etc... with relatively cheap price.
I did my friday sermon in the mosque just nearby the Mustafa Centre, it's called 'Anguilla Mosque', the mosque of indian muslim community in Singapore. The khutbah (speech) was conducted in Urdu (or Tamil? not sure) and I fell asleep... oops!
Batam, 16 June 2007
Took a ferry to Batam and it spent around an hour. Finally came back to my country! Relative picked us up at Sekupang ferry terminal and brought us makan to a restoran padang. Finally felt the bumpy road after one full year even never saw it in neighbouring country. We stayed at relative's house in an area called Tiban. Met Nuri and her friend at Megamall next to Batam Center, brought me to her place after wandering around some of Batam city (is that a city??) by 'luxurious' angkot (what could be more luxurious than a toyota twin-cam angkot?? it was on her of course, hehe), and treated me with good pizza and yummy donuts! Thanks Nuy!
Depok-Bogor, 18 June 2007
Shit happened on my first day home. I just got back from Universitas Indonesia and took a train from the station nearby. It was rush hour when people came back from their work and the train was extremely crowded and surprisingly dark! People kept pushing each other trying to get out of the train when it nearly reached the next station. I put my cellphone and wallet inside my bag and just noticed when I finally got a seat. My bag was teared off exactly at the part where I kept my cellphone and it was vanished. Luckily my wallet was still there. It hurt me so much knowing all my contact numbers that I'd been keeping for the past 6 years were suddenly gone!
Well, life moves on buddy! Welcome home!
Singapore, 14-16 June 2007
Took a cab from station to the hostel. It turned out that the driver was quite pain in the ass! Not friendly at all and blamed me because of not showing the map to the hostel. "If u had shown me the map, u would have paid less because I wouldn't have taken u around and around" (he did not say exactly like that coz he spoke in his bloody singlish). So I replied "How should I know, u're the driver, I've already shown u the complete address!" "I don't know the numbering, if u want to complain, go directly to my company!" hah, he found his own excuse. Are all Singaporeans like this guy? When reached the hostel, he purposedly dropped us at the other side of the road, and did not help us taking out those 3 big briefcases from the trunk, huh... what a gentleman!
We stayed just nearby the Bugis Junction and the Bugis MRT station. Soh said the escalators in Singapore run faster than those in KL. Well, she was right. I was also surprised just after stepping my foot on the escalator at the MRT station... whoa! We spent the afternoon by cruising the Singapore River. The recorded voice in the boat said that previously the river was very dirty and smelly because of the trading activities on the river and it took 10 years to clean the river. Wow, how long will it take to clean the Ciliwung river in Jakarta??
The next day, it was raining in the morning and it stopped just before the friday sermon. We were going to walk around at the famous Orchard Road, but we were stuck inside the MRT station during the rain. So we decided to take MRT to Little India. We went to Mustafa Centre, the giant 'toko kelontong' or 'kedai runcit' in malay. Seriously, it looked just like 'toko kelontong' (what's the proper english translation of 'toko kelontong' anyway??) based on the arrangement of goods that does not follow the esthetics of the 'high-class' department store, and we can find everything here, from clothes, i-pod, teapots, bags, chocolates, jeweleries, etc, etc... with relatively cheap price.
I did my friday sermon in the mosque just nearby the Mustafa Centre, it's called 'Anguilla Mosque', the mosque of indian muslim community in Singapore. The khutbah (speech) was conducted in Urdu (or Tamil? not sure) and I fell asleep... oops!
Batam, 16 June 2007
Took a ferry to Batam and it spent around an hour. Finally came back to my country! Relative picked us up at Sekupang ferry terminal and brought us makan to a restoran padang. Finally felt the bumpy road after one full year even never saw it in neighbouring country. We stayed at relative's house in an area called Tiban. Met Nuri and her friend at Megamall next to Batam Center, brought me to her place after wandering around some of Batam city (is that a city??) by 'luxurious' angkot (what could be more luxurious than a toyota twin-cam angkot?? it was on her of course, hehe), and treated me with good pizza and yummy donuts! Thanks Nuy!
Depok-Bogor, 18 June 2007
Shit happened on my first day home. I just got back from Universitas Indonesia and took a train from the station nearby. It was rush hour when people came back from their work and the train was extremely crowded and surprisingly dark! People kept pushing each other trying to get out of the train when it nearly reached the next station. I put my cellphone and wallet inside my bag and just noticed when I finally got a seat. My bag was teared off exactly at the part where I kept my cellphone and it was vanished. Luckily my wallet was still there. It hurt me so much knowing all my contact numbers that I'd been keeping for the past 6 years were suddenly gone!
Well, life moves on buddy! Welcome home!
