Thursday, May 26, 2016

Malaysia Bersama Kugy

Warning!: it is going to be a mixed language post ya.. Continuity of Malaysia euphoria where I spoke mixed languages; three! English, Melayu and Indonesia. Well, Melayu and Indonesia sama saja. lol

me and the malaysian guy, payung man is obvious
Setelah dari petualangan Batman 2 di Malaysia tahun 2014, aku dan sahabatku Kugy berencana untuk ke KL di bulan April tahun 2015, tapi seperti yang sudah diketahui, aku malah ke US. Rencana itu terpaksa ditunda walaupun tiket sudah kebeli. It was pretty sad, since our main point was to meet our friends in Malaysia, and it would be my first adventure with Kugy. Me and Kugy are in the group that we call Malindo 101 :) It contains my friends from University of Minnesota and Kugy who is my neighborhood friend. In short, we both agreed in the end that it was not a good time to go anyway since she had something come up as well,  We couldn't go last year, and we did not think when we could go anytime soon. The thing that we did not know that there is always another good time for it.. Well, it is just postponed. Until this year!
Exactly couple of days before my birthday, Kugy told me that one of our friends in the group was getting married, dan lucunya lagi, aku sudah membatin pada diri sendiri kalau si teman itu get married, I should go! LOL. What a conspiracy! He's my college friend, kupanggil dia Payung Man! Hehehe karena dulu, kami pernah dalam satu show ketika PERMIAS Minnesota mengadakan Indonesian Night. Kami harus mempertunjukkan tradisi pernikahan adat ala Padang. I became the mother of the bride, payung man became a payung man lol. He needed to hold an umbrella for the groom. Bisa dikatakan jadi dayang-dayang hehehe. Kita dekat jauh sebelumnya. Mahasiswa Indonesia saat itu hanya sekitar 50an, sedangkan pelajar Malaysia jumlahnya paling tidak 150an. Jadilah, kami sering meminta bantuan mereka saat kami mengadakan event. Aku pun akhirnya sering diundang saat mereka juga ada event. That's how we got closed.

It took me and Kugy only three days to decide to go to KL in the end of April. Everything went so perfect. I got a pretty decent air fare, and there we were on the April 29th met at the airport. But, before we went far into our adventure, there's always a pre-story to be told.
Tiap tempat selalu punya cerita. Oh My! And why! I have to have a drama with my flight story, at least ONCE a year, and it is the first in this year (I hope it is the last). I bought a ticket from Air Asia in April. You know what, I just got a text message at 6PM on Thursday 27th April! A day before our departure time. My original schedule was at 3.45PM an hour before Kugy's and I was supposed to arrive an hour before Kugy as well, but it turned out that I was rescheduled to the later time at 6.25 PM. Meaning I would arrive at least 1.45 hour after Kugy which was nearly midnight. It was quiet a hassle since we needed to take taxi to our place. Note, that place that we stayed is in Selangor, another state from KL. Took about 30 minutes from KL. So, I was pretty upset. I slept not really peacefully. My mind was so focus for getting an earlier flight. I arrived at Juanda (surabaya airport) at 1 PM, I rushed to Air Asia office and explained my situation. Thank God, I could be rescheduled to earlier time; 2PM! lol! 1 hour before departure. wew. But, anyway... I got through everything and finally arrived at KLIA 2 hours before Kugy's. I was Ok with it, I already prepared with a book with me, so I waited for her and finally met Kugy!! And guess what!!! the plane scheduled on 6,30PM, the one that I was supposed to take because of rescheduling, was DELAYED hahaha. Bless air asia.
Yeaay! It is my second time travelling with a friend and woo another Pisces lol. Anyway, we both arrived safely at our hotel. And our adventure was started at that very night.

Kami dijemput salah satu teman kami dan itu kali pertamanya Kugy mendengarkan aksen Malaysian English. LOL He was surely speaking pretty fast, yang terjadi I translated for both party. LOL! We slept at 2.30AM and decided to just straight going to KL for shopping. woohooo...

Malaysia is always special for me. Because it is so the same yet so different. I feel I can easily understand anything about it. The simplest thing is language. Aku nggak perlu susah-susah cari penjelasan dalam bahasa Inggris kalau misalnya cuma ada petunjuk dalam bahasa Melayu. Walaupun penggunaan kata yang dipakai tentunya berbeda, tetapi aku masih bisa paham apa maksudnya. Misalnya nih DEPARTURE alias KEBERANGKATAN jadinnya Balai Pelepasan. Food Court yang kita juga nggak pernah punya kata yang pas, dalam bahasa Melayu itu Gerai Santap. Kata-katanya masih bisa kita mengerti. Seru kan? Apalagi semua kata-kata pokok seperti jalan, kanan, kiri, tempat, dan lain-lain itu sama persis. Hanya ketika aku ngobrol sama teman Malaysiaku, aku lebih memilih kata-kata yang bukan adaptasi dari bahasa Belanda seperti kata persis itu berasal dari bahasa Belanda, tentunya orang-orang Melayu yang dijajah Inggris ini nggak ngerti hehe. Mungkin di sini aku akan lebih banyak berbicara soal sharing culture antara Indonesia dan Malaysia.
Pernikahan adat Malaysia juga tidak jauh berbeda dengan pernikahan/resepsi adat Indonesia. Akad nikahnya tentu saja sama dengan punya Indonesia. Pakaian mereka juga mirip. Pestannya sendiri lebih diisi musik bernuansa islami, dan berpantun :)



Dulu sewaktu kuliah, aku sering diundang ke acara Hari Raya (Idul Fitri)nya mereka. Jauh di tanah orang, makan nasi dengan tangan? Heaven haha. The food is similar. But, I am a big fan of their roti jala and ayam rendang ;)
Malaysia is always interesting for me. Three big races living together. They claim themselves as 'pretty racist' among themselves, lol. I used to make Malaysian anthropology as my topic paper. Our lingua franca (sharing language) is also interesting. I truly have no trouble communicating whether using Indonesian words or hearing Malaysian words.





Ah Malaysia, I am falling in love. I have promised myself to explore you more. I still have to go to Batu caves, Merdeka Square, Melaka, and Penang.
It is on my to-go-list. Perjalanan kali ini, kami lebih fokus ke temu kangen dan pernikahan sahabat kami itu. Oh and shops hehehe.Kali ini kuliner experience aku itu makan di tempat tongkrongan ala-ala food court punya anak muda yang buka sampe malam tapi makannya Bengkoang! hahahaha. Enak tapiii. Mereka bilangnya 'Sengkuang', di potong hampir berbentuk pizza mini dengan diolesi gula melaka atau gula jawa dan ditaburi irisan kacang tanah. Enak loh. Seger ala-ala rujak (sori, waktu itu ga sempet poto karena batere habis).

Curry
 Terus, pengalaman berikutnya itu makan Banana Leaf. Ini sih kebaiasaan Indian Mamak, atau Indian muslim kalau makan kari. Aslinya, kita beneran makan di daun pisang di atas meja, nasi dan kari dan lauk dicampur semua dan makannya pake tangan. :) Nah yang ketiga itu Rojak ala Penang. Nah, ini yang menurutku agak interesting. Latar belakang aku adalah Makassar dengan banyak influence dari Maluku karena orang tua aku semuanya berasal dari Maluku. Kalau kami bilang rujak ya di pikiran kami itu adalah rujak buah yang rasanya manis. Nah, setelah di Jawa baru aku tahu kalau rujak itu juga bisa digunakan untuk rujak cingur yang dimana lebih savoury. NAH, kalau di Malaysia juga begitu. Rojak a.k.a. rujak itu lebih asin.Isinya irisan mangga muda, bengkuang, gorengan, dan bisa milih mau pake telur atau ayam. Nah loh! hahaha Mereka juga ada rujak manis yang mereka specially sebut rujak manis. Sekilas Rojak ala Penang ini mirip banget sama Ddeukboki nya Oppa oppa . lol

Rojak
 I am so blessed. Karena setiap perjalanan itu aku selalu dibantu banyak orang. Punya banyak teman di mana-mana emang sangat menyenangkan. Aku beruntung banget punya teman sampai di KL. Kami jadinya sangat 'terpelihara' gagal travelling ala backpacker hahaha. Terima kasih Malaysia,
till we meet again.

with Shasha
Malindo 101 minus Jfarghali





Next on my to-go-list. Penang and Melaka :) Wait for me!
Till we meet again


CVB

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Currently Post - May edition

Oh wow! I owe you so many stories. I have prepared two posts to be released, but I have no mood to release it. Lol. Prosticanation wins. dang.
I jump to my currently mood post first. Maybe, it can help to lighten up my mood.

May does not have so much of changes. Many travellings - more towards short weekend getaway involving only meeting and eating. Not necessarily a big adventure. True to the theme of this year, I will be travelling quiet a looooot. Half of them are for weddings. Yes! Wedding bells everywhere. Hitting 27 and I am feeling a bit helpless, like something un-accomplished just yet. I am not satisfied of what I've got now. I have been asking myself... "What's next?" and the answer is so vague. I am feeling like I am in the middle of midst, unknowingly stepping forward. It is a frustrating feeling. Because if I am just doing what I have now, it feels like I am just stuck.
Have been asking .."what should I do?" "what am I supposed to do?"
Perhaps because I am facing uncertainty again?
Many things I still want to do, and I have been planning things regarding to my current situation, but at the same time I know that in the middle of year, something else will be happened again. Bah! Things are still unsure, and I just don't like it. Half of my self wants to move forward already, but I am fully aware that I have to stay steady and make a move or do something when the time is right. Oh just another 'wait'
Bear with me Chen... bear with me...

Anyway, May! It is less than a week before it is June.
Half way trough 2016. wew

Currently
1. I have watched too many suspense/thriller less romance drama. I am feeling like ready for a romance drama again, but what a bummer I can't sit down steadily for anew drama that I am about to watch. My heart still seeks for mystery to be solved.

2. My reading ambition is also in halt. Sticks with 7 books in total for the #menuju20buku2016

3. in a full attempt to get back to 60Kg again and try to post blog regularly. Check Let's Talk, a bi-weekly blog about reviews of anything.

I owe my story in KL and a new series that I have been working on :)



Cheers!!!
CVB