Nikita and CuChi Tunnel Tour in HCMC

Y'ello folks!

It's almost 7 days to go to Eid Mubarak in 2017, Alhamdulillah I still do my fasting even though the weather is super hawt and I so want to eat ice cream in the mid of the day *no no, tak boleh!*

and now exactly at 11 pm, I am having this random thought about people or strangers whom I met during my travel. Some are my friend's friends, some are my friend's relatives, and some of them are totally stranger I met: on the train, on the plane, in the bus, on the road, etc.

I once told a brief story about meeting up with two strangers on a flight to Perth, one is a cute nerd Frenchie guy who studied Biology and the other one was an old guy whom suggested me to visit Mandurah (and I did!), and there are other rest I will talk about them later but for this chapter I will talk about a guy whom I met in the bus in Ho Chi Minh.

The story of a lonely blonde guy.

It was in February 2016, I visited HCMC with Rosita and we booked two tickets to Cu Chi Tunnel. We booked it in our travel agent in the ho(s)tel we stayed, pretty cheap for both of us as we were excited to join the tour to the post-vietnam war caves/tunnels!

At 7am in the morning, I wore my blue tank top and hot pants and ready to catch the bus. Rosita was prepared too, as she always wore her sneakers, and I forgot to bring my sneakers so I only wore my oxford shoes. Yes, oxford shoes. Rather too fancy to wear to have some adventure in Cu Chi Tunnel. While we were waiting for our bus, I was with two other German fellows whom I thought they would go to the tunnel as well, then nope, their destination was Hanoi (they took 16 hours van to Hanoi, crazy enough!).

Rosita and I were called by the bus driver then we hopped on. I didn't like to sit in the back so I sat in the second front row. Behind me, there was a skinny blonde guy, with glasses, looked like a nerd then smiled at me. I just smiled back, I didn't want to open the conversation as I was shy, so I'd better quiet. This blonde guy behind me seemed relax and alone and no one accompanied him whatsoever then I rather pitied. 

I looked outside the window, there were some other buses, passing by, and some random white guy looked at the opposite side and waved his hand and smiled at me. what? This Vietnam vibe probably a bit... in the mood for lust, hahha everyone seemed like in the mood to chuckle and flirt :p (or perhaps, being friendly?). Ten mins later, the guide, a young Vietnamese boy introduced himself and gave us instructions what to do's and dont's during our trip, and suddenly another guy jumped to our bus and sat close to this blonde guy, but he seemed reluctant as he saw a girl next to my seat sitting alone and he rather sat with that girl (oh boy is always be boy). I don't know why I was not that interested to his attitude but I admired a bit of his puzzle piece tattoo on his ankle (now you know how observant I am). When I was observing him (like a creep), he looked back at me and said, "Hi, good morning!" and I just replied, "good."

For about 20 minutes on the road, our bus stopped and five old couples jumped onto it. The funny thing is, the guide was kinda worried about the condition of the old couples so he asked us to move our seat, the blonde guy sat closed to the driver (he sat in the small and fragile seat) then Rosita and I moved to the back. We met with two girls, Jemma from Australia and Stacy from Phillipines. We talked a bit and mostly I was sleeping during the journey. We stopped in some craft shop and I was looking around a bit, but mostly I just needed the toilet. Our bus didn't start to move as we waited for one person whom hadn't entered our bus yet, and 15 minutes later.. there was that lonely blonde guy whom was the person! hahaha, he strolled very calmly and very innocent as he came into the bus. He'd not brought anything, just himself and small waist bag.

Finally, we arrived at Cu Chi Tunnel.

I jumped out from the bus and gave my high five to Rosita as somebody called me, "Hey, where are you from?"

I turned my head and it was that blonde guy who called me, "Oh I am from Indonesia, and you?"

"Oh Indonesia, I thought you were from Iran, haha. I am from Belarus"

"Belarus? Minsk?"

"Hey yeah, how do you know?"

 
"I am just guessing."

"and... Jakarta?"

"Nope, Surabaya. My name is Vera."

"Nikita."

"Gorbachev?"

"Hahaha, no, not that one" , he laughed and we had the friendly handshake .

Apparently, we belonged to the same group, he was quite adventurous as he tried almost any "challenges" in CuChi Tunnel. We tried the Vietcong's small hidden cave, and we went through it! omg, I couldn't really record the 'journey' that I did in the cave, it was pretty intense, super narrow and small cave and it was 100meters! so we needed to walk 100 meters in a dark and we almost couldn't breathe due to the lack of oxygen... it made me think how could the Vietcong soldiers survive in this kind of place? dayum.

I sweated a lot after getting passed through the tunnel. Nikita gave me high fives, and he started to ask me about stuff. He asked me about the muslim population in Indonesia as he was really interested in. I told him, I am a muslim and he suddenly asked me if I could speak Arabic. I said yeah, I am a passive Arabic, and in a sudden he tried to speak Arabic to me! what the heck?

I was super astonished. It was super cool to know that he could speak Arabic fluently. Then, he explained that he could speak 5 languages: Russian, English, Arabic, German, and Italian. He did his master in Parma, Italy and used to live in Jordania to master his Arabic. He was the man of culture, I thought so!

Our conversation was getting deeper as he questioned about my travel time and life in Indonesia particularly. In the bus, before we finished our trip, he asked me for a dinner together but I was too shy to say yes so we just said farewell without even exchange some contacts.

When I arrived at the hostel, I felt regretful a bit, it must have been a cool idea just to get to know some stranger and discuss and blabber about some deep shite about universe.

This story is dedicated to him, to Nikita, the Blonde Belarussian guy!
dude, wherever you are, I should have said yes to your offer and we could probably be bestfriend!    

 

Off We Go to HCMC : prelude

Y'ello folks!

long time no see (who wants to see your blog, anyway? you are talking to yourself!)

ahahah yer, whatever!

It's been a long time since I wrote my last story when I was in Japon, I even didn't continue the story in Nara part 2! well, I should do it but hmm perhaps not today as I want to write about my journey in Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam :D

Yep, VIETNAM!

Super crowded place, though I am a typical of big city girl, I was once scared when I explored the whole HCMC, like seriously dude, motorcycles there are very agrressive hahaha, but I like it though!

My trip in HCMC was pretty short, only 4 days, as I wanted short escape from Phnom Penh after doing a conference there. I super really want to visit Ha long Bay actually, but yeaaaah because I need to take longeer bus or plane tickets to go there, and I am only a student, so I decided to take the cheaper bus from Phnom Penh.

I woke up in earlyyy in the morning and waited for the pick-up service I already booked with my friend Rosita, a day prior. I paid USD15 including the pick-up service. They promised me to pick me up at 6 am in the morning, and I am a very punctual person (ahem!) so I was standing in front of our hostel waiting for the pick-up service.

6.10.... nothing

6.20.... still nothing

and 5 minutes later, a big limousin bus approached our hotel. I was happy, yay!

the driver got out from the bus and asked my receipt then I gave them but he said "No, not you"

I mean, like what?

He then came into the hostel and 5 minutes later he came out with two european couples. BUAHHAHAHA, okay so not this great limousin bus. I thought I was that exclusive so they needed to pick me up with a nice limousin bus.

short after that, a tuk-tuk driver approached us and he asked us if we were going to HCMC bus, with bad english.

"You? tuk tuk?"

well.. I didn't understand what he said so I answered, "No, I am not Tuktuk"

he was confused again then he said, "Ho chi minh! ho chi minh!"

AAAHH.. SO HE WAS OUR DRIVER!

great, we were picked up by a tuk-tuk! not bad!

So we went to the bus station at 6.40 or something, he drove very fast, as our bus was actually at 7 am, and we assumed that he overslept so that's why he was kinda late to pick up us and WE GOT LOST to the wrong bus station. HAHAHA, nice. we arrived at the correct bus station at 7.20, the bus driver was kinda patient as we were the last one who jumped in!

Thanks sir :D

So here we go, our 6-hour-trip to HCMC began.

I kinda expected that my bus would be full of foreign travelers so we could exchange stories and probably do the spontaneous trip with them. BUT NOT AGAIN, the bus was full of Cambodian people or Viatnemese perhaps, as we were the only foreigners from Indonesia, :D the bus was super comfy and we enjoyed the trip, the bus driver played some original Khmer or Viatnamese songs which were very ear-catchy! I danced on the seat, a bit, as the music offered you a dance-feeling tune.

We were sleepy, then we ate our snacks we bought from seven eleven last night. I really enjoyed the scenery, the long way scenery, kinda different with what I usually have in Java, Indonesia. Similar but a slight different.

 

The one thing I like was, before we crossed the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, we passed through some 'casino areas' and we thought we were in Las Vegas. Super different what we had in Phnom penh, this area was pretty 'colorful' with big hotels and casinos.So, I searched on internet and found the location is called Bavet . You can click on to get to know what it is.

Then, the bus stopped for awhile, at some restaurant, we were hungry as hell, but we were hesitating about the meal and we kinda didn't have any dollars left :p So we just took a deep breath and said bye bye to the food. As the bus started to hit the road, we were asked by the co-bus driver what kind of food we ate, we said none since we didn't have money, and he said, "the food was free".

CRAP!

As we entered the border, Rosita and I were the only persons who jumped out the bus to do some check, immigration in the border was not that fancy, but pretty calm and I  liked it, no rushy-rushy and less people. The immigration officer spent time to look at my passport, checked my face again, checked the passport, and asked me what will I do in Vietnam, I said, hm holiday. So he smiled at me and said that I needed to do some re-check on my baggage again. HAHAHHA, cheeky!

Then yay, we were in Ho chi minh! stamped!

Which the city was totally different what we had in Phnom penh, super lively, and cheerful and we found starbucks!!! AHAHHAAH, you capitalist pig!

We arrived safely in Pham Ngu Lao, the similar Khaosan Road in Thailand, where the backpackers stay or average students like us stay with two big suitcases . hahaha (how could you consider yourself as a backpacker when you traveled with suitcase?)

In my opinion, I like Pham Ngu Lao better than Khaosan Road, don't ask me why but next to our hotel there was a park (I didn't really know the name, something like September park or whatever), and very nice view to just being lazy and judging people passing by :p

Because we were damn hungry so we walked along Pham Ngu Lao to find some famous Pho, I made some brief research that don't buy a Bo Pho as it is pork and I don't eat pig, (maybe because you are the capitalist pig, eh Vera?).

One of The best food in the world

I had some interesting discussion with Rosita, how to consider this food is halal food or not, hmm pretty rough discussion along the street and we also had to fight the traffic! 

I still remember when she said, 

"No, Vera, I can prove you that our food we eat in Indonesia is 100% halal!"

"Like how?"

"I can show you the butchery places close to my home!"

"So you think those butchers distribute the meat in our whole city?"

"We can do some research about that!"

"Challenge?"

I know this somehow led to some unnecessary arguments

But it was less tense after we found some veggies food! See?! good food brought you some good mood and everyone was happy as the pho was super delicious and spicy!!!

LOVE IT. BLESS YOU VIETNAM. 

It was already at 4pm and we just walked aimlessly to just sightseeing and did some random trivial things between us.

Rosita and The Park

Them People

PS. I really like taking pictures of people in the street, or local people there instead of taking pictures of myself. Local people are the example of reality, endearment, a very original part of what we are facing now. Then, it always brings a long flashback memory what I have done there when I see the pictures.

Being impulsive when travelling

Heyoo folks, 

apa kareba? hahaha kayakna barusan dua hari yang lalu saya nulis tentang pengalaman Jalan singkat using my transfer time di Kuala Lumpur. Kali ini mau nulis tentang general thing sih sebenenernya, akibat masih belum pengen nulis apa aja yang saya kunjungi di Cambodia dan Vietcong (ditunggu aja yeeee).

Well, okay. Actually saya bukan orang yang impulsive (atau sebenernya saya impulsive?), bukan orang yang terlalu spontaneous juga. Saya sebenernya orang yang.. ahem.. a little bit organized. Apa- apa harus bikin list, harus bikin scheduled dulu. Being organized bukan berarti kamar kamu selalu rapi atau rambut kamu selalu disisir atau ngerjain PR tepat waktu,  in my opinion, saya emang orangnya kurang suka kalau ada rencana dadakan. Kata temen-temen saya sih, saya kadang mikirnya kejauhan, misalkan ada rencana bulan April, bulan Januari udah siap siap nih. Mulai dari A-Z saya list satu satu. Saya nyoba lebih bersikap nyantai dan sok cool dihadapan teman-teman *padahal nggak. Pasti bilangnya , "ah iyah, ntar an aja" padahal diam-diam saya udah ngerinci apapun dan udah browsing, cari info, tanya-tanya dan begitulah.

Setiap traveling kemanapun selalu ada pelajaran yang saya dapet, 

Don't be in doubt

Pengalaman saya di Bangkok waktu itu Echyk dan Angga sudah jauh jauh hari mau dinner di Chao Praya Cruise yang kalo dirupiahin kurs na sekitar 1jt rupiah per orang. Waktu itu, entah karena saya yang bawa uang saku kebanyakan atau emang super irit waktu di Phuket dan 

Pattaya, uang saya masih sisa sekitar 2 juta lebih. Echyk dan Angga sudah mantap, emang mereka berdua ini pasangan romantis (gak usah iri yah, hahaha , pasti kalian mikir ini niat backpacking apa honeymoon :D). Saya waktu itu pengen banget, tapi saya jadi keinget titipan oleh-oleh orang sekampung, cukup ga yah kalo beli oleh-oleh cuma satu juta?. Jadi waktu itu kita baru sampe khaosan road jam 2 siang, langsung on the spot cari ho(s)tel. Setelah jalan kesana kemari akhirnya dapat hostel murah yang tempatnya di pojokan masuk gang sempit yang kita sering lupa pintu masuknya lewat mana. 

Pas mau masuk kamar, Echyk tanya sekali lagi, "Yakin Ve, ga mau ikut?". Saya masih galau waktu itu, is it worthy? bla bla bla dsb sampai akhirnya saya bilang, "gak deh mba, aku di hostel aja". Pas saya masuk kamar dan mandi dan balesin sms sms dari orang-orang kemudian tetiba aja saya dapat 'wangsit', okedeh saya ikut dinner aja. Sayang sungguh disayang, dapat wangsitnya telat banget udah jam 4an dan Echyk - Angga sudah pergi dari hostel. Saya coba ketuk pintu dan whatsapp mereka tapi kita emang gak beli nomor Thai, tidak ada jawaban. Jadilah sudahlah saya jadi jomblo ngenes di hostel sendirian.

Fight your fear.

Contohnya apa yah, mungkin kalau di sekitar SEA bisa coba makan sate laba-laba atau kalajengking, Saya udah ke tiga negara yang jualan sate-sate macem begitu, dan belum pernah nyobain. HAHAHA, shame on me. Tapi beneran, ini terlalu menakutkan bagi saya. Mungkin nanti kalau sudah mantapkan hati dan banyakin mengaji, maybe saya mau coba. Eh tapi gak jadi deh, itu kan gak halal *alesan jitu* oke berarti yang satu ini mari kita skip saja. Fight your fear ini banyak macemnya, misalkan saya ini kadang takut kalau jalan malam-malam atau naik public transport sendiri. Ini namanya apa yah? Mungkin karena kebiasaan dari kecil, apa-apa dianterin atau kalo gak bawa kendaraan sendiri atau mungkin saya orang indonesia yang males naik public transport. Traveling saya di Thailand, saya berasa orang kaya kemana-mana naik taxi, melewatkan apa yang namanya naik bus atau BTS. Di Perth, mau naik taxi ke kampus beneran bikin kantong jebol, akhirnya saya kemana-mana harus naik bus sendiri (kadang bareng temen), yang paling gak enak waktu itu hujan deras di Perth dan saya harus pulang sendirian. Mana waktu itu di sekitar kampus UWA banyak galian yang menyebabkan jalan becek trus gak ada ojek trus gak bawa payung. Yasudahlah lengkap. Saya mau pulang duluan karena saya ada janji sama teman. 

Waktu itu naik bus sendirian rasanya agak ngenes gimana gitu (baper karena hujan). Tetiba kangen rumah, kangen sambel pedes dan lain lain, emang kok hujan itu selalu jadi pembawa kenangan *alay mode ON. Kalian pasti ngerasain kan gimana awkwardness nya di negeri orang terus jalan sendirian. Fear saya yang satu ini adalah : loneliness. Mungkin waktu itu saya laper juga dan uang di dalam dompet tinggal  4 dollar yang cukup buat sekali nge-bis (jarak ke kampus saya harus oper 2 bus dari rumah host family). Saya sering felt lonely dan miserable waktu di Perth, entahlah kenapa saya kayak ngerasa jauh banget dari rumah. Kadang erosi hati, kadang excessively happy. But I got through it and I am fine. 

Try something you think you will never do.

"Try" disini mungkin bisa dipersepsikan berbeda bagi tiap tiap orang. Waktu di Banyuwangi saya tiba-tiba langsung bilang yes waktu teman sekelas mau ngajak saya naik Kawah Ijen. Anyway, saya belum pernah naik gunung sebelumnya, dan jujur I am not a big fan of naik naik gunung. Mungkin karena gak ada yang ngajak kali yah, atau mungkin saya mikirnya "Ah, naik gunung pasti capek" wkwkwkw. Tapi waktu itu, mungkin karena efek kopi jagung di Desa Osing yang nikmatnya luaaar biasa, adrenaline saya lagi tinggi. I was thrilled dan saya agak sedikit maksa pengen ikut ke kawah ijen waktu anak-anak mau berangkat (karena saya datang terlambat, saya tidak kebagian seat di mobil). Waktu anak anak minta maaf karena mobilnya gak cukup, yasudah saya nothing to lose, toh saya juga gak bawa equipment seperti jaket atau apapun di dalam tas (waktu itu ada tugas penelitian di Desa Osing Banyuwangi dari kampus). Pas waktu mau tiduran, tibatiba teman saya Fatou dari Senegal membangunkan saya , "Ve, ayo bangun, ayo ikut ke Kawah ijen". Saya langsung sontak said yes dan berangkat. Saya bawa ransel saya yang isinya lumayan berat (kesalahan saya, gak mikir sih langsung aja berangkat haha). Saya langsung duduk di seat dan mobil kita langsung meluncur ke kawah ijen. Waktu itu sudah jam 12.30, saya baru saja datang naik kereta dari surabaya pukul 10 malam dan langsung saja memutuskan "Fine, I am ready to hike the mountain". First timey dan dadakan seperti saya, saya pake jeans, almamater kampus dan sepatu pantopel. Sampai di pos menuju kawah ijen yang udaranya amsyong dingin banget, saya cuma pakai almamater. Teman-teman saya baik sekali mau minjemin saya jaket dan masker, lumayan untuk melawan udara dingin. Waktu perjalanan naik kawah Ijen, yang menurut saya medannya berat dan saya hampir give up (anak gunung pasti ngakak nih), teman-teman saya sangat supportive, saling membantu. That was one of inoubliable moments yang pernah saya dapat *langsung sentimentil*. Saya bolak-balik kepleset dan jungkir balik waktu mendaki, tapi tangan teman teman saya siap ngangkat saya berdiri :'). Teman saya sempet ada yang mimisan dan kita berhenti bolak balik buat istirahat. Kita nyanyi lagu westlife bareng gak jelas dan main tebaktebakan yang super jayus. They were really sweet dan Kawah ijen emang bener bener formidable. Apalagi saya bisa lihat pergantian antara malam dengan matahari terbit, yang susah njelasinnya gimana bagusnya lihat bintang-bintang yang berpendar mulai hilang satu persatu. 

Cerita lucu lain, waktu di Phnom Penh, saya menghadiri Cocktail Party yang disediakan oleh panitia workshop, dan saya gembira sekali karena ada WINEEEEE!!! *mata berkilatkilat* Saya paling suka wine, both red or white, I'll take 'em all , Sir. Saya bukan regular drinker, tapi kalau ada wine gratis saya juga gak bisa nolak. Rosita waktu itu agak hesitated, mau minum wine atau gak, takut mabuk kayakna. Saya jugak gak encourage dia buat nyobain, tapi suddenly dia ambil gelas wine di tangan saya dan kemudian langsung "nyeruput". Komentarnya, "Wine kok enak yah..."

Enjoying every moment to the fullest.

I never go somewhere without plans. Kayakna otak saya selalu ada spaces buat rencana-rencana yang pengen saya lakuin. Ada beberapa yang kesampaian, ada beberapa yang gak. Gak usah terlalu regret, saya gak sempet lihat penangkaran koala di Perth, lumayan menyesal sih, tapi saya bisa lihat kanguru liar di Perth Hill tengah malam dan maybe gak semua orang kepikiran atau ngapain banget tengah malam ke bukit yang sepi dan salah salah bisa di tendang sama kanguru (thanks to my neighbor disana yang surprise ngajakin). Tinggal di Surabaya yang banyak polusi jadi susah lihat sparkling stars malam hari. Di Perth Hill saya enjoy banget duduk duduk liatin banyak sky full of stars dan ngelihat kanguru mondar mandir di semak-semak, dan saya cuma nyapa "hello!" lalu si kanguru malu malu dan kemudian hop hop lari pergi. Waktu di Saigon, saya cuma kepengen jalan jalan tanpa maps, dan cuma pake intuisi nemu post office, notre dame katedral, ben thanh market, war remnants museum malam itu juga. Jadi mikir, maybe when you are least expecting things, great ones would come after. Makin kesini, travelling makin jadi lebih enjoy, santai, dan gak kayak dikejar waktu pas kayak first trip bareng temen di Thailand. Well, perhaps sudah seharusnya seperti itu.

Long way road to Lancelin, WA

Give yourself a little reward or surprise - spontaneously.

Women were born to do shopping. Kayakna sih begitu. Saya jujur tidak seberapa tertarik beli-beli ketika travelling (kecuali ada yang titip, itupun kalau saya lagi gak males buat ke market atau toko suvenir). Tapi satu hal yang ternyata saya lakukan adalah, saya selalu membeli buku di negara yang saya singgahi. Di bangkok, saya beli majalah, di Aussie saya kalap beli 8 buku buat saya dan hadiah buat teman teman di Indonesia. Di Phnom Penh, saya spontan langsung beli kamus Oxford French-english dengan harga 7 dolar. Buku buku yang saya beli mostly memang buku diskonan hahaha. Waktu di bandara Perth, saya kelebihan bagasi yang ternyata 8 buku yang tebel-tebel yang bisa buat lempar anjing itu adalah sebab musabab na. Saya langsung re-arrange koper saya lagi dan saya tenteng 8 buku itu ke kabin. Saya jadi keliatan kayak dork :'>

Begitulah begitu sebagian pengalaman saya yang bisa disimpulkan bahwa being impulsive is totally fine, gak hanya pas travelling saja. Kadang kita butuh yang namanya a little excitement, yang mostly kita dapetin dari hal-hal spontan yang gak kita duga sebelumna. What do you think?