Asia
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Running Routes in Chiang Mai
I was on a short trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand, and only spent my days exploring the city center, night market, and eating. I stared at my reflection on the mirror, it gave me a brief flashback of when I was eating pad Thai, Thai basil chicken, tom yum, sticky rice, omelets, and other snacks. I felt guilty and realized, that the combo of holiday and Thai Food make me fat, especially around the belly part.
I gained some weight during my short trip and I decided to go for a morning run before I left the country.
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2018 in Review – Reflection
Hello 2018
When I typed the title of this entry, I first typed 2008 in Review. I then gasped, no, It’s 2018, my dear! Not 2008. How could my life feel like just stuck in 2008 – I kept typing 2008 instead of 2018 in Review.
It was a decade ago, but some or maybe many things in 2008 are special, and I feel like being trapped in that year or when Rahma was reborn. I have to move on and get used to the fact is, a decade had passed. Move on, welcome to 2019. One year to go to the 2020s.
2018 was like riding a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs. Living with the duality of happiness and sorrow, positive and negative energy, constantly come and go.
As a child, we’d become so excited when grown-ups asked us, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. We would reply: “When I grow up, I want to be an Astronaut or Doctor”. Life seems to be so easy when we’re still little girls or boys. We learn that children are very positive and dream big without fear of failure because they don’t recognize what failure is. As a child, we love to question everything and try something new.
A few decades later after we need to work hard to pay our bills, and broke, or need to pay unexpected bills, we then say: “When I grow up, I don’t want to grow up!!“
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First Impression of Iran
Before I go any further, my first impression of Iran is beyond my expectation. Iran is a mysterious and misunderstood country. You might get bored hearing travel bloggers who write about Iran for the first time, and receive similar reactions; friends, family, and colleagues ask them; why the hell do you go to Iran?
Some might think Iran is Iraq, but they can’t differentiate between Iran and Iraq. Iran is one of the new places I visited and felt so much safe, people are super friendly. They will smile at you and greet you with this simple sentence: Welcome to Iran, Welcome to Isfahan. Welcome to Shiraz!! And when you get lost, they will escort you to find the way to your destination.
Iran is the country I want to visit again but maybe when the weather is not cold or hot. I want to know more about Iran. So far, Iranians I met on the road were very open-minded, knowledgeable, and curious about the world.
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Drama Menuju Iran
Politik yang Bergejolak
Tiga hari sebelum keberangkatan ke Iran, terdengar berita kalau negara ini sedang demonstrasi besar-besaran di beberapa kotanya. Malah Donald Trump di tiap cuitannya memanas-manasin keadaan di Iran, membuat suasana semakin keruh dan tak jelas. Belum lagi pendukung Trump garis keras gemar menyebarkan berita dan foto palsu tentang keadaan Iran di sosial media, membuat Iran seolah-olah sedang bergejolak, padahal foto yang disebarkan bukan foto sebenarnya. Melainkan foto demonstrasi di Bahrain beberapa tahun yang lalu. Yang tadinya demonstrasi tentang kenaikan harga barang, tiba-tiba berita yang tersebar tentang menuntut pemerintahan sekuler.
Meskipun tiada keraguan untuk membatalkan tiket, namun ada drama lain yang bikin saya panik, malahan kepanikan akan suasana demonstrasi di Iran terlupakan, topik paniknya berganti ke masalah visa. Salah seorang teman nyeletuk, meski paspor Indonesia hanya membutuhkan VoA, tapi kita juga harus mendaftar online dan dapat track code untuk ditunjukkan ke petugas VoA di imigrasi. Tidak lebih dari 50 jam menuju Iran, Saya akhirnya mulai panik.
Visa Drama
Menjelang pukul 2 dini hari kalang kabut mengisi form di website untuk e-visa. Pastinya dalam keadaan ngantuk dan harus bangun pagi untuk ngantor. Keesokan harinya menjelang makan siang, sebuah email mendarat yang isinya mengecewakan.
Your visa application has been rejected.
Reason for rejection: Please apply via travel agency.
Your sincerely,
Department of Electronic Visa,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Islamic Republic of IRAN “
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The Explorer
The Story Begins
I’ve been traveling before I realized I was traveling, that is when I was 2 months old. I was born in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. However, I am originally from West Sumatra, – located on the western part of Sumatra Island, almost 2 hours by plane from Jakarta, or 30 hours by bus or car across the fifth biggest island in the world named Sumatra, then take a 2-hour ferry to land on Java Island, it’s not finished yet. Still, there’s around 3 3-hour road trip to reach Jakarta city.
After 2 months of giving birth, my mom brought me back to West Sumatra by plane. It was my first flight experience, and I only heard my mom’s story, of course, I can’t remember anything from my first flight since I was still a newborn baby.
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Foodporn in Krabi
I traveled to Krabi, Thailand during the wet season. It might be very depressing when you visit a place with beautiful beaches, but the dark cloud always blanketed the sky. There was no sunbathing or playing with water on the beach, the worst thing was no blue sky and the sun at all.Besides disturbing for taking photos, bad weather is not a BIG deal for me. Luckily, I’m not a beach person and Krabi is not only beaches, limestone mountains, diving, numerous caves and waterfalls, and hiking.
No, no. Krabi is also famous for its tempting cuisine. They have a cooking course for tourists which I want to join on my next visit. Even though Thailand is not a giant country, when it comes to food, there’s a multicultural touch in its cuisine. Thailand has great cuisine, and the taste is different from northern and southern cuisine. Now, you get what I mean.
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Siem Reap in a Nutshell
After a 6-hour road trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and arriving in the evening, I’d never thought that Siem Reap was more developed and cleaner than the villages we passed along the journey from Poipet.A touristy city, small and enough to get around on foot or bicycle, clean, tuk-tuks, markets, and locals speaking good English is my first impression of Angkor Wat city. Then, the journey begins.
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Kebun Anggur di Tropis
Bicara tentang kebun anggur yang terbersit biasanya benua Eropa. Namun, jangan salah, tidak perlu jauh-jauh ke Eropa kita bisa merasakan sensasi romantisnya kebun anggur, tentunya dengan arsitektur bergaya Eropa serta Kincir Angin. Yang membedakannya hanya cuaca, kadang suhu di wilayah ini mencapai 35 derajat celcius, bikin keringat mengalir deras belum lagi dengan teriknya matahari yang menyilaukan mata.Pernah ke Pattaya, Thailand ?? Pattaya selalu identik dengan gemerlapnya dunia malam dan waria, mungkin banyak yang belum tahu, Pattaya tidak hanya wisata ala red light district dan pantai saja. Sekitar 25 kilometer dari pusat kota, pemandangan yang seolah-olah membawa kita ke belahan dunia lain akan terhampar di depan mata.
Kebun anggur ini bernama Silver Lake, dekat bukit Budha di provinsi Chonburi. Untuk mencapai tempat wisata ini, umumnya para turis menggunakan City Tour dari travel agen atau hotel. Tentunya, harga ini sangat tidak ekonomis.
