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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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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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Hageslag, Drop and Dutch
Besides Raw Herring, the Dutch have another unique concept of bread. Meanwhile, the rest of the world eats bread topped with peanut butter, jam, Nutella, butter, and slices of tomatoes or bacon, honey, or salad. The Dutch eat bread topped with Hagelslag.
What is HAGELSLAG??
Choco sprinkles is called hagelslag in the Netherlands. And don’t be surprised, eating bread with sprinkles is not only in the Netherlands. Indonesia and the Netherlands share a special relationship during their colonial interaction for centuries, so, it also applies in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, we don’t call it Hagelslag, but we call it Meises derived from the muisjes word in Dutch which means little mice. Little Mice?? The Dutch named it. Sounds weird, huh?? It’s Dutch, by the way … If it’s just normal and not weird, then it is not Dutch, Whooopsie!!!!
However, I have a unique hagelslag experience in this Dutch/Indonesian way. When I moved to Singapore to continue my studies in 2004, I became so confused, how come it seemed so hard to find Choco Sprinkles in supermarkets or grocery stores, especially in the Bread or Breakfast section? I had to ask the shopkeeper then they led me to the baking aisle, not too far from the flour, chocolate chips, cocoa, and sugar.
I found it funny, so, only in Indonesia and the Netherlands we can find sprinkles on the bread section along with jam and Nutella?? Even Germany, the closest neighbor doesn’t have this habit, they have their version of eating bread. Outside Indonesia & the Netherlands, people use sprinkles for ice cream, cake, or donuts, For Indonesian and the Dutch, we eat sprinkles with bread and butter for breakfast or meal.
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Traveling untuk Pemula
Traveling-lah selagi mampu atau tidak mampu (harap dimampu-mampu-in aja). Kenapa harus begitu?? Karena traveling harus menjadi kebutuhan hidup primer, dengan traveling, kita akan merasa segar kembali dari kejenuhan rutinitas, dan menghilangkan stress.Jangan anggap sepele ‘Stress’ lho, menurut para ahli stress akan memicu sakit jantung, stroke dan penyakit yang enggak asik lainnya deh. Lebih baik mencegah daripada mengobati bukan?? Yaitu, dengan traveling. Ngabisin duit buat Traveling lebih bermanfaat dibanding ngabisin duit buat ke dokter, beli obat dan nginap di rumah sakit. Saya belum pernah nginap di Rumah Sakit, nggak mau deh – please, mending nginap di hotel atau hostel.
Saya temui, ternyata banyak yang belum sadar akan pentingnya Traveling itu. Sebagian besar kita masih menganganggap Traveling itu buang-buang uang dan waktu, pemborosan, perbuatan pamer dan narsis, kebutuhan sekunder yang nggak penting. Salah BESAR.
Works, Journey, Journals
