i'll be on my way..

No plan at all to travel to this city, but well, one day, my sister bought a promotion flight tickets. So, she and my parents asked me to go with them....

1st Day: November 26th, 2013

Soekarno-Hatta Airport, around 23.30 PM

I and my family was enjoying donuts as our supper. Then, we checked in and walked into the plane.

A bit nervous...what does Hong Kong looks like?

Hong Kong International Airport,

Around two hours flight from Jakarta, finally we arrived at Hongkong International Airport (HKIA). It was dawn that time. So we were relaxing a bit while waiting to continue to our first spot. The first thing to be done was buying Octopus Card. It's a reusable contactless stored value smart card for making electronic in online or offline systems in Hong Kong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card). The card can be used for payment of transportation (bus, MTR), buying some stuffs in some tourism spot, rent locker, etc.

Octopus card's price for adult : 150 HKD (value 100 HKD) and for kid : 70 HKD.

         To get there, we took a bus.  
Bus S1 : HKIA to Thung Chung, around 13.5 HKD (using Octopus Card)

         Arriving at Thung Chung, we found mall and plaza there. Then we were wrapped by morning ambience...breezy morning and all busy activities in the morning: people went to works, kids and teenagers went to school, a couple was holding their kids hands while walking in the plaza. First thing we do was rent a locker for our bags for around 4 hours and it cost 20 HKD. 
         We were hungry and needed cups of coffee. So, we bought some breads and were sitting at starbucks to enjoy coffee. After few minutes there, we continued to the bus stop or cable car to Ngong Ping Village. But, we were to earlier for the cable car, so the only choice was to go there by Bus.
Bus 23 : Thung Chung to Ngong Ping : around 17.2 HKD (using Octopus Card).

         It took a bit long to Ngong Ping. It's situated on higher place so the road was going up. The morning scenery on the way was so awesome! 
         Finally, we arrived at Ngong Ping. I was amazed with Buddha Giant Statue. But, we should wait around an hour to go upstair to the temple with that statue. 

         Entering a gate, we were welcomed with some dogs and rows of statues in right and left sides of the path to pavement yard and small green area infront of a renovated temple. So, while waiting, we were walking around, were taking some pictures, and dropped by to a souvenir shops.

         Next, we were walking up to the giant Buddha area. Price of the ticket: 30 HKD (include tea/coffee & snacks). There's a museum called Tian Tan Statue Exhibition Hall there but we couldn't make pics inside the museum. 

         After enjoying sightseeing around the giant Buddha area, we had free tea/coffee & snacks. We could choose 8 pieces of cakes to eat plus a plate of noodle. Yummy!

         Time to go back to the city of Hong Kong. We took cable car which costed 94 HKD/person. We really amazed by the view of Hongkong nature from the cable car. The harmony of green, blue of water, ships, building! Awesome!

•  The Peak

•  Flower Market & Bird Market

•  Disneyland

•  Ocean Park

         

Many many amazing and beautiful things are going to come in my life, I believe so! :)

Finally, I am finished reading this book after about 2.5 months. I think it's a quite excellent book. This travelling book didn't only show me how magnificient and gorgeous The Himalayas , Amu Darya, Kashmir, etc. and the facts of culture, social politic conflicts, poverties in some countries which I haven't ever known exactly before, namely India, Pakistan, Afghanistan. But also Mr. Agustinus wanted to dig the deepest meaning of life as a journey. Plus, there are some great colorful photos taken by him in some pages of this book. 

In my opinion, Mr. Agustinus Wibowo has successfully combined the various unique 'tastes' from his experiences as a wanderer in a journey to some 'difficult zones' in the world and as a wanderer in a journey of life. He linked all the valuable meanings in those journeys to learn to see the world outside, also to learn to see inside himself. His interactions with many local people around the world gave him many valuable meanings to see outside. His relationship with his beloved Mom gave him many valuable meanings to see inside himself. He wrote that everyone has his/her own journey, but the one similar thing is everyone goes from zero point, then will be back to the zero point. Everyone goes far and far just to come back. Home, where he had to come back to accompany his Mom in her funeral day... 

Mr. Agustinus took the reader to feel detailly his emotions as a man, a son, a friend, a guest, a stranger, a dreamer, and a fighter. Every time reading every page of this book, I feel like a friend who like to listen to another friend's story from the deepest part of his heart.

Ps: This review also can be read at my good read page :)(http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/526795547)

Wish you were next to me....

6.47 am

August 16th, 2012

in a train

After a short greeting, I asked her, " I see you every morning, Mam...do you walk every morning to feed the street cats in some corners of this neighborhood?". She answered me, "Yes, I do."

Then that simple old woman with veil stood up to continue the walk. I walked also beside her. I asked her personal life. Where she came from, where she was born, how old she is, and many else. We walked across and went into one of the housing complex in the neighborhood, my housing complex. In the entrance gate, she and I welcomed by a cute small cat that she called "Kancil". "This cat belongs to the security guards of this complex. Come here, Kancil", she said with a generous happy gesture. She walked forward to one corner of the complex, followed by Kancil and oooh, there was another bigger cat welcomed her, the white-orange female cat. Then they followed the old woman. I said, "I go with you, Mam...I want to see you feed the cats". She replied, "Yes, sure, you may".




While she was going to stop and to seat in a corner, a female cat came running fast toward us. So now, there were two cats infront of her, eating rice mixed with chicken broth, and also was one next to her, which was given a small chicken's head by her. Sometimes, those cat was rubbing their head to her legs. "I love cats, that's why I do this ever morning. I also have a cat at my small rental house", she said. After some minutes with her, I decided to say farewell to her to go home. May we meet another time, Mam. May God always gives you good health, prosperous life, and many magical things.

Everyone creates many way to be happy, and sometimes it's simply done. I think that sincere old woman creates her own happiness by that way, feeding other God's creatures that she loves, the cats. That sunny morning, I saw love, sincerity, and simplicity of life in a face of an old woman in this hectic modern world.

I haven't ever imagine to have this journey. I remember, once I got a souvenir from my friend who went for an umra. It was so long ago...when I was in high school, I think.

The souvenir is a shape of a door of Kakbah. It was hanging on one corner of wall in my room now. 

It's a kind of miracle and of course a gift from Allah SWT that I could see in real the door of Kakbah.

Sometimes I have a thought that when we want to go somewhere, it's a nice thing to have a stuff from the place we want to go. It's like to remind us that someday we could be there.

So, here we are...I and my family went for an umra. We visited Madinah, Mecca, Jeddah, and Dubai.

We departed from Soekarno-Hatta Airport on April 4th, 2013. Then we arrived  at Dubai Airport at 2.10 am and transitted there  for around 2 hours (the difference time is 3 hours earlier than time in Indonesia). After that, we had flight to Madinah for around 2 hours, I think. After arriving at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport, Madinah, we got the luggages of all the tour members, then we went to Taibah Hotel, Madinah, by bus. It took 30 minutes to get there. 

We arrived there around 5.00 am. Then the tour members did the fajr salah. I just sat in the lobby with some members because I was in my period. 

In the morning, after breakfast, we were walking around outside the hotel and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. 

There's a "Pasar Kaget" around the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. 

At midday, people went to Al-Masjid an-Nabawi to do Jumu'ah. The Masjid becomes more crowded. I just waited outside the Masjid. There, I met a woman who works as cleaning service. She came from Tangerang, Indonesia. She said that she earned 740 Riyal every month and she also got money from people who visited Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. Then, I also met a woman with kids who asked me about time, by touching my wrist watch. I said, "It's Indonesian time.", hehe...it's around 2.15 pm in Indonesia, which meant it's 10.15 am at Madinah. 

After that, when I was waiting my mom and my sister who were in toilet, I saw a woman in black abaya with burqa. She is the operator of the elevator for disable people to the toilet,where is located downstair.

She was sitting next the door of elevator. I took a pic of her without her permission. When she knew that, she came to me. By the gesture, she said to me to delete the pic, also by saying some words, "Muslims...delete...Allah ta 'ala...". I said I was sorry and then deleted the photo. I guessed, she smiled under her burqa. I could see it from her eyes. She asked me where I come from and she introduced herself. Suri, that's her name. Then, after that short introduction, I went away slowly without any words, hehe, as mom and my sister already had come.

Another story after that, when I was still waiting outside Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, I met a woman who was also sitting. I asked, "May I sit next to you?". She shook her head. Then I sat next to her. She couldn't speak English. She took a glass of Zam Zam water for me and she gave me a biscuit. I feel so happy because of her kindness. 

The story starts under the sun

It lasts untill we walk under the moon

Sometimes we have to run

Then we stop and see a great boon

The conversation starts from the corner

It lasts untill we meet in another corner

Sometimes we find frowny faces

Then we stop and see sincere smiley faces

When we are in silence

We can hear our mind

The sound of tranquil ambience

Like the ocean with horizone line

Yes, it's kind of enlightment! haha, not really...just a strong willing to do swimming in Sunday morning.

At Saturday night, I had a promise to myself, "I must start swimming again!".

Actually, my best friends asked to go swimming with them in Jakarta, but I thought this weekend, I just want to stay at home, at Bogor. So, I went to swim by myself. It's been so long that I haven't swam anymore....missing it a lot.

Fortunatelly, the rain stopped on time. I felt so glad. I went to the swimming pool of Braja Mustika Hotel, Bogor, happily. I didn't remember when exactly the last time I went there. That time, my friends at office and their little kids asked me to swim with them there. That's the first time I knew this place.

Do you know why I chose to swim to this place today? because I needed real relaxation and this swimming pool is the perfect place for me. It's not too crowded here, just one or two families wiht little kids. So, I felt like at my private pool. Also, the view...around the pool and the hotel is so beautiful! it's so natural and green! Let me describe it....

It's downside part land of the hotel area....the water of the pool is so blue. 

I might see many trees and shrubs around the pool.
There's one three that really catched my eyes.

It's like an older trees than others.

It just like that the trees has soul that powerfully influences all around it.

It like....the new wolrd is created.

I could see the small leaves was falling down from the branches....many, altogether.