Chapter 141 - Weekdays

I just got back from Bandung, Indonesia. It’s a 4 days trip with my family. Well, nothing fancy, just an ordinary family vacation. Some wise man said, jauh berjalan luas pandangan. (Walaupon aku pegi x jauh sangat..sekadar negara seberang je) Yeah….point taken. Going to other places is not the same like it was during my childhood. This might be lame…just bear with it; it do teach us something valuable. Especially, going to a place which was devastated by economic depression some years ago and still clawing their way out of poverty and scarcity. Pe lak yang aku repekkan nih.. but the truth is, it makes me appreciate more of our country... Malaysia. It’s true that our Malaysia still lack something, because people NEVER satisfy by the way, but truly Malaysia is a great nation. Bukan nak kata aku patriotic asbab aura kemerdekaan ke-50 baru2 nih…just the trip was an eye opener.

Rata2 mereka hanya lulusan high school, which is equal to our SPM. And many of those who lives in rural area, pretty much didn't finish their school. Those yg financially capable have the opportunity to continue their study in tertiery level. Unlike we in Msia, we got PTPTN, MARA, JPA, FAMA and all sorts of scholarship. Di sana tiada badan kerajaan yg provide such financial aid. We're soo lucky, abih SPM or STPM we are given opportunity to continue our study regardless of our financial status and of course need to fulfill the requirement needed. Miskin, kaya... sume bleh apply tajaan. Tp bila nak bayar balik sume jadi liat. Agagagaga..

Peribumi sana adalah majority, like Malay in Msia. Government Msia gives so much aid to bumiputra entrepreneurs for their kick start in business. Gives money and guides, incentive, this and those discounts. But, it wasn't the same for peribumi di sana. Exactly "u r on your own" approach. Those yg nak start business must get their own capital, pajak la mobil or tanah, asalkan bleh dapat duit utk berbisnes. And there is no special privilege for peribumi sana... rough huh....

Traffic in Jakarta is horrible. Imagine 5 lanes goes 9. Ntah macam mana mereka bersempit pon tatau. But despite that, i never see any accident. Just once I saw lori terbalik, but that got nothing to do with their driving attitude. Jakarta punya jam tetiap ari dari pagi hingga malam. Believe me when I say that jem di sana sampai pkl 11 malam. Kita kat KL pon paling busuk sesak sampai pkl 8-9. Dem! I can't stand the traffic. Going from point A to point B in the same district can take your 30-45 minutes away. Pening.....those yg panas baran jgn la jejak ke Jakarta. Although I am complaining about traffic kat sana, but attitude drivers sana is much better than us. I dunno how, derang bleh potong queue, mencelah2 depan mata, but never pandang slack kat driver keta lain. We in Msia nih kalau nampak org hogging jalan ke, kena potong ke...kita potong balik pastu pandang driver keta tu macam nak carik gaduh. Honestly, i'm quite sad ngan mentality drivers in Msia...

Beware of zombie.... Hahahaa... Everytime u go to a tourist spot, mesti ada penjual jalanan yg mengerumuni anda even seblom korang turun dari tour bus. U can never get rid of them even if u says no. They'll follow u and it is pretty much annoying. Once, we went to a volcano crater, those guys just never give up and annoys me...just thinking to throw them into the crater. All of them...

One advise about touring with your family. DON'T GO WITH YOUR FAMILY. I dunno if it just me, but going with family bores me. My dad pretty much dictate the tour, shopping and everything. I can't buy an imitate Levi Jeans for RM40 just because he thinks that's expensive...for imitation. Well, it was our last day, and I still got 200,000++ rp ~ RM 100. I dont care to splash the money. That's why it is call SHOPPING. He bought me pants according to his dressing specification. I won't go into details about that. 1 thing we agreed was, the hate of going shopping with women. Adeh... can't stand to accompany ibu2 and sister choosing kain batik, kain tudung dan segala jenis kain.

Well, the trip was badly adjusted.. Arrived at Bandung around 12 am. The next day full of site visit.. managed to shop a bit at Factory outlet mall. The third day, left for Jakarta after breakfast and arrived bit late in the evening after some visits. Check out on 4th day and head back to Msia. Sucks! Lemme tell to those who intend on going on trip similar to mine. Bandung is much much better than Jakarta. The weather were very good..considering the place is on a highland. And do your shopping at Bandung. Many factory outlets there as well as a row of street selling jeans. Go crazy there. At jakarta, if u avoiding traffic..then its better to stay at Jakarta Tua. If u going for shopping and happening stuff, better stay at Jakarta Baru. Well.... that's all. I'm sucks at writing review. Ciao.