catatan di tahun ke-3

Pagi ini hampir seperti pagi yang lain. Hanya saja Regi membisikkan kalimat itu: "hari ini tiga tahun". Aku yang biasanya lebih romantis malah memilih pura-pura lupa: "tiga tahun apa?" Regi menjawab, "tiga tahun kita" dan buru-buru menambahkan "well, sebenernya dua tahun sih ya..". Maksud Regi dengan meng-korting satu tahun usia pernikahan kami, karena setelah kami menikah, 3 bulan kemudian ia memang harus pergi meninggalkan saya setahun lamanya untuk menyelesaikan studi di Belanda. Jadi Regi simply hanya menghitung kebersamaan kami. Aku protes. "Lembaga ini yang usianya 3 tahun, dan satu tahun yang tidak kamu hitung itu malah merupakan masa yang paling sulit untuk kita, dimana jarak menguji komitmen kita sebagai suami-istri.

Perjalanan kami ini sama seprti pasangan lainnya. Naik-turun, seperti wahana halilintar di Dunia Fantasi. Terinspirasi itulah, sabtu nanti kami akan merayakan ulang tahun pernikahan kami di Dunia Fantasi, berdua saja.. hahaha... Yang masih menjadi pergumulan sampai saat ini adalah kehadiran seorang anak di tengah-tengah kami. Pun begitu, saya tetap bersyukur karena ini berarti punya lebih banyak waktu berdua suami, jalan-jalan berdua kemana kami suka, dan waktu lebih untuk mengenal karakter masing-masing. Toh masih ada Yofel, anak baptis yang masih bisa mengobati kerinduan saya akan sorang anak.

Satu yang tidak pernah berubah adalah doa Ibu saya untuk kami berdua. Merasa lebih dekat dengan Ayah, ternyata saat sungkeman minta restu di gereja tiga tahun yang lalu, malah Ibu saya yang dengan lancarnya "membacakan" karakter jelek saya, dan meminta saya mampu meredamnya dalam hidup berdua dengan Regi. Bukan juga berarti kalimat Ayah saya saat itu tidak mengena. Sebaliknya, saat sungkem, Ayah saya hanya bisa menangis sejadinya sambil memeluk saya, tanpa kata. Seakan tau ada beberapa karakter yang belum bisa maksimal saya redam, doanya kepada saya pagi ini melalui sms masih seperti 3 tahun yang lalu. Kali ni bahkan lebih spesifik. Hahaha.. Ibu tetaplah seorang Ibu.. Dan karena doanya itu, hari ini saya membulatkan hati untuk lebih memperbaiki diri... *doakansaya*

Last but not least, bicara soal Regi bukan hanya bicara tentang seorang laki-laki. Ia suami, sahabat, dan pelengkap hidup saya. My better half... Waktu masih lajang saya sempet bertanya2, apa jadinya nanti kalau saya menikah, mengingat kebiasaan saya adalah tidur dengan banyak bantal. Apakah nanti saya akan berebut bantal dengan suami saya? Dan Tuhan memberi saya seorang Regi, yang tidak suka tidur dengan bantal. Saya takut dianggap kurang "perempuan" karena ketrampilan yang saya kuasai malah lebih banyak milik kaum Adam. Dan Tuhan mengirimkan saya Regi yang skill menyetrika-nya tinggi, pengetahuan kulinernya luas, dan tips bersih2 rumahnya lengkap. Pas dengan saya yang lebih bersahabat dengan peralatan elektronik,piawai membaca peta (YA, saya sedikit dari perempuan yang bisa membaca peta), dan nekad berpetualang.

Tiga tahun, seperti seorang anak yang baru lancar berjalan, walau masih sering jatuh. Mampu berkata-kata, walau masih sering salah ucap dan menggunakan kata-kata salah arti. Itulah kami di tiga tahun ini. Di sela-sela tawa dan bahagia kami, Kesalahpahaman pun terjadi. Kadang kami merasa salah pilih, merasa tidak dimengerti, DAN kadang kami putus asa,.. Namun kasih Kristus selalu tinggal dan mengingatkan kami akan cinta. Cinta kami, cinta Tuhan kepada kami, dan cinta kami kepada hidup. Dan seperti janji saya kepada Tuhan di altar gereja tiga tahun yang lalu, for better or worse, I love you and honor you, til death do us apart. Happy Anniversary honey!

Super Trip to Phuket

Me and my husband Regi always spare a period once a year to go somewhere.. When we lived in the Netherlands, we visited Oslo, Venice, Rome, Bacelona, Texel, Brugge, Aachen, and Paris. As a journalist, I have visited almost big cities in Indonesia, and as we live in Southeast Asia, now we would like to visit every country here. We started by visiting Kuala Lumpur at the end of 2008 and had a new year of 2009 there. Our next destination was Phuket, Thailand. Everyone who has been there told us that it is a great place, especially if we could go to Phi phi Island. So here we come,.. we booked two tickets by AirAsia to Phuket (cost Rp.1.100.000/person-return) for 2 - 5 September 2010. Our flight was on time and we had a pleasant journey since there are almost no turbulence at that moment.

clear sky moments before we landed :)

As been advised by my old pal Sigit Nugroho, I searched a room through www.agoda.com. I found so many interesting places through the site, but my choice goes to The Sea Patong Hotel. It costs US 140 for three nights occupancy. It turned to be the best option as we are very satisfied and had a superb stay there. The pictures we saw on its web are exactly the same as what we found at the Hotel. No lies!!! We took a van costs 150THB from the airport to our Hotel. The Hotel is just a walking distance to Patong Beach and the famous Bangla Street. Everyday starts on 6PM, the street is closed for cars and motorcycle. So we were sooo happy to be able to walking down the street and enjoyed the sights of Agogo girls in almost every Bar at Bangla.

Bangla street with its famous nightlife

Everything are here at Patong Beach. From the Drugstore, Souvenir Shops, Restaurants, Bars, and Tour booths offering Phuket City Tour and (of course) PhiPhi Island tour. For us, tour to PhiPhi Islands is a must. So on the first day in Patong, we tried to find the best deal of the tour. Normally they will offer you approximately 3200THB for tour to PhiPhi Island per person by speedboat. But don't worry, it's just a first offer. They will say that they can give you 50% discount so the offer will be reduced to 1600THB. Do not hesitate to BARGAIN! We compared 5 different tour agent in Patong, and almost took an offer of 1200THB until we accidentally found this woman. Her name is Ya. She has a small booth near McDonald. We stopped by at first to ask her the way to Patong Lodge, where our Indonesian friends stay. But then while we were there, we also asked the best deal from her for the PhiPhi Island Tour, Simon Cabaret, and Phuket City Tour. With her above-average-english she gave us many offers from diverse tour companies. I chose the one with Maya Bay and Khai Island included. Surprisingly, she gave us only 1100THB for a single trip to PhiPhi Islands, Yao Yi, and Khai Island by speedboat. She also gave us only 500THB/person for Simon Cabaret ticket, and 575THB/person for Half Day City Tour of Phuket. Since those were the best deal we found so far, then we took it! Mrs. Ya is so professional. She gave us a call before the tour picked us up just to remind us that the van would pick us up at such time, and after a while she also called us to make sure that everything is okay and that we enjoy the tour. She showed us as well a small original Thailand Restaurant with a very affordable price and incredible tastes! We can have a big bowl of Tom Yam Gong for only 80THB, Pork/Chicken Fried Rice for only 50THB and Red Curry Chicken for only 80THB.

Mrs. Ya at her booth

Yummy Tom Yam Gong

Then we had everything! We would like to start the tour on the next day, as we don't want to get too tired on the last day before we went home. Unfortunately, the weather on Friday 3-9-2010 was so bad so we decided to switch the tour. We did the city tour and Simon Cabaret on the second day then the trip to PhiPhi Islands on the third day. On the first day, we just explored Patong and the neighborhood around our Hotel.

in front of marble-made Big Buddha...

The City tour was great, except our travel guide doesn't speak good English and doesn't know anything about the sites we were visiting. It's a pity since we do really want to know the stories behind every site we visited. Well, nevertheless the Big Buddha and Chalong Temple are amazingly beautiful...

We wished to enjoy the sunset at Promthep Cape as the nice closure of the city tour. Too bad it was so cloudy at that moment so we just can enjoy the cape without the Sunset. We reached our Hotel at 7.30PM. Such a perfect timing so we still had enough time to take a bath and lay down a bit before the van took us to our next destination... Simon Cabaret!!! Simon Cabaret is a Cabaret Show performed by trans-sexual female. But it's not a real show since they just presented series of lip-sync on the stage. However, the properties, the costumes, and the lightings during the show were so good. As good as the look of the performers aka made-by-surgery female which are even more beautiful and better than the real woman! After the show, we had given some moments to take a picture with them. They will stand in a line so we can choose whom we would like to take a picture with. Be careful, it is not free. You have to pay 20THB to every "female" who took a picture with you. Thus, if for example you took a picture with two performers with you, you should pay 40THB (20THB each). I overheard two American men behind me whispering when they looked at those line of performers: "It's amazing isn't it?" "No, it's not amazing.. It's scary.. now I don't know the different between the real woman and the trans-sexual ones!" In Indonesia there is such cabaret like that who called themselves The Silver Boys.

the trans-sexual performers of Simon Cabaret

I think The Silver Boys is even better because they are really singing and also entertaining with their jokes and standing comedy. I hope there is someone in Indonesia who is courageous enough and dare to build a theater for The Silver Boys so they could be another tourists destination in Indonesia. For 500THB show, do not miss this show when you are in Phuket.

left: the fake one, right: the real woman--- which one do u choose?

We bought the regular ticket (balcony seating) but the distance to the stage is not that far so we could clearly see the performance. Although you there is a row and seat number printed on the ticket, it happened to be free seating. Then be the first to enter the balcony so you can choose the best seat. They also provide a bottle of mineral water to accompany you during the one-hour duration show. There are two shows performed every night: 7.30PM show and 9.30PM show. I was so tired that night, but I am fully satisfied and can't wait to explore the PhiPhi Islands on the next day.

On the third day of our stay, 04-09-2010 the van took us at the hotel on 07.45AM. We went to the Marina first where they have prepared tea, coffee, bread, and juice for us while we are waiting for our speedboat. We had other Indonesian Friends with us in both Simon Cabaret and PhiPhi Islands tour. They are Juliyanto, Ghea, and Nico.

left-to-right: Regi, me, Juliyanto, Nico, Ghea

We met them at the airport when we just landed. A bunch of nice people and I am happy to know them and have them as my new friends. The journey to Maya Bay 2, PhiPhi Ley (Small PhiPhi) and PhiPhi Don (Big PhiPhi) was okay. The tide was high, but I was not afraid of anything. The sun was not shining, but it was not cloudy as well.. so it was okay.. We took 40 minutes at Maya Bay 2 where 'The Beach Movie' were taken. Then we took a closer look of Viking Cave and Emerald Lagoon.

Viking Cave, PhiPhi Ley

Monkey Beach

We also spent 20 minutes in Monkey Beach, where we could take a picture with the monkey and feed them. I can't help myself to jump and feel the water.. I also swam a bit there. At PhiPhi Don, we are allowed to do snorkeling. It was fun but my snorkel equipment was not that good. Also, the corals are so high that they scratched my toes couple of times. Until PhiPhi Don, everything was fine. Then I realized that the sky was so dark and the winds blew so hard. I know we would have unpleasant journey by the speedboat to the Yao Yi Island. I was right. The 1 hour and 20 minutes journey from PhiPhi Don to Yao Yi Island was the longest travel time I have ever felt. I was scared with the high tide (approximately 2,50m) and the sounds of it when it slammed our boat. I sat next to the captain, and he was seen calm. So I think it was such a weather he normally faces. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw 12 other passengers were also insanely terrified. It was getting worst because we couldn't see the Yao Yi Island where we were heading to. We just saw borderless sea water and high tide. It was hard for me to remain calm because the boat was shaking and throw my body back and forth... I almost cried when I decided to sing Gospel Songs I know since my childhood. So I started to sing and hold Regi's hand... I sang any gospel songs I have learned, from Sunday school to Catholic services where Regi has been raised. It worked!!!!

Khai Island.. Love it!!!

I was no longer scared and felt calm until we reached the Yao Yi Island. We had a so so lunch there and moved to Khai Island. I love Khai Island!!! The water is so clear that we could see beautiful fishes swimming very near the beach.. and we could also feed them!!!

can you see those fishes coming to our hands?

Overall, it was a Superb Trip to Phuket we had this year. I know we have to come to Phuket again some time next year as we haven't tried any relaxation package we were craving about. And we have agreed to stay at the same hotel, The Sea Patong. It surprised us when they packed our breakfast in a box once they know that we had to check out early in the morning (6AM) . At the Airport while waiting to be on board, we opened the box and found bunch of healthy food inside! Bye bye Phuket, we had a pleasant stay, beautiful memory, and certainly will come there again next year...

our last breakfast, packed by The Sea Patong.. like it so much!!!

Departure Terminal, Phuket International Airport 05-09-2010

SATU AYAH BEDA IBU

SATU AYAH BEDA IBU

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