the story of a lady and a young woman

Liburan : Mandalay – Yangon – Singapore (Part 1)

Filed under: Emak-General | Tags: | May 22nd, 2005
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Then the day came, it was our departure date. When we left Mandalay, the city was still in its sizzling hot temperature ranging from 39 – 42 degrees. Jam keberangkatan pun datang, untuk kami sekeluarga kalau sudah mau mudik atau pun trip keluar kota Mandalay, the best place in the whole country is always Departure Lounge at Mandalay International Airport. I think the same thing goes to all of you kali ya, kalau mau travelling rasanya can’t wait to be in the departure lounge airport, what do you think? Ready, set and off we go – let’s hit the airport!.

Perjalanan dari Mandalay ke Yangon (ibu kotanya Myanmar yang dulu dikenal dengan Rangoon) menggunakan Air Mandalay, it was quite an okay flight. Sedona Hotel YangonTiba di Yangon Airport, kita sudah dikasih surprise dengan dijemput sama keluarga Ismuharto yang bertugas di Embassy Indonesia di Yangon. Lanjut ke Sedona Hotel Yangon checked in. Seperti biasa kalau sudah kelamaan di Mandalay dan tiba di Yangon, rasanya agak-agak gimana gitu. Maklum tinggal di kota kecil, sampe di Yangon aja sudah berasa : Hei, what a big city Yangon is. Banyak banget mobil yang lalu lalang, so crowded dibandingkan kota mungil kami tercinta, Mandalay. Malamnya makan malem bareng sama Keluarga Ismuharto di Chinese Restonya Hotel. Besoknya sempat keliling kota Yangon sedikit, ngintip Factory Outlet sebentar dan kembali lagi ke Hotel for having the famous Sunday Brunch at Sedona Hotel Yangon. Ketemu banyak teman-teman expat lama yang masih di Yangon, Sunday Brunch menjadi ajang pertemuan lepas kangen, terutama untuk kami sekeluarga yang sudah meninggalkan Yangon 2 tahun yang lalu.

Malam terakhir maem Hot Pot di Golden Happy – uenaknya minta ampun. Again, I was stunned when entering the place, karena terasa orang kok banyak banget. Beginilah sensasi yang ada kalau tinggal di kota kecil, lihat orang banyak sedikit kaget. Sweating berat campur keringet dingin – badan yang memang lagi nggak delicious alias masuk angin mulai terasa, leher pegel dan tegang. Pulang ke Hotel minta dikerokin sama Ibu Ismuharto karena udah nggak tahan banget, badan rasanya nggak keruan while perjalanan masih panjang untuk sampai ke tanah air. Ibu Iis, thank you berat sudah mau ngerokin ya.

Besoknya berangkat ke Singapore dengan Silk Air. Again, jangan ketawa ya – entering pesawat Airbus 320 ini rasanya seperti entering pesawat besar banget sekelas A380. So spacious! Nggak extragerated loh, beneran, tenan… that was the sensation I had when I entered the aircraft. Tiba di Singapore rasanya seperti berada di planet yang berbeda. Things were so modern, in order dan I felt I was in a different world – rasanya sulit banget dilukiskan dengan kata-kata. Tapi I believe you understand what I am trying to explain kan?.

The Gallery Hotel SingaporeDari Airport langsung menuju The Gallery Hotel Singapore yang arsitekturnya bergaya minimalis modern, kaya akan unsur kaca dan besi. Such a cute Hotel I must say. The room itself is a bit too small for the 3 of us dengan penambahan extra bed for Cemara. Apart from the size of the room, the best part of the Hotel is the swimming pool dengan gaya cantilavered glass-sided. Bentuk dindingnya bening, jadi kalau kita berenang seperti di aquarium ikan, bisa lihat pemandangan di bawah hotel dari dalam air. The service was good, breakfast was okay – and the best part that there was internet access in the coffee shop, they had 3 computers 24 hours, free of charge. Intip deh websitenya, design dan dekorasi kamarnya manis banget. Along the corridor digantung photo-photo exotic dari seputar negara-negara asia, they were all awsome!. For you who are quite often going to Singapore, it is recommended to stay in this Hotel for a change. Memang lokasinya tidak walking distance ke daerah pusat perbelanjaan Orchard Road.

Setelah checked in and freshend up a bit, kita memulai petualangan memanjakan lidah alias let’s eat!. Tujuan pertama adalah Food Court di bawah Takashimaya. Ho..ho..ho… puncak keharuan pun terjadi ketika kaki menginjakan pintu masuk Takashimaya pas dibagian sepatu-sepatu. Oh My God! Can’t help myself banget untuk tidak meneteskan air mata – terharu banget. Itu sepatu buanyak amat….. Geez, toko ini besar sekali. Langsung turun ke Food Court : Mamamia! Felt like buying and eating all the food there ;).

While in Singapore, a city with millions of beautiful windows :

  • Met an old friend who I knew when we worked together back in Bali who is now becoming permanent resident and her husband di Chijmes. Dear : Ayu and Martin it was good meeting you two – finally we could pay you a visit after your last visit to Yangon back a while ago.
  • Untuk kedua kalinya setelah di tanah air, we met again ‘Super Single Mom’ Bunda Embun Pagi with her 2 adorable kidz. Had dinner together, the 6 of us – the menu was seafood in an open air place. Can’t remember the place but I saw it on Channel News Asia before we chosed which place to go for dinner. Continued dengan 2 malam berturut-turut hang out bersama. Bunda, saya kok terus menerus merasa salut dan bangga kalau ingat Bunda. You are one of the tough ladies I have known in life. Stay in touch, it was still magic for me how we could be so closed even meeting you only twice, my warmth hugs and kizzes for Abang and Dede.
  • Kopi darat dengan Pak Dokter Fahrie. How was the new job, Dok? Seems very difficult to get internet connection out there in the new part of the ocean. Stay in touch and should you wish to know the details of the ‘agen’ let us know he..he…he… It was great meeting you, Pak Dokter.
  • Went to Singapore Zoo, since Cemara was dying kepingin banget mangku dan ngalungin lehernya dengan ular boa albino. Unfortunately, we missed the show, she could not hold the snake. Tapi masih beruntung, pas on the way pulang di pintu keluar ketemu petugas zoo and she managed to get Cemara The King Snake, which she could hold the snake on her hand. Menurut Noorita, petugas zoo nya, the King Snake felt so comfortable with Cemara when she put it on Cemara‘s hand. Emak dan Papap berdiri lumayan jauh, masing-masing pegang handycam dan camera, padahal ularnya kecil. Sementara Cemara was enjoying her time so much holding the snake. The zoo was awsome, kepingin balik lagi kalau ada waktu.
  • Books? Cemara shopped till Emak dan Papapnya dropped at Borders and Kinokuniya.
  • Junk Food? We hit all those junk food restos in which are not available in Myanmar : McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Ya Kun Kaya Toast dan lainnya.
  • Liang Seah Street: There is this one place we always went for lunch is the Liang Seah Eating Place, lokasinya di jalan dengan nama yang sama – pas di sampingnya Parco Bugis Junction. We always hit that place for lunch. Papap will always order the same menu of Chicken Rice while I ordered different type of dish everytime we went there. Kalau pas ke Singapore, bisa dicoba Chicken Rice nya yang muantep banget itu.
  • Hei, I managed to capture some pictures from the handycam tape when Cemara played with the King Snake. Until now, I still could not figure out : kira-kira waktu hamil salah maem apa karena menghasilkan anak perempuan yang demen banget sama ular. Look at her smile while holding the snake, while Emaknya bergidik keringet dingin merinding disco – trying her best to capture the unique event of her daughter holding snake as if she was holding Barbie doll.

    Apart the fun stuff we had during our 5-days in Singapore – we were quite stressfull since we still could not get our flight confirmed from Singapore to Bali by Singapore Airlines. Nekat berangkat dengan status waiting list, dengan harapan masa sih nggak kunjung confirmed juga. Eh beneran kejadian. We have booked the seats a month ago, but still could not get them confirmed even when we have arrived in Singapore already. Later on we found out that it was a long weekend in Singapore, no wonder the flight was fully booked – everybody were trying to fly out for a short holiday and Bali was one of their destination. Papap’s Headoffice tried to assist us juga, tapi too bad tetap nggak bisa confirmed. Rasanya sudah hopeless banget, bakalan stranded di Singapore kira-kira 4 atau 5 hari in order to have the flight confirmed.

    We made one final phone call to Singapore Airlines before we went to their office untuk membawa muka melas memohon belas kasihan, kali-kali aja bisa confirmed gitu loh. Eh, nggak tahunya pas kita telepon seats kita sudah confirmed on 29 April – senengnya minta ampun. Hei Bali, here we come!. Ini terjadi berkat pertolongan a good friend of mine who works at Singapore Airlines in Bali. Ruma, thank you very much for all your assistance Dear. Salam untuk Dedy dan anak-anak. We finally had a good chit-chat ya walau hanya sebentar on our departure. Hoping to have more time to chit-chat with you on our next trip to Bali – promise you, we will repeat our good old days ya, Ma. .

    Mmmh, kali ini menulis cerita liburan rasanya hambar banget, karena photo-photo hasil jepretan liburan nggak ada. Kalau ibaratnya masak, hambar banget hasil masakannya. Photo-photo hilang semuanya bersamaan dengan raibnya si Memory Card yang sampai sekarang nggak tahu jatuhnya dimana. Kemarin pas pulang, harap-harap cemas kalau si kecil biru memory card ini akan terselip diantara barang bawaan kita – nihil euy. Photo-photo diatas sebagian diambil dari rumahnya Pak Google, sebagian langsung dari situsnya, dan sebagian dari handycam. Benar-benar sebuah pelajaran berharga untuk lebih hati-hati.

    Bersambung ke Part 2
    Liburan : Bali

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