At last, on the 29th of April 2010 our first step on the Asia Continent has finally become reality. After a quite stressing research and complicated planning which took four month we could have our very first experience in exploring two countries in South East Asia.
Malaysia and Thailand were chosen as the destination countries because of two main reasons. First is because we as Indonesian don’t need any visa to enter those countries and second is because those countries are relatively close to Indonesia so we didn`t need to spend much money for the transportation. Penang or Pulau Pinang in Malaysia and Krabi in southern Thailand were the City we visited during our trip.
The reason why we chose Krabi and Penang was because it has many interesting places to visit and we could reach it from Penang overland. Bangkok was the first in our city list during the planning process, but seeing that there was no improvement in its political and security condition, we decided not to go there.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 we took third class night train to Jakarta. The third class or the economy class train was quite cheap, but as we all know that it was not comfortable at all. We decided to buy 4 seats for two of us because we thought that the seat was too small for us to sit and we brought big backpacks so we could still hold them when we are sleeping. The train costs Rp 140.000 for 4 seats.
April 29, 2010. Jakarta - Penang.
Finally the day that we have been waiting for was coming. At 4am we took a taxi to the Soekarno Hatta airport which cost us Rp 101.000. Approximately after 1 hour riding the taxi we arrived at the airport, checking in and pay for Rp 150.000 to get the boarding pass. then we went to the “bebas fiskal” counter to clear the fiskal matters. Fiskal is some kind of fee that people should pay before they go abroad, but in Indonesia, at least until we went to this trip those who have Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak (NPWP) or Tax Identification Number (TIP), still under 21 years old of age or over 21 years old but still don’t have their own income and still become the dependent family member from a working parents (which have NPWP or TIP) don’t have to pay fiskal. This can be proved by showing the photocopy of “kartu keluarga” and the NPWP of the parents. Immigration counter was our next destination in Soekarno Hatta International Airport. We did not get much trouble in this counter except we forgot to fill the Indonesian departure and arrival card and spent less than 5 minutes to fill it up.
Then, precisely at 6.55 am the plane set off to Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang. We book the round trip plane tickets less than 1 month before departure so the price might be a little bit high. We needed to pay for Rp 1.179.000 per person. The price was included airport tax, insurance and baggage fee.
At 9.00 sharp the plane landed safely at Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang and it was 20 minutes earlier than the schedule. So, there we were, alone at the strange airport and did not know where the bus stop was. After 20 minutes trying to find the bust stop we gave up and ask security officer (which thing that we should do earlier) and found out that the bus stop was at the second floor. We hopped on Rapid Penang bus number 401E that brought us directly to Komtar, the central bus station in Georgetown and paid for 2.7 RM each.
Even though we already booked a hotel in Georgetown we still didn’t have any idea where the location was, so we decided to catch a taxi and pay 20 RM. After we got off the taxi we were a little bit surprised because our hotel was so close to Komtar.
After checking in and relaxed for a bit, we started to plan the places that we were going to visit and we decided to follow the heritage tail brochure that we found in hotel lobby. The temperature was quite high at that time and we totally forgot to bring hat or cap to cover our head. But it was okay because we were very excited at that time so we walked around the city in a broad daylight. The very first place we visited was the Christian Cemetery, although it was included in one of the places we should visit (according to the brochure) the place was quite untidy and scary and it didn’t look like a tourist attraction. (NOTE: to bring hat or cap or whatever you like to cover your head and big bottle of mineral water is a must if you plan to visit places on foot)
The next destination was the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion. This was the house of a rich Chinese businessman who lived in Penang named Cheong Fatt Tze There was nothing special about the house except the combination of old Chinese style house with a little bit western touch in its floor tile. We were lucky (or unlucky) when we got there because a tour which only be held twice a day was about to begin and we have to pay for 12 RM each for the tour. The tour was guided by mid aged Chinese descendant women who could speak fluent English. We were not the only guest attending the tour, there are more than 20 people from many countries took part.
After the tour was over we went straight to Penang State museum, but nobody was there and we thought it was close so we just went back to the hotel and in our way back we passed the Goddess of Mercy Temple and tried to go inside and took some pictures but we didn’t.
As this was our very first time become tourist in other country, we didn’t know anything of what should be brought when going around on foot, so at that time we didn’t bring hat or cap and single drip of water and we almost pass out because of that.
We realized that we ate no breakfast and lunch and it was already 3pm, so we decided to find something to eat. It was a little bit difficult at the first time because we didn’t see any Halal food stall or restaurant. There were many Chinese restaurant and food stall in Penang and we didn’t want to take any risk eating Haram food. We keep on walking until we saw Halal sign in one restaurant called Jaya at the Penang St, so we stopped and order. It was Nasi Biryani with all of its accessories and a big bottle of mineral water for our very late lunch and we have to pay for 7.50 RM each.
After we reached the hotel, we took a rest for a while and start planning what we should do tomorrow. After a quite long dispute, we decided to go to Krabi tomorrow morning. Then problem raised, first we still didn’t have Baht in our wallet, no hotel to stay in Krabi and no transportation to Krabi. Luckily the hotel we stayed, Mingood Hotel which costs each of us 45 RM per night had transportation service to Krabi for only 60 RM. One problem was solved but still we had two more problems to solve. With the help of the laptop we brought we managed to book a room in The Greenery Hotel in Krabi for two nights through the internet and it cost us 850 THB each. Two problems solved, and we still got one more problem, currency problem. It was 8pm when we asked the hotel receptionist, who were a friendly Indian guy, where the nearest money changer was but he said that they were probably closed by that time. But then suddenly he said that he could help us then started calling all the money changer he knew. Lucky us, one of them was still open and we could exchange our money into Baht right in the hotel. Yes, right in the hotel because one of the employee (or the owner itself) came directly to the hotel we stayed and we made transaction there.
After all the problems were solved we went out to find dinner, it was a little bit late so most of the food stalls were closed but not too far from our hotel we found Sop Hameed, it was food stall selling various types of soup. I ordered chicken soup with rice and soya milk for the drink for 6 RM. We went straight back to the hotel, packed all the clothes again and went to sleep.
April 30, 2010. Penang - Krabi.
The departure schedule for the van we were going to ride to krabi was at 8.30 am so early in the morning I woke up, took a bath, grabbed free breakfast from the hotel and waited for the van at the hotel lobby. The van came, and the driven loaded our backpacks in the trunk and started to drive...recklessly. Our speedy and bumpy ride should stop at the city called Hat Yai, this is the second biggest city in Thailand to change van. After we seated in the other van that would take us to Krabi then suddenly the driver drove the car into another stop and told us to change to another van because the current van AC was not working properly.
In the van taking us to Krabi from Hat Yai, there were one Englishman named Mark and 5 Malaysians. I couldn’t remember all of their names but one of them named Lim. Mark was a real backpacker because he already left his hometown for more than 10 months to go around the world, while Lim and his friends were from Langkawi and wanted to spend their weekend in Krabi. We were talking about many things with them all the way to Krabi. One of Lim`s friend can speak Thai, so he asked the driver to bring us to Tiger cave (one of the tourist attractions in Krabi) Tiger cave was a unique temple complex because the monk lived and stayed inside the cave. Finally, after more than 9 hours sitting in the van, we reached Krabi, the friendliest small town I have ever been. At the travel agent we stopped, we then also booked van service for us to go back to Penang for 600 THB.
May 1, 2010. Krabi.
Since we stayed at cheap budget hotel, we didn’t get free breakfast and needed to buy by ourselves. Morning market might be the perfect place for us to find something to eat, but again, we were wrong, there were nothing to buy there. Morning market was really market where we could only see meat, vegetables and other raw food materials. We saw one vendor selling yellow rice, but we weren’t quite sure that it was halal. So, we stepped out from the morning market and walked into the Maharaj Road and took some photos in front of Wat Kaew, the main temple in Krabi town. After taking some photos we continued walking down the Maharaj Road but there were only a few food stall and restaurant open so we just keep on walking until we found halal food restaurant, the restaurant was quite crowded, maybe because no other restaurants nearby open.
Then, we ordered rice with chicken and vegetables and a glass of coffee milk for 80 THB each. After it we walked in to the bank of Krabi river. The view was quite beautiful with the Khao Khanap Nam which was one of the Krabi`s landmark. Khao Khanap Nam was two hills of 100 meter high and believed by local people as the guardian of Krabi town. After taking some picturess there then we walked along the river walk to 0 KM of krabi Town and went to opposite direction to the Thara Park. There was nothing to see except long boats were speeding along the river. Thara Park was quite crowded at that time, so we decided to walk back to the town and decided to go to Khao Khanap Nam by using long boat.
It was so easy to find long boat man in Chao Fa pier or along the river walk because they would keep following you until you say no. We met boat man who offered us boat ride when we walked into the Thara Park and he offered us boat ride to Khao Khanap Nam for 500 THB for each of us. We thought that it was too expensive for us so we bargained and lowered the price he offered to 300 THB. At first we didn’t know that the price he offered was for one person, because we thought that it was for two people. So, after a quite long bargaining process we agreed that the price was 200 THB each but at last we agreed to give the boat man 250 THB each.
The long boat ride was quite smooth, and we can see mangrove forest along the way to Khao Khanap Nam. After 20 minutes we arrived at Khao Khanap Nam and we were surprised because there was nobody there except three of us, me, my brother and the boat man. It was so quiet, no other sounds except the sound of birds and insects. We started climbing the stairs following the boat man to the cave inside Khao Khanap Nam. Just like the other cave the major scenery were only stalactites and stalagmites. There was also a diorama of Japanese army who were hidden in the cave at the WWII. The boat man explained to us that this cave was used to be the home of prehistoric men and he showed us the ancient pottery and skeleton half buried in the ground of the cave. He also showed us the ancient wall painting pictured in the wall of the cave.
The next destination after Khao Khanap Nam was the fish farm. That was not like what fish farm we imagined because there were only a few types of fish and it was only for the purpose of tourism. The fish farm girl said that she got all the fishes from the fishermen, put the fishes in the fish farm`s pool and after 1 month she released them again to the river except for edible fishes, she sold it to the restaurant. One of the most beautiful and strangest fish we saw was the blow fish. We bought young coconut for 30 THB and souvenir for 130 THB. WE went back to hotel after that to take a rest for a while and change our clothes.
From the hotel he hit the Maharaj Road again to find something to eat, we decided to walk further to the south and found halal restaurant. Then, I ordered Red Seafood Curry and banana shake for 110 THB. Krabi was so famous of its beaches, so we decided to go to one of the most famous beaches there called Ao Nang. To go to the beach we had to take local bus or people there usually called by Song Teaw and paid for 50 THB 1 trip per person. Song Teaw wasn’t look like a bus, it was a pickup truck with slight modification on its back so the passenger can sit on it. The view on the beach was quite beautiful, the sand was white and the water was clean enough. The karsts on the beach and small islands with mountainous karsts can also be seen from the beach. After buying some souvenirs took enough walk and some pictures we went back to the hotel by using another Song Teaw and paid for 50 THB.
The second night in Krabi, we went to the different night market from the first night. Many food stalls or food hawkers there so we can just pick what food for dinner that night. While we are walking around the night market we bought Thai Pancake twice for 25 THB each. Fried Chili with chicken and water was our menu for dinner or 37.5 THB each.
We checked out from The Greenery Hotel quite early although our van that would bring us back to Penang would be departed from the travel agent at 11.00am. We roamed the Maharaj Road again to find breakfast, but again because it was too early no restaurants or food stall were open. Fortunately we found small food stand selling drinks and we ordered iced coffee for 15 THB. To find local food as souvenir was the main agenda, so we went straight to the snack shop still at Maharaj Road and bought three different snacks as souvenir for 100 THB.
Because it was still early in the morning, the nearest halal food restaurant opened was the same restaurant we had our breakfast yesterday. We ordered the similar menu for the breakfast and iced tea for 60 THB each. The travel agent was the next destination after we had our breakfast, we waited long enough there until we decided to leave our backpacks there and went to the river walk and we stopped near the Chao Fa pier to sit for about an hour before we went back to the travel agent to wait for the van.
The Trip was quite boring with the same type of driver, reckless and always in a hurry. Everybody was busy with their own business inside the van so it was the perfect time to sleep. We also needed to stop at Hat Yai to change van. in the same van with us there was a man from Switzerland who wanted to go to Penang to renew his and his wife`s visa. When we asked how long have you been in Thailand and he answered 1 year. We thought that he was working in Thailand or doing some business, but he told us that he was on vacation.
Arrived at Penang we were taken directly o the same hotel we stayed, Mingood Hotel to stay for two more nights before we left Malaysia and needed to pay for 90 RM per person. It was late at night when we arrived at the hotel and we were too tired to go out and find something to eat so we just ordered food from the hotel. We ordered Chicken black pepper and hot chocolate for 22 RM.
May 3, 2010. Penang.
After grabbing free breakfast at the hotel we went to Campbell Street where the stores situated. We hoped that we can buy souvenirs there but unfortunately, the stores were still closed and we should continue our walk to our next destination, Penang Islamic Museum at Lebuh Armenian with the ticket fee was only 1 RM. The museum used to be the mansion of Syed Al-Attas, an Acehnese who was an Arab-Malay mix trader. Like the other museum, this museum was explaining all about Islam in Penang, its culture, and all Islam related things. Masjid Kapitan Keling was our next destination and it was located near the Penang Islamic Museum. It was one of the oldest Masjid in Penang but unfortunately we didn’t go to see the inside part of the Masjid.
It was still morning when we finished taking picture at the Masjid Kapitan Keling,but something went wrong with my stomach and we should go back to the hotel and on our way back we saw Burmese Temple and took some picturess there. After I finished my duty, we hit the road again to visit Penang State Museum which was closed at the first day we arrived in Penang. On our way to Penang State Museum, we passed the Goddess of Mercy temple and took some pictures. To get to Penang State Museum at Lebuh Light we passed St. George Church which was under reconstruction so we just took the picture from the outside.
The entrance fee of the Penang State Museum was only 1 RM for each of us and it was worth it. We could know the history of Penang or Pulau Pinang from its beginning up to now. It was explained too that there are many people from many nationalities were coming to Penang to start a new life. So if you want to know the history of Penang, you should come to see the museum. Near the museum we met Indian guy selling cold soya milk and we bought it for 1 RM each. The Indian guy was quite friendly, we had a chat for a while before we continued our trip.
Next stop was the city hall. This building had European style so it was quite interesting and made us feel like we were in Europe. Not too far from the city hall there was a memorial monument to honor the patriot who had died in many fights. The most interesting place that we visited in Penang was the fort Cornwallis, because the entrance fee was free although nothing to see there but the place was quite shade because of the trees. Fort Cornwallis was the place where the first Englishman landed in Penang. The fort was a star shaped building and had a lot of cannons.
Actually, theTourist Information Center wasn’t in our list but something had made us stop at that place. Here is a short story of why we should stop by at the Tourist Information Center. When we reached the Thailand – Malaysia border I thought that it would be as simple as when we entered Thailand from Malaysia, but I was wrong. At the Thailand Immigration, everything was OK, we can get the stamp on our passport without any problems, but when we reached the Malaysia immigration check, we should take our entire luggage from the van and put them in the X-ray detector device, but before that we were given the Malaysian departure and arrival card and filled them. Then we proceeded to the X-ray detector and got back to the van. Inside the van I realized that the card given to me was different from the card given to my brother. Mine had a custom declaration part while my brothers didn’t. I was so scared and thought that I did something wrong back at the immigration. So I decided that I should go ask someone about this and the Tourist Information Center was the answer.
The Tourist Information officer didn’t know anything about this and suggested us to go to the Immigration office nearby. After visiting Tourist Information Center but before Immigration office we took some pictures in front of the Queen Victoria memorial tower. At the immigration office, I asked the officer about the differences in the departure cards me and my brother had and the answer was both cards were the same, mine was the old version and my brother`s was the new one.
We decided to go back to the hotel right after we bought a glass strange drink for 1 RM and 2 sweet corn filled pancakes for each of us for 1.2 RM. It was lunchtime when we decided to go back to hotel so at our way back to the hotel we ate at Nasi Kandar Yasmeen at Jalan Penang. The serving portion of Biryani rice we ordered was so big and we needed to struggle to eat all of the rice. Along with the big serving portion the price we should pay was big, each of us needed to pay for 20 RM for Biryani rice plus iced tea plus big bottle of mineral water we ordered. Then we went back to the hotel and took a rest.
After we took enough rest we were heading to the toy museum at Tanjung Bungah, because the place a little bit out of town we took a taxi to get there and paid for 30 RM. The entrance fee of the toy museum was 20 RM and after we paid we directly come inside the museum. The museum was full of action figure from many movies, anime and games or famous toy figures like Barbie. Action figures were everywhere with so many different size and pose and I thought that the Kingkong action figure was the best of all because of the detail and the size that was so big. Then it was the time for us to go back to the hotel. We took Rapid Penang bus that would take us to Komtar bus station and paid for 2 RM each. From Komtar we walked back to the hotel and passed the Prangin Mall, the biggest mall in Georgetown and through the Penang Street to buy some souvenirs. After took some rest at the hotel, we decided to take one last walk around the city and went to Prangin Mall. There was nothing to buy since all music stores were closed. Then we walked straight back to the hotel, packed all the clothes and souvenirs and went to sleep.
May 4, 2010. Penang – Jakarta
We woke up early in the morning although the plane we were going to take would be departed at 10.45 am. We checked out from the hotel, didn’t take the free breakfast at the hotel and went directly to Komtar bus station to take the Rapid Penang Bus to the Bayan Lepas International Airport and it cost us 2.7 RM. WE arrived at the airport at approximately 9am Malaysia time, directly checked ourselves in at the Air Asia counter and waited in the terminal for the plane that would take us back to Jakarta. Arrived at Soekarno Hatta Airport we took the Damri airport bus for Rp 20.000 directly to Gambir train station to take the train back to our hometown, Yogyakarta and it cost us Rp 230.000 for each of us.
Costs per person:
Yogyakarta – Jakarta : Rp 70,000
Taxi to Soekarno Hatta airport : Rp 101,000
Boarding pass : Rp. 150,000
Round trip ticket Jakarta – Penang – Jakarta : Rp 1,179,000
Rapid Penang to Komtar :RM 2.7 = Rp 7,614
Taxi from Komtar to Mingood Hotel : RM 20 = Rp 56,400
Mingood Hotel 1 night : RM 45 = Rp 126,900
Cheung Fatt Tze tour : RM 12 = Rp 33,840
Lunch at Jaya Restaurant : RM 7.5 = Rp 21,150
Dinner at Sop Hameed : RM 6 = Rp 16,920
Van Penang – Krabi : RM 60 = Rp 169,200
The Greenery Hotel 2 nights : THB 850 = Rp 241,400
Van Krabi – Penang : THB 600 = Rp 170,400
Dinner : THB 42 = Rp 11,928
Mineral water 2 big bottle : THB 30 = Rp 8,520
Breakfast : THB 80 = Rp 22,720
Long boat to Khao Khanap Nam and fish farm : THB 250 = Rp 71,000
Drink at fish farm : THB 30 = Rp 8,520
Lunch : THB 110 = Rp 31,240
Song Teaw Krabi – Ao nang – Krabi : THB 100 = Rp 28,400
Dinner : THB 37.5 = Rp 10,650
Thai Pancake :THB 25 = Rp 7,100
Iced coffee : THB 15 = Rp 4,260
Breakfast : THB 60 = Rp 17,040
Mingood hotel 2 nights : RM 90 = Rp 253,800
Dinner : RM 22 = Rp 62,040
Penang Islamic Museum : RM 1 = Rp 2,820
Penang State Museum : RM 1 = Rp 2,820
Soya Milk : RM 1 = Rp 2,820
Sweet corn filled pancake @RM 0.60 : RM 1.2 = Rp 3,384
Strange Drink : RM 1 = Rp 2,820
Lunch big portion Biryani rice : RM 20 = Rp 56,400
Taxi to toy museum : RM 30 = Rp 84,600
Toy museum entrance fee : RM 20 = Rp 56,400
Rapid Penang from Toy museum to Komtar : RM 2 = Rp 5,640
Rapid Penang to Airport : RM 2.7 = Rp 7,614
Bus from Soekarno Hatta to Gambir Train St. : RP 20,000
Train ticket Jakarta – Yogyakarta : RP 230,000
TOTAL : Rp 3,286,360
Approximate Currency Rate : 1 MYR = Rp 2.820
1 THB = Rp 284
Note: The hotel rate shown is twin room rate divided by two.
- Y
