..my dearest Pipit..

Sudah lewat 8 hari Pipit meninggalkan dunia fana ini. Meninggalkan keluarga, saudara, dan juga teman-temannya.

Masih hangat dalam ingatan, saat-saat awal gue mengenal Pipit. Gue sekelas sama dia waktu semester 1 di kampus. Anaknya lucu, pemalu, murah senyum, sangat menggemaskan, dan I couldn’t resist to pinch her chubby cheek whenever she’s around. Seiring berjalannya waktu, she became one of my inner circle friends selama kuliah. Mungkin karena kebanyakan murid di jurusan gue itu anak perantauan dan gak tiap minggu pulang, dan juga selama di kampus selalu bersama, mulai dari morning meal time ampe dinner, kaum yg tertindas kalo lagi praktek jurusan, nongkrong depan kelas yg sangat strategis baik menarik perhatian ato mencela murid lain (gak jarang dosen juga kita jadikan sasaran), jalan2x abis kuliah, baik nonton ato sekedar maen ke kos, jadi kita sudah seperti keluarga sendiri.

We had memories and shared quite many stories together, and one of them that I still remember was back in the 4th term. Di suatu malam waktu semester 4 lagi musim Pra-PORAD (pekan olahraga), anak2x pernah membuat Pipit nangis karena nibanin dia. Emang siy, krn dia gemuk trus anak2x ngerasa dia gak akan merasa terbebani dg timpaan badan cewek2x berbadan kecil. Gue siy gak ikutan niban, karena gue yang mendokumentasikan adegan itu di handycam, heheheeee. Awal2x kita pikir dia cuma becanda aja, kok nungging gak bergerak-gerak. Ternyata, setelah didekati ama Jaja, dia yang seperti meratap kesakitan begitu, buhuhuuuuuuuu.. Tau dia begitu, langsunglah anak2x pada mendekat, minta maaf ama dia, although tetep aja ada yang kurang ajar, bilang Pipit sbg batu menangis. Hahahaaaaa, that was hilarious and still laughing at it (maafin kita ya, Pit..)

Sejak lulus, kita memang gak pernah ketemuan lagi. Tapi akhirnya, setelah 11 tahun, kita bisa lagi ketemuan, yaitu waktu Yenny lagi liburan ke Jakarta dan kita nyanyi2x di Sing! FX, trus lanjut ke Public, ngeliat Yuda nge-DJ. Dan pertemuan yang kedua waktu buka puasa. Gue inget banget, waktu buka puasa, dia sama sekali tidak makan karena dia bilang lagi sariawan. Dan pertemuan terakhir kita adalah 3 bulan yang lalu, waktu Pipit habis menjalani kemo yang pertama. Kita ke rumahnya, sembari memberikan sedikit dana dari temen2x kampus utk meringankan bebannya & keluarga. Kita juga encouraged her to keep the fighting spirit & stay positive.

Kita sendiri dapat kabar kalo Pipit terkena kanker sekitar bulan Februari tahun ini. Kita cukup shock, karena never expect that one of my dear friend got that kinda illness. Gejala awal seperti sariawan and setelah konsultasi ke berbagai dokter, 4 bulan kemudian, dia dirujuk ke RSCM & didiagnosa kanker lidah stadium 3B.

When I went to her house last week with the girls, melihat dia dikafani setelah dimandikan, benar-benar membuat gue diam terpaku, sulit mempercayai bahwa yang di depan mata gue itu memang benar-benar Pipit, bukan orang lain. Although I wasn’t surprised when I got the sms from Bebta that Pipit passed away on the sunny Sunday, as I knew that only limited people could survive, and no matter how hard I try, but I knew her time will come, just not this soon.

Dia sudah menjalani kemoterapi 4x, dan seharusnya, Senin tgl 14 juni itu adalah kemo yang ke-5, tapi mungkin ini memang jalan Tuhan, jalan yang terbaik dari-Nya untuk Pipit. Gue diceritakan tentang hari-hari terakhir Pipit, dimana di seminggu terakhir dia sudah kehilangan nafsu makan. Actually, sel kanker yang di lidah sudah mengecil, tapi kemungkinan besar staminanya sudah tidak kuat lagi menerima kemo, dan finally she gave up. On the morning she passed away, it was around Subuh, she went to the bathroom for toilet business, then she passed out, and on the way to the hospital, she was gone (there are actually details here & there, but I think it’s not necessary to write it down here).

Sudah sekian lama gue tidak menangis ketika melayat, tapi minggu lalu, tangis itu tak terbendung lagi. Setelah Sauli, gue sekali lagi kehilangan seorang teman tersayang, salah satu teman yang sudah gue anggap keluarga sendiri.

Pit, baik-baik disana yah… Mungkin Tuhan memang menjemput elo lebih cepat supaya ada yang nemenin Sauli. Kasian juga dia sendirian disana, gak ada teman menggila. Dengan adanya elo, gue yakin dia pasti bisa banget terhibur, nostalgila jaman kuliah, ngeliat kita dari atas sana...

Pit, the memories we’ve shared will remains forever, and it’s my bet that I never get the chance to say this to you when you’re alive, and hopefully, you know how much I cherish the friendship we’ve had & I wanna thank you for being such a dear friend.

Take care & be good up there…

p.s. : Picture is taken in Mar 2009, where I met her for the 1st time after 11 years & she is still in a health condition *sigh*

..my dearest Pipit..

..just because..

It's been 3 weeks since the video of Ariel, Luna & Cut Tary are broadcasted in the Internet. Being honest, I watched the videos, all version of them, and the reason I watched, it's just for my curiosity. This may sound subjective as I like him (and still do apart of this incident), but I don't see he's doing something wrong here besides he is sick for taping all the sex he did with the women, and I do think he needs some kind of therapy. Yet other than that, there's nothing wrong.

I might sound crazy as I don't walk in the same path as most people do. Those who think he needs to be in jail, who march and demonstrate against him, who react completely exaggerating, who wants to kick him outta Indonesia, who condemn him as if he's the lowest creature God ever mad and act as if they are God and never committed any sin. Not to mention that I disagree what the media did to him. Media who desperately wants a piece of his story and broken the ethic code, and in the name of "press freedom", they have the right to violate his privacy.

Truth, I'm quite sick with those people & the media. I'm not defending him, but was he really doing something wrong ? I'm pretty sure that on the first place he taped his sexual activity with those women, he never want it to be broadcasted. Second thing, what is wrong with having pre-marital sex ? We are not a country ruled by religion, and religion itself is a people's choice. Why we are so busy judging & condemning him ? If they claim as the religious people, they should know that the only one who has the prerogative to judge is GOD, nobody else has it. On the other hand, doesn't it show that they are being so hypocrite ? For example, this lawyer who cheated on his wife, married someone else (illegaly by country but legally by his religion), is the first person in the front line to sue him & his girlfriend. So much for never committed adultery, rite ?

It really doesn't make sense to me at all, why this is now becoming a big news. Is it just because his tapes with two different women are exposed? Is it just because they are jealous he screwed those women that were in their dreams every night ? Is it just because his doing it better than them ? 

One thing I know for sure, it's just because he's an Indonesian, then it becomes a big deal. If he's not residing in Indonesia - the hypocrite country ever, where majority people love juicy gossip, stick their nose to others, sweating over small stuffs and try their best to hide big problem, busy catching the person who upload the video rather than than solving the Century, Markus or Gayus case - I'm sure he could breathe easily and enjoying his day with no worries at all.

..just because..

..8-days trip to Indochina..

YEYYYY !!!! The day I've been waiting for months is finally here, the Indochina trip with Ge & Ati.

Leaving from Jakarta on 24th May to Ho Chi Minh, and we had to spend 1 nite here as there's no night bus to Siam Reap (unlike Pantura buses that operates mostly at night).

Our original plan was sleeping at the airport (yes, you read it right, SLEEPING AT AIRPORT), yet after Ge met this Mas Eko, and suggested us to go to downtown as the buses are gonna depart from there in the morning, then we changed our mind.

On the following day, we took the bus at 6:15 AM and for more than 12 hours, we spent our times only on the bus. Well, it stopped every 2 hours, but still, considering my flat butt, it's quite killing me :)) Arriving in Siam Reap at 8 PM, getting to our hotel, negotiation the tuk-tuk price for Angkor then off to bed.

On 26th, woke up at 4 AM to catch the sunrise. Leaving at 4:40 with tuk-tuk & got to Angkor Wat 30 mins later. We must pay $20 to enter the temple's complex.

Unfortunately, there ain't no sunrise like we expected, as the sky just turn so bright at 6:30 AM. So we decided to take a tour around the Angkor Wat, had a little b'fast afterward and continued the trip til 2PM. We met Yuji, Ken and the Carribean people again today. It was really nice meeting them, friendly people. Later in the evening, we went to Old Market for some souvenir shopping and had dinner at Angkor Mondial as we wanted to see the Apsara Dances where we met friendly-with-marketing soul-Ted & his anonymous Spanish friend (we didn't catch his name). We finished the day at 10ish and went back to the hotel.
 

The next day, we started it in the descent time, 9 AM. Still temple hopping, but this time it's quite a long ride, almost take 1,5 hours by tuk-tuk to reach it. After the 2nd temple, we decided to go back to hotel as the rain poured heavily. Around 5PM, we took a walk around the city, hung out near the river, watching Cambodians passing by & ended in Raja Angkor for the dinner. We decided not to go to the Night Market since we had a morning bus to go back to Phnom Penh.

My impression of this city, it is a nice small city, and regardless the heat (almost 34 degrees), I like it here, and I like the trip..

Before going back to Ho Chi Minh, we stopped at Phnom Penh and stayed there for 2 nights.

  

We took the 6:30 bus again so we could be in Phnom Penh when the sun still shines. Got to the city around 1 and Yannak, the smiley tuk tuk driver whom I met the other day when our bus to Siam Reap transit in Phnom Penh was there. He took us to the hotel, which is by the Tonle Sap river. We asked him to go back to the hotel at 4PM as we wanted to see Russian Market. We checked in, rested for a while, had lunch, showered and headed to the market. 5 mins inside the market, I felt like I was in sauna and lost 15 lbs, as it was sooooo hot, I even could feel the sweat came out from my scalp.

Back to the hotel, watched American Idol rerun (yes, we couldn't leave without it), then we went out for dinner. Turned out our hotel is 2 mins-walking distance to the night market, so we went there to see some stuff. And man, it was hilarious seeing those SIM phone cards seller. 

Ipang, my Indonesian friend who happened to live & work in Phnom Penh for 2 years, came 10 mins later and took us to FCC, a nice resto with a nice view and a nice-big portion of food. It was great meeting your friend who lives in other country. We took off at 11, walking back to the hotel.

On the next day, Yannak picked us at 8:30 for city tour. First stop was Royal Palace, because it's close in the afternoon. Ironically, the king doesn't live at the palace, he is in France. After the Palace, we went straight to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center a.k.a Killing Field. It was OK until we went inside the memorial monument, seeing 17 storeys of skulls from different age, especially with the background music they played, nobody will escape from having their goosebumps. An incident in this place, when Ati lost her cellphone. It happened so fast, only 5 mins. (whoever stole her cell, may it be used in a proper way, and Ati, may you get your new cell now).

From Killing Field, we went to S-21 Prison. Honestly, I felt the horror in this place, rather than in the field. Perhaps because this is the prison, where people are waiting desperately to come out alive, yet on the contrary, they are sentenced to death.

After the prison, we went to Wat Thom Temple. We just sat in the yard, watching people passed by, monkeys playing in the park, eating our Lotus and see the Monks spending their afternoon. It was a nice afternoon for us, then we headed back to the hotel.

Later at nite, we went out for a dinner at Warung Bali, which is owned by 2 Sundanese guys :). The food were all tasty, and we just in silent when the dinner was served. Everybody was busy with their own food. After dinner, as this is our last night in Phnom Penh, Ipang took us to Pon Toon, a club by the river. What we planned for an hour of staying there, we ended up leaving around midnite :) We felt like we were in Bali, seriously..

Regardless we had to leave quite early in the morning, but shaking our body and got sweat before off to bed was a great thing to do in ending the trip.. 

 

This is the final stop of my 8 days trip with Ge & Ati exploring Indochina.

Arriving at 3PM by bus, we went straight to the hotel to cool off a bit. The hotel was nice, and we in fact, chose the much better hotel for our last night. It's so close to Ben Tanh and other objects.

Around 5PM, we all went out. Ge went to the church for Sunday's service while me & Ati went to market for lil shopping. Then we went to the Cathedral, hung out with Ipang a bit (yes, it's the same Ipang in Phnom Penh. He picked up his friend who "likes" to get lost) then off to see the Vietnamese water puppet show. Although we didn't know any single word they said, but we found it funny from the way these puppets move.

Later at night, we went out for dinner and the 1st time ever in my life, I was rejected by a taxi and advised to take a walk since the place we wanted to go to was in a walking-distance (crap!).

My energy was used up and had no spare at all to get into the night activity, so after dinner, we walked back to the hotel.

In the following day, which is our last day, we went to Renaissance Palace & Ben Tanh (again!). We actually wanted to go to Ho Chi Minh Museum, but unfortunately, they were closed on Monday (bummer!). No, we didn't go to Cu Chi Tunnel because it's quite far from the city and besides, Ati & Ge wouldn't wanna try entering the tunnel, so why waste the time. Since the weather is getting hotter, we decided to go to the airport earlier.

I like this city so much. I in fact like it here much more than Jakarta.. There are many parks that we could just sit with no street seller could go inside and annoy us to buy-whatever-they-are-selling, no wastes, follow the rules (regardless thousand bikes on the street, but they are truly obedience), and we could walk at night in the street feeling so safe. Those are things that you would never find in Jakarta.

I found this communist city is much more capitalist than the democratic country I visited 5 days ago. 

 

Sadly that we have to end the trip, but we need to go back to the J-Town and continue our routine life. For sure, it's a memorable trip with my travel buddies, so many great things we've shared along the trip and I definitely wanna experience it again, either going back to the same place or find another spot to go to.

..8-days trip to Indochina..