Kembara Kami

16th November 2006

Two days before, late at night, I decided to follow a friend a.k.a. big sis a.k.a. comrade-in-arms for a holiday trip to Bandung, Indonesia. I waited for Mom to return home from Surabaya after midnight and asked for her permission. She told me to ask Dad. Dad was in Jakarta. [And Atiqah in Yemen; and Yusuf in Jordan (went to Lubnan & Syria); and Kakak & Abg Amin will be going to Cape Town, South Africa; and Musa & Mom to Australia; and Dad to Istanbul..... I thought a family would only go to one place together for a trip... man, this is rare...)

Anyways, the next day, on my way to a meeting with Datin Hartini for a youth expedition project to Singapore and Aceh, I sent Dad a text asking for his permission. He replied, saying yes. And I was so glad.

Actually, I was suppose to join a Mukhayyam in Ulu Yam together with many other friends of mine on the 16th... But I just love to travel elsewhere, although twice have I been to Bandung with my family. Both sounds interesting and adventurous, but there's something about a place in Bandung that's attracting me... apart from that mengembara-ingitis... hehe...

Flight was 0735 hours from LCCT-KLIA. One good thing we all realized about AirAsia - they don't delay flights like they always do last time. That's what we call IMPROVEMENT in TIME MANAGEMENT. Oh, I hope the Alumni of ADNI read this part and take note that it IS POSSIBLE for one (individual and group) to change to the better. That reminds me, Hijrah, the new year of 1428 Hijrah is coming...
I chatted with Kak Yam J throughout the 2-hour-plus flight despite that we were both very sleepy for we didn't have a good night sleep, but I guess we were just too excited about the trip and all,,, is it, Kak Yam? Hehe...

I've not been to Bandung by flight, as far as I can remember. For both trips with my family during my junior-high school time, we flew to Jakarta and took a BlueBird Kijang (it's Unser in Malaysia, and BlueBird is the best taxi service company available in Indonedia, I think) - which was not very nice last time since there was no proper highway and had to spent more than 5 hours in the car! The airport was small, maybe like the one in Kuala Terengganu, and crowded. We then took a cab to Daarut Tauhid...

Now, the real adventure begins...
Well, it's a different kind of adventure. Of course it's not like getting into the jungle in Ulu Yam, getting to do flying fox, pony riding, river crossing, mud bathing, etc... But you know what I mean...

So, Daarut Tauhid is a place - a daerah, or a very small town - which is very unique. It's attraction is it's 'Islamic aura' spread to places and people in and around it. Have you ever imagined how an Islamic state looks like? The mosque being it's centre of attention, 24-7 (especially during the weekends).

In Daarut Tauhid, the Islamic environment IS actually there. You can see it, you can feel it! You go everywhere, you rarely see any woman without head-scarf (I didn't see any!). No guys loitering around. Every night there's a public talk at its mosque, and it's broadcasted throughout the 'Islamic territory' by LCD projectors on d roadsides, parking lots, any place where you can find a place to sit. When you checked-in to the hotel, they'd ask whether you'd like to have a wake-up call for qiamullail,,,,, oh you know my description is far less from the reality...

The whole territory is very clean. And what's more interesting, is about the shoes. In entering any place, everyone will arrange their shoes, facing out. Oh boy, we just forget to take a picture of how the shoes are arranged although we made a so-called experiment as soon as we entered our hotel named Darul Jannah 2...

The weather in Bandung was suppose to be somewhat cool and windy, so they don't have fans or air-condition in their rooms... But now, I guess they're facing a dry season and the weather gets pretty hot during the afternoons.

The Square (it's not the real name, and it's actually a rectangle) where people would sit every night and listen to talks (beautiful, nice, relevant-to-our lives, touching ones) of the Sheikh there... Abdullah Gymnastiar a.k.a. Pak Aa Gym
somehow this man reminds me of Ustaz Asmadi and Ustaz Maszlee

The best restaurant around! They really treat us good and nice!

Jus Geurlis (er, how to spell, Kak Yam?), Jus Matahari and Ice Lemon Tea...

Oh there's a pretty aweful story here... >_<"

During one of the meals, I ordered Jus Jeruk, i.e. Orange Juice. It's Mandarin orange you see, and it's very nice. A very unfortunate thing that happen was that a fly fell into my drink. And we all thought if we dip it fully inside the drink and throw it away, the juice will be drink-able again. There was a hadeeth or something? And I did that...

Had at least three glasses of fruit juice for the first day too!

And a plate full of rice for each meal!

And by midnight,,, my stomach was growling...

I woke up early the next morning, going to the toilet some uncountable times...

So, tell me, was it ++ the fly, or ++ the cups of fruit juice, or ++ eating too much food?

I think it's the combination of all three!

And that maybe there's some exact steps that has to be taken in order to drink that juice again, e.g. dip it until it dies, or for how-many seconds, or whatever that may change the biological entities of the juice? Wallahu a'lam. A research has to be done and shared..

There's actually two parts of Darul Jannah... The first one much more beautiful since the rooms are made up of woods.

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17th November 2006

The others went to Pasar Baru for shopping and then headed to Tangkuban Perahu and Kawah Domas, an active volcano site, but I stayed back because of the stomach-ache, fearing that it'll be hard for me to find a toilet if I go... And Kak Yam J stayed back with me, figuring out how to get rid of my stomach-ache.. we chatted, slept and watch TV all day long. Makcik Azmah and the others only returned after Maghrib. Oh what a trip and shopping they had!

You can find some pics of the volcano site here: My Family Pics. Please search by yourself. Hehe.. Pics taken a couple of years ago.

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18th November 2006

After breakfast on the 18th, Kak Yam led the way to the local bookstore. Not forgetting that we passed by a group of people who are attending a training programme called Santri Siap Guna, SSG in short (read again: it's pronounced Es Es Ge), doing some morning aerobics. There's two bookstores in Daarut Tauhid, one above the Daarut Tauhid supermarket, the other a little further away, nearer to Dapur Teteh. I bought many books! I've never bought as much elsewhere, I guess. Oh, Pak Aa Gym has this wide range of 'business', from TV and radio broadcasting, book publishing to laundry! About a dozen of them, if I'm not mistaken, but I can't remember all. So this bookstore we went after breakfast was his.

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We then wander around the territory, to the other end, checking out what else do they have around there. They have a community centre I guess, or it belongs to some anti-HIV NGOs, I don't know. Since it was a Saturday so it was close. Oh, and I remembered Kak Yam and myself moaning one of the nights while watching TV as we see too much cigarretes ads, at least three different brands each time the advertisement period comes in between... and yeah, at the bookstore, there was this little book, it looks like a Dunhill cigarrete box, writton STOP in big letters SMOKING. But didn't buy it, coz the contents were too much, fonts too small and language in Indonesian so we don't know who to give to...

On the roof-top of one of Pak Gym's corporation buildings...

And while we were wandering around, we witnessed a small demonstration. Cool ^__^ It's anti-Bush demo since the US President Mr. George W. Bush was going to visit Jakarta on the 20th November.

picture: above & below

19th November 2006

On the 19th, we did more shopping!
Bought more books and button badges.

Entrance to the toko buku above the Daarut Tauhid supermarket. I think we went there more than three times thoughout the 5 days we were there, and each time we went, we bought some (or one) book(s). Of course! They're very cheap!

And I'll have to train myself to read books in other languages, not just English!

Kak Yam J with a comic book she bought for 50% off.

Oh! I forgot!

On the 18th, we went to Saung Angklung show... It's a place where people go to learn how to play traditional musical instruments, especially the angklung. The show price was pretty high for foreigners like us, but we all agreed that it was worth it. We don't only get to witness the kids there playing angklung and some other instruments, we get to TRY THEM!

Each visitor gets an angklung. They have 8 tones - Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti and another high pitched Do, numbered 1 to 8 respectively. We get the angklung with no. 1, it sounds kinda like a base...

The girl beside Kak Yam is our 'personal instructor' for that evening!

The 'teacher' poiting the notes of the song Burung Kakak Tua.
When the note no. 1 is pointed, Kak Yam, Makcik Azmah and I will have to play our angklung!

Ja ne!
The adventure has come to an end, AlhamduLillah! We returned to Malaysia on the 20th of November, in the morning, the day Bush arrived in Bogor Airport, Indonesia.
It was a memorable trip, indeed!


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