Tata Titi Tutu......

Remember the phrase.... Tata Titi Tutu? Hahahahha, it is a very famous phrase used in one of  Allahyarham Tan Sri P.Ramlee's fabulous and much-much enjoyable films. I can assure you that people of all ages from those days and  until today loves watching his films. He is one in a zillion. None that I can think of can take his place... not even at par. I might sound bias but it is a fact! Sorry guys!

At this moment, my husband and I are at Kuala Lumpur International Airport ( KLIA ), waiting to be called to board our KLM 1620 hours flight to Jakarta..... honeymooners on the way!!!! The plan is to stay a night at Jakarta at Ibis Hotel in Mangga Dua.  Will walk around the area to enjoy the famous 'machet' or in English we call it traffic jam! hahahhahahhaha. Yes we do have jams in Kuala Lumpur but you cannot enjoy it because you are stuck in it! But when you are a tourist, it is different! hahahhahahha. Idiotic me, isn't it!

We boarded the KLM flight 0809 at 1620 ours. We were served with vegetarian food with a glass of orange juice. the flight took an hour and a half. The weather was quite bad and we experienced some turbulence but it was okay. Not too bad but ..... I was still scared. Bacalah apa ayat yang terlintas di kepala otak..... Alhamdulillah. down on t The plane touched on time and it was a great relief to touch the ground....hahahhahahaha. Takuuuuuttttt! We took the Silver Bird Taxi to the hotel. we paid Rp210 000 which is equivalent to RM60.00. The was good and so was the Muslim driver, Muhammad Zakaria but the jam was terrible! All the way from he airport towards the city but because they are so used to this condition, an everyday life, everyone seems to take it as it is. Nobody looked tense or angry when another vehicle overtooked them suddenly in between other vehicles. They just give way! Not a word uttered from the driver...not a word.

The driver told us today's jam is different because everybody was going out visiting a house in the city. The house belonged to Habib Munzir AlMusawa, who passed away at a very early age of 40. Thousands of his followers attended his funeral and it was live on television by one of the  stations! It was a promised that, if we do good throughout our life, InsyaAllah people will remember the best about us after we die. The  whole nation mourned his death. MasyaAllah.  A short journey but he fulfilled his life with the BEST...... an Ulama! Subhanallah.

Tomorrow morning, we plan to take the 10.50am Argo Pharayangan  Express Train from Gambir Train Station in Jakarta to Bandung TRain Station. It is said that the journey will take 3 hours. I even booked the tickets online  from www.Tiket.com.

Hope everything goes well.

Day 2:

The route.

Assalammualaikum! A very good morning indeed. First thing is to remember the timing. Jakarta is 0ne hour behind us. The sun is shining and I can feel it is going to be a good day! Yeah!!!! I am about to prepare breakfast... a simple one will do! Coffee and bread! hahahahahahahha. will beleaving to Gambir Train Station, in an hour time. InssyaAllah.

Gambir Train Station in Jakarta.

At 9.00 am on th dot we arrived the train station. Not many people because this is an express train station which only stop once at the destination point. so, if you imagined people climbing on the top of the train, that will not be this route.  When booking online, we cannot choose our seats. What is given is what you get. So, my husband is seated in the next coach. Mine is coach 3 and his is 2. But, as I said, they are very nice and understanding people. They allowed us to sit together for as long as the seat is empty....  lucky us. Sharp 10.50am, the train moved. we just passed he first two stations Cikini and Manggarai. Next will be Jatinegara.

Part of the facilities.

As we were passing, from what I see and from what I heard, you see more if you travel by train. it is you know! You will the real life of this country . The country side, the small roads, the people and so on. It is very interesting. I saw how the people work so hard to survive by doing what they can do best. Most of the work that they do here are no more seen in Malaysia...... not even in our kampung. I can say we are far ahead of them in terms of luxury living. Even the people who live in the 'Seting Garden' back home are far more better off.

They are very serious in doing their jobs.

On board, we were greeted  by the staffs with big smile on their faces. They are all ever willing to help. That shows how they appreciated the job given to them. They were so very thankful to earn their monthly salary where else some are not as lucky. 10 million  people in Jakarta and  to be able to get a job.... so they do odd jobs just to survive. Be thankful and be greatful with our country. Never compare with the better off countries!  Learn to appreciate. I believe our leaders has done the best for us. Stop whining and stop complaining guys.......

Taking orders for food and drink on board.

The Manager on duty today is Pak Dadan D.N. It was only 30 minutes when I first boarded and one after another the railway staffs came for so many reasons. First the checking of the tickets. His name is Pak Dede and like the others, he smiles alot. A younger officer followed him from behind  with a file in his hand and writing something when asked. Then came a young chap with a piles of booklets and handing over to all passengers for sales on the train. Then came a pair taking orders from passenger should they want to eat.  Then came another young lady, passed us some evaluation papers. We just need to answer the given questions about the service. I gave them thumbs up with full marks all along! I am so happy with their service and I would recommend to all my friends. Cheap, fast and friendly! Even, security officers walk up and down every few minutes. I feel safe.

The Security guard.

 I felt that the coach is slightly more spacious from our KTM or could it be my imagination? So I googled. Ours is running on track gauge 1,000mm (3ft. 3.4in) while theirs is 1,067mm.(3ft. 6in). Track gauge is the spacing of the rails on the the railway track. Maybe  they need the 2inces wider size for their kind of terrains going up and down hills and mountains.  The route is much more adventurers compared to ours..... suddenly you feel hanging when you looked below..... ravine with thick jungle! Scary but I like!! But, the ones used in Acheh is the widest....1,345mm (4ft 3.4ins) wide! Why? Yet to try....

The train workers in Bandung Station.

We passed acres and acres of paddy fields. Many people are working in the field. Saw small children running without anything on... so kampung. hahahahhahha.   It reminds me of my late grandmother. Life with her in Parit Yusof,  was full of fun and adventures.

What we see.

The train  passed through few tunnels and bridges.  One of the tunnels was built back in 1902 ! This shows that this nation have built their long and winding railway track much earlier. The constructions took them 6 years from 1864 and was ready to use in 1870 from Semarang to Surakarta with the length of 110km! They even built the bridges for the train to pass through crossing deep ravines. The bridges were a history by itself. The bridges and the tracks were built very long ago and it last until now. This shows that the people here are serious in managing their tracks and bridges to sustain the quality for public use. I salute them!



Some of the bridges we passed.

Alhamdulillah after 3 hours, we arrived Station Utama Bandung at 1350hours local time. The train arrived at Bandung Utama Train Station right on time. Not a minute late. It rained heavily and the cool weather in Bandung became cooler. By comparison, Gambir Station Jakarta is much more modern, clean and efficient. It is an open air complex ... meaning no airconditon. Very airy and the cleaners are always on their feet. The buttlers with green uniforms will come and approach you to help carry your luggages. Mind you, not only they are strong but some of them are old man who still have to work in the name of survival! They have escalators and even lifts. But, Bandung Utama  Station is different. I felt like I was in the yesterday . The layout, the arrangement of the trains, the tracks shows the yesterday of this place. I remember reading  Prahmoedya Ananta Toer Novels. His discriptions of the train stations is what I saw in Bandung. It looks old but functioning well. It still can accomodated thousands of passengers every day. It is very old and it is history!



 Just arrived at Bandung Station....

The ride was very relaxing and the views.....  picturesque! They truly are very hard working people because every plot of land, every nooks and corners were plantations and vegetations. Paddy, Tapioca, Coconuts, Groundnuts and so on. No land is left empty. Subhanallah.

Amazingly, the paddy they grew here not only on the lower ground but on terraces around the highlands.  What surprise me more is there are water in the paddy pods. How in the world did they manage to supply water to the upper terraces? Well they are very creative. They built aqueducts just like the ancient Romans did. The water from the river nearby were pump up through the aqueduct and supplied the water to the paddy pods in all terraces. Very clever.

  Left: The stream at the bottom and the paddy pods on top.

Right: The aqueduct for watering the paddy fileds.

We took a taxi from Bandung Utama Train Station to the hotel. It cost us Rp70,000. It was funny because we paid Rp40,000 for our train tickets , a 3 hour ride and Rp70,000 for a 15 minutes ride. Hahahhahahha. Fortunately, the taxi driver is a very nice man. He stopped us at the nearest Nasi Padang Restaurant for our lunch and even suggested us where to go around Bandung. We might be chartering his taxi one of these days to take us around to the famous Pasar Baru and maybe one meal at Kampung Daun.  At the mean time, we just want to enjoy the hotel facilities. Wonder what is in store for us.

We just checked in at Jayakarta Bandung Hotel. It was an old hotel but the condition is still good. The staff, Aris who attended us was a very nice guy. I booked online through agoda.com foe Executive room with balcony because my husband wants to smoke his cigar but all rooms of hat standard was taken. Aris upgraded us to a junior site but without a balcony. We felt honoured but we insisted for a room with balcony. Alhamdulillah, Aris found a room of our choice and with even better view of the swimming pool and with balcony. hahahhahhaa..... I am so happy. I feel blessed.

Time to rest.

That's all for today. Hope to write again tomorrow to share my experiences in the land of the Garuda!