How We Ended Up in Bangkok

In my previous post, I've explained how Gabriele ended up buying her ticket to Indonesia.

I initially planned to take Gab around Java island, and also to Malaysia, to visit our bestfriend in Penang. But as time went by, I realized that Air Asia was giving us 50% discount for all international flights. That's when I saw a cheap ticket to from Jakarta to Bangkok. Luckily, Gab was on the same page as I was, and she has her credit card (the airline could only take payment to Indonesia by credit card). We booked our flight in May 2015 for Rp 600.000 (around 40 Euros). It isn't expensive, especially during the high season.

After more than a half year of waiting, I finally met Gab and went to BaliIsland for about a week. We stayed there to spend our new year eve, then we came back to Bandung to rest and prepare for our next trip to Thailand (exchanging our money, bought some Indonesian stuffs for our hosts, and packed our stuffs)

Pada awalnya gue berencana untuk ngajak Gab keliling pulau Jawa dan mengunjungi seorang teman baik kita di Malaysia. That was our initial plan. Seiring berjalannya waktu, gue menyadari kalau Air Asia lagi mengadakan diskon 50% untuk seluruh penerbangan internasional (di bulan mei 2015 lalu). Terus entah gimana caranya, gue menemukan tiket murah Jakarta-Bangkok seharga 600 ribuan. Cukup murah untuk waktu high season.

Gue gak punya kartu kredit, jadi gak bisa beli tiket ini secara online (tiket pergi bisa beli di indomaret, tapi tiket balik kagak bisa). Singkat cerita, gue cerita ke Gab kalo gue nemu tiket murah, dan dia juga ternyata gak keberatan untuk pergi menjelajah Thailand. Oh, dan beruntung, Gab has a credit card! Jadi doi beli tiket buat kita berdua.

Setelah lebih dari setengah tahun menunggu, gue akhirnya bertemu lagi dengan Gab. Dan setelah sekitar satu minggu menghabiskan waktu di Pulau Dewata, kita beristirahat sebentar di Kota Bandung tercinta dan mulai mempersiapkan perjalanan kami ke Thailand. Mulai dari bertukar mata uang, membeli berbagai barang khas Indonesia, hingga memulai ritual packing minimalis ala backpacker.

Golden Money Changer (GMC) has always been my first pick when it comes to exchanging the currencies. They usually give the best rate, compared to the other money changers. But because of this, GMC always has a huge waiting line, and sometimes people have to wait for some hours to be served. Lucky me, I was the first one entering GMC and could exchange the money directly.

Unfortunatelly, I didn't bring that much cash money. I thought they would take my debit card, but no, I was wrong. They only accept cash money and transferred money from mobile banking. So, please don't get tricked! Prepare your money, fellas!

As I've mentioned before, our cheap flight went from Jakarta to Bangkok. Well we were in Bandung at that point. So we had to ride a bus to Jakarta first, before flying to Bangkok. For this time, I chose Prima Jasa Bus because of its price, and their pool isn't that far away from my place (they have one in Batununggal). It costs 115.000 rupiah for a one way trip.

Tentu saja, untuk masalah penukaran mata uang, pilihan gue jatuh pada Golden Money Changer, tempat dengan rate (yang biasanya) terbaik. Kebetulan di Bandung terdapat dua buah GMC, salah satunya terletak di jalan Otista. Beruntung, kita datang tepat waktu dan mendapatkan nomor urut pertama sehingga tidak perlu kuatir dengan antrian yang panjang. Ya, antrian di GMC ini selalu lebay setiap harinya.

Oh sekedar mengingatkan, GMC hanya menerima penukaran uang secara cash atau melalui m-banking. Jadi, kalo kamu hanya memiliki kartu debet, sebaiknya ambil dulu uangmu di ATM!

Seperti yang sudah gue bahas, rute penerbangan kita adalah Jakarta-Bangkok. Oleh karena itu, gue dan Gab perlu mendatangi bandara Soekarno Hatta di Jakarta terlebih dahulu. Kali ini, pilihan kami jatuh kepada Prima Jasa, dengan harga Rp 115.000.

I don't want to be late. Nobody does. So we went from Bandung at 10.00, just to avoid the crazy traffic in Jakarta. Luckily, we arrived in Soekarno Hatta airport a bit earlier, so we could chill a bit.

Karena kuatir akan kemacetan kota Jakarta, kami memutuskan untuk berangkat dari Bandung pada pukul 10.00 dan berharap untuk sampai di Soekarno Hatta sebelum waktu yang ditentukan. Everything went as planned. Kita datang lebih awal sehingga dapat menyelesaikan seluruh prosedur tanpa terburu-buru.

The first step that you have to do (if you're using Air Asia and don't have any lugagge) is doing the online check-in with their check-in machine. It isn't hard. You only have to scan your passport, and insert your booking code. Interesting.

Step pertama merupakan check-in, yang kami lakukan secara mandiri pada mesin printer tiket yang ada. Check-in secara mandiri ini dapat dilakukan bagi para penumpang yang tidak memiliki koper atau barang yang ingin disimpan di bagasi pesawat.

After some time, we finally decided to enter the waiting room (it was around one hour before our flight). Well I had never had any problem with this part (entering the waiting room). But this time was an exception. I guess the worker saw my backpack, that seems heavier than 7 kg (their maximum allowance). Then he asked me to weigh my backpack to check its weight.

Setelah menunggu selama beberapa saat, kami memutuskan untuk memasuki ruang tunggu, satu jam sebelum keberangkatan yang dijadwalkan. Sebelum ini, gue gak pernah memiliki masalah di bagian ini. But this time, it's different. Mungkin petugas bandara menyadari bahwa backpack gue terlihat penuh dan berat. Oleh karena itu, doi meminta gue untuk menimbang backpack gue, karena limit yang dimiliki oleh Maskapai Air Asia adalah seberat 7 kg.

Dang! It was around 11-12 kg. Then he asked me to go back to the check-in counter, to put my backpack as a bagagge. Oh I'm not stupid. I know it would be expensive. Then I remembered a post on a backpacker forum that they should allow laptop to go in (without measuring its weight). Lucky me, he asked me to take off my laptop from my backpack and to measure it again. It was 9 kg, and we're good to go!

In case he didn't let me in, Gab told me that she's willing to help me wearing all those shirts and pants that I have inside my bag. For your information, they won't measure your body weight. So they wouldn't care about those clothes that are attached to your body. But lucky, we didn't need to do that.

Sayangnya, timbangan menunjukkan bahwa ransel gue 11-12 kilogram, cukup jauh dari batasan yang diberikan oleh maskapai. Petugas bandara meminta gue untuk kembali ke bagian check-in dan membeli bagasi untuk menaruh backpack gue. Yakali mas! Mahal kali!

Singkat cerita, gue akhirnya bilang ke mas-masnya kalau ransel gue ini ada laptopnya (karena gue pernah baca mengenai ini di sebuah forum). Beruntung, mas-masnya minta laptop gue dikeluarin dan backpack gue ditimbang ulang. Oh gak hanya laptop, gue juga langsung ngambil jaket gue dan langsung gue pake. Mayan mas mbak. Buat ngurangin timbangan. Bahkan Gab bilang ke gue kalo doi bisa bantu gue buat pake baju dan celana gue, biar berat barang di tas gue bisa berkurang.

Ah mungkin gue lagi hoki. Setelah laptop dan jaket dikeluarkan dari tas, timbangan akhirnya menunjukkan angka 9 kg. He let me in! Oh iya, Gab juga boleh masuk kok. Cuma 8 kilo doang tas dia mah.

Not too long after that, we finally got into the waiting room, and the airplane went as planned.

Setelah menunggu selama beberapa saat, kita pun diizinkan masuk ke dalam pesawat, dan pesawat berangkat sesuai dengan jadwal yang dijanjikan.

Coincidentally, they announced that the plane had a technical problem, so it had to go back to the aircraft. They announced it right before we flew! So yeah, our airplane was delayed by 1.5 hours and we had to wait inside the airplane til they said it's all ok.

Our flight to Bangkok took around 3.5 hours, and we finally landed in Don Mueang Airport at 9 PM. Poor Gab, she's a Lithuanian and she had to make a Visa on Arrival right after we landed. She had to take a visa picture, which costs 100 Baht, and the Visa itself for 1000 Baht. We had not even stepped outside the airport!

Tanpa diduga, tepat sebelum pesawat mulai meluncur (untuk lepas landas), terdapat sebuah pengumuman bahwa pesawat mengalami masalah teknis dan harus kembali ke tempat semula. Intinya, pesawat gue delay 1.5 coy! Dan tak seperti biasanya, kami menunggu di dalam pesawat, di tempat duduk kami masing-masing.

Setelah sekitar 3.5 jam terombang ambing di angkasa, kami akhirnya mendarat di Don Mueang Airport pada pukul 21.00. Tapi karena Gab harus ngurusin Visa on Arrivalnya dulu (totalnya 1100 Baht).

Counter foto untuk visa : 100 Baht

Anna sedang di kota asalnya sehingga kami dijemput oleh adik-kakak yang satu ini, Bill dan Bank

1 Baht = 390 Rupiah

After losing her 1100 Baht for her Visa, we finally got out from the airport. We took the 6th exit, and went by the A1 bus to the BTS in Mor Shit. It costs 30 Baht.

Setelah visa kelar, akhirnya kita bisa keluar dari airport kira-kira pukul 22.00, dan langsung naik ke shuttle bus, menuju ke BTS Mor Shit. Untuk perjalanan dengan bus kali ini, kita harus menyiapkan 30 Baht.

It wasn't the end yet. After arriving in Mor Shit, we had to take an MRT from Chatuchak station to Lat Phrao for 19 Baht. Then we had to walk a bit to find Anna's place (she's our host). Well Anna wasn't there yet at that time. She was still in her hometown. So she gave her key to Bill and Bank, her friend who live close to her room.

Setelah itu, kita harus melanjutkan perjalanan dengan menggunakan MRT dari Stasiun Chatuchak menuju Stasiun Lat Phrao seharga 19 Baht, dan sedikit berjalan kaki untuk mencapai kamar host pertama kami, Anna.

Here is our expenses for our first day in Bangkok.

Berikut merupakan perincian dari pengeluaran kami di hari pertama ini.