Andin's Exchange Stories in THAILAND

The Diary of One Girl Wandering Thailand As an ASEAN Ambassador 

Hi! My name is Talitha Andini Prameswari. You can call me Andin, and forget about the rest of my name. So, this is my diary while i’m away from my country and went to Thailand delegating Indonesia as an ASEAN Ambassador and also an Exchange Participant of AIESEC. I hope this is useful for you guys, if someday you had a chance to go to Thailand.

PS: If you need something to ask more you can see me on my facebook : Talitha Andini Prameswari or just email me to prameswaritalitha@gmail.com or prameswaritalitha@hotmail.com

Cheeriosss,,

13th June 2011

This is like the day of my arrival to Bangkok and the first day of my journey as an AIESEC Exchange Participant (EP) and an ASEAN ambassador Indonesia’s Delegate.  I was landed in Suvarnabhumi airport at 13.10 with Garuda Indonesia Airlines GA 866 and being amazed by Suvarnabhumi airport which is so different than the previous airport of Bangkok, Don Muang. After being checked by the custom guy, who barely talked anything, i went to the conveyor belt to get my super HUGE luggage which i regret to bring afterwards.

Jave, the OCP of  Local Comittee Thammasat University and Paing the guy who interviewed me waited for me at the Starbucks Coffee on the third floor of Suvarnabhumi airport carrying a paper with my name written on it and a welcome note as being planned before. After introducing ourselves, we decided to go to the apartment.

Three of us, went to the airport link (train) terminal that headed to Phaya Thai Station. Paing got my super HUGE luggage, i carried my own hand bag and a red velvet cabin luggage, while Jave carried nothing  but working as a way director for us. After arriving at Phaya Thai station, we have to get through stairs to go down and headed to the BTS station. Paing looked absolutely struggle with my luggage though Jave came down to help carrying it. I was feeling SUPER bad at the moment. I kept saying sorry and they kept saying “It’s alright.” We got into the BTS and headed to Saphan Taksin station so that we can ride a boat cruising Chao Praya river. Saphan Taksin has a BTS station and also a pier.

At Saphan Taksin, we bought tickets for the boat. The orange line boat. And each ticket cost us 14 THB. Not long after we arrive, the orange boat is arrived and we got into it. Paing again and again looked super stressful with that stupid HUGE luggage and seeing that, i kinda lost my words to apologize.

Inside the boat, there’s this one lady who got my interest. She acts as the ticket collector and she’s working with this medium size metal cylindric that used as a place to keep the money and also the tickets. Unfortunately, i couldn’t take any pictures of her because SUDDENLY it was raining and we’re inside an open boat! So basically i could feel the water splashed to my skin.

We finally arrived at Phra Pinklao pier, and it was STILL raining. So three of us had to like running to get inside the pier (well of course not running as we had that stupid HUGE luggage that really slowed us down).  We waited for a moment until the rain wasn’t that hard and we took taxi to the apartment.

 

My apartment is located in Arun Amarin road and it was quite nice. It has 2 spring beds in each room, an air conditioner, an inside bath room with hot water facility and the best part is free unlimited WiFi!!! YEAY!! My roommate hadn’t come yet so three of us decided to go to the nearest apartment to buy some stuffs for the apartment.

We had to cross the intersection and took a bus that costs us 8 THB each person from the other side of the road. Jave decided to go to Tesco Lotus Supermarket and because Paing lives near the area so he kinda knows better than Jave who lives 3 hours far from this area. 

I bought some vital things for my new apartment and decided to buy the rest after my roommate has come, so we both can have what we want for our apartment. After the shopping part, we decided to get back to the apartment to put the stuff i bought before we had dinner together.

I bought an Inter SIM that costs me 49 THB so that i can call my parents who tearsfully allow me to go and my boyfriend/ex (i really have no idea what we’re in, it’s complicated). This time Jave got the hardest part. He helped me by carrying 6 bottles of mineral water along the way from the supermarket to the apartment. After finally arrived at the apartment i had my stuffs stored and we took a rest for some moments and went to have Tom Yum Kung and Oyster omelette’s dinner.

After the dinner, Jave’s got home as he lived far from my apartment  and Paing walked me home. It was EXCELLENTLY tiring day yet bunch of fun!

14th June 2011

This day is the second day of my internship in Thailand to work as an ASEAN ambassador. According to Jave this would be the day of arrival of my roommate and 2 Vietnamese girls who will live in the same apartment as me. I got up from my bed when Jave knocked on my door. Oh my God! It was already 10am and i was still in my lingerie!! I jumped out, grab my cardigan and opened my door for him. Jave said that the 2 vietnamese girls already arrived so i came to their room to say Hi. Their name is Giang Hoang and Nguyen Thi Thanh Giang. They both named Giang. And i have no idea how to call them differently. They were very nice and polite. Sooo 180 to me.

Thanh Giang can play this traditional musical instrumet that usually played by chinese. And i think that it’s so cool. I went back to my room to take a bath and i will skip those unimportant things i did as the rest of the day was just doing great especially when i had my dinner with those vietnamese girls by the river of Chao Praya.

  

Ps: My roommate is FINALLY arrived at 11pm with Jave and i was already so sleepy and already again in my lingerie!! 

15th June 2011

Third day of my internship is actually still my free day. So, i spent it with my roommate and the vietnamese girls shopping for our apartment and then separated because the vietnamese girls hadn’t finish shopping yet.  

Me and my roommate decided to watch Kung Fu Panda as it hadn’t been played in Indonesia because of the foreign movie taxation issues. There’s a very interesting experience i had. Before the movie was played all of sudden everyone stopped doing what they were doing, stood up, and had a moment of silent as a video about their king being played on the screen. I looked at each other with my roommate and both of us swore that it was like the most solemn moment since we arrived in Thailand. After watched the movie, we got back to our apartment by bus and that is all my story for the third day.  

Ps:  The Ronald McDonald statue here has a different pose than the one in Indonesia. He doesn’t sit with one leg rests on the other but he puts his hands in front of his chest with both of his palm facing each other like trying to say “Sawadee.”

16th June 2011

16th June is the first day of the ASEAN Ambassador Conference. So we need to go to the ministry of foreign affair in the morning. Because we couldn’t  find any usual car taxi then, we decided to separate us into 2 groups and the first group had to go by tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk is a vehicle that looks like bajaj in Indonesia but it’s bigger. This vehicle can only be found in Thailand. So riding on it, was an unusual experience. The tuk-tuk driver often drives very fast so it’s a little dangerous but super fun!

 

After we got at the ministry of foreign affair, we had the conference. On the first day, every delegates need to know each other so we had this kind of game and many interactions activities. On this conference we were taught about ASEAN  and ASEAN community 2015. So that we have the information needed to share to the Thailand’s student when we’re in the roadshow.   

The conference started at 9.00 and ended on 18.00. After finished conferencing, we’re heading to Siam. Siam is a very crowded area usually full of tourists and foreigner where there are so many malls and department store. We went to MBK to have dinner there.  In the food court of MBK there are plenty of foods than can be chose from different countries. 

After finished having dinner at MBK we took BTS from Siam station to Wongwian Yai and took taxi there to get to our apartment.

17th June 2011

17th June is the second day of the ASEAN Ambassador Conference. We had so many great moments and ended the day with taking many pictures around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

 

18th June 2011

The ASEAN Conference’s over and now it’s the time for us to discuss about the project for the road show. Jave, our OCP picked us up at the apartment and we’re heading to the Phrachan to have lunch and after that to Siriraj hospital area to find a good place where we can sit and talk about our project. We decided to make the presentation stay in Thai, since not many Thai students can understand English. So, to make them have the idea of what we’re trying to explain, we’re gonna use Thai language. After the discussion is over we decided to go to Thammasat University. But, the road was blocked because the royal family’s passing through, so we have to wait until the royal family was through. The king is hospitalized in Siriraj hospital so it’s very common if the road around the hospital is blocked if there’s any royal family want to use the road. It was the first time for me to see the Queen of Kingdom of Thailand.

Finally, after the royal family’s cars were passing through we’re heading to Thammasat university which located across the Siriraj hospital. Instead of being separated by streets  the two places are separated by the famous Chao Praya river. So, we had to take the boat to croos the river. 

Inside the Thammasat University we took many pictures and wandering around. Jave told us a story about the massacre of many Thammasat students around the campus area when Thailand was ruled by a dictator. There are some statues built to honour the victims.

  

After wandering around Thammasat we went to a field that across the front gate of Thammasat  where we could see the Grand Palace from far distance. We played around at the field until an officer came up and spoke something that we didn’t understand. We hurriedly stood up because we thought that we didn’t allow to step on the grass. But, wait, why everybody is stop doing what they’re doing and stand up? Then we realize that it was already 6pm and it was the time when all Thailand’s national flag being down and the moment of national anthem being played. Everytime, this thing happen we need to stand up and listen to the song in order to respect it. This is another Thailand’s tradition that so different from Indonesia.

   

We decided to have dinner and got back home because we’re already feeling so tired

19th June 2011

IT IS SUNDAYYYY!! And Sunday means one thing in Thailand. CHATUCAK WEEKEND MARKET!!!! Yeaaayy.. So me and Dani, my roommate, and the other 3 Vietnamese girls decided to go shopping at Chatuchak which located at the north of Bangkok. You can reach Chatuchak by BTS and stop at the Mo chit station or by MRT and stop at the Chatuchak market or Kamphaeng Phet or by taxi like i did, because it’s nearer and cheaper from our apartment.

 

We did shop a lot there, well at least i did. But me and Dani are separated with the other Vietnamese girls because they decided to go home early and we still want to go shopping. After tired of shopping and wandering around we decided to buy some snack and beverages which are fried quail eggs, fried squid egg, and fried chicken with french fries. All in small portion. And we had Thai Ice thai which basically is tea mixed with milk. The interesting part of this tea is that the barista did some tricks to mix the tea and the milk.

We took BTS to go back because Dani wanted to go to exchange her money, and the best money changer in Bangkok is the Super Rich money changer which located near Big C, one of the department store at downtown Bangkok. We took the BTS from Mo Chit Station and stopped at Chit Lom Station. We need to walk through the sky walk bridge and we arrived at the Super Rich money changer. After we exchange the money, we had our lunch at the Central World another department store around the area. 

We got back to our apartment frorm Chit Lom station BTS to Saphan Taksin (Central Pier) because we’d like to take a boat rather than taxi. But before went to Chit Lom station we took a look around Gaysorn, one of the luxurious department store in Bangkok.

 

PS: The last boat for orange line is at 7pm. We almost being left by but thank God we made it. And the view of Chao Praya river in the evening is stunning! You should try!

20th June 2011

Today me and Dani went to Debby’s house (another Indonesian EP) which located at Vibhavadi Rangsit to discuss about our show at ASEAN Village. We went there by taxi because there aren’t any BTS nor the MRT that passing through the area. We had our discussion and came up with new creative ideas. We went back to our apartment at 8pm.

PS: the taxi cost us 200 THB and we need to take the highway to go there and it cost us 45 THB. Thank God! Debby ‘s sister provided us with food, because i have no idea how much money should we spend if we had to buy food for ourselves. LOL.   

Three of us, went to the airport link (train) terminal that headed to Phaya Thai Station. Paing got my super HUGE luggage, i carried my own hand bag and a red velvet cabin luggage, while Jave carried nothing  but working as a way director for us. After arriving at Phaya Thai station, we have to get through stairs to go down and headed to the BTS station. Paing looked absolutely struggle with my luggage though Jave came down to help carrying it. I was feeling SUPER bad at the moment. I kept saying sorry and they kept saying “It’s alright.” We got into the BTS and headed to Saphan Taksin station so that we can ride a boat cruising Chao Praya river. Saphan Taksin has a BTS station and also a pier.

At Saphan Taksin, we bought tickets for the boat. The orange line boat. And each ticket cost us 14 THB. Not long after we arrive, the orange boat is arrived and we got into it. Paing again and again looked super stressful with that stupid HUGE luggage and seeing that, i kinda lost my words to apologize.

Inside the boat, there’s this one lady who got my interest. She acts as the ticket collector and she’s working with this medium size metal cylindric that used as a place to keep the money and also the tickets. Unfortunately, i couldn’t take any pictures of her because SUDDENLY it was raining and we’re inside an open boat! So basically i could feel the water splashed to my skin.

We finally arrived at Phra Pinklao pier, and it was STILL raining. So three of us had to like running to get inside the pier (well of course not running as we had that stupid HUGE luggage that really slowed us down).  We waited for a moment until the rain wasn’t that hard and we took taxi to the apartment.

 

My apartment is located in Arun Amarin road and it was quite nice. It has 2 spring beds in each room, an air conditioner, an inside bath room with hot water facility and the best part is free unlimited WiFi!!! YEAY!! My roommate hadn’t come yet so three of us decided to go to the nearest apartment to buy some stuffs for the apartment.

We had to cross the intersection and took a bus that costs us 8 THB each person from the other side of the road. Jave decided to go to Tesco Lotus Supermarket and because Paing lives near the area so he kinda knows better than Jave who lives 3 hours far from this area. 

I bought some vital things for my new apartment and decided to buy the rest after my roommate has come, so we both can have what we want for our apartment. After the shopping part, we decided to get back to the apartment to put the stuff i bought before we had dinner together.

I bought an Inter SIM that costs me 49 THB so that i can call my parents who tearsfully allow me to go and my boyfriend/ex (i really have no idea what we’re in, it’s complicated). This time Jave got the hardest part. He helped me by carrying 6 bottles of mineral water along the way from the supermarket to the apartment. After finally arrived at the apartment i had my stuffs stored and we took a rest for some moments and went to have Tom Yum Kung and Oyster omelette’s dinner.

After the dinner, Jave’s got home as he lived far from my apartment  and Paing walked me home. It was EXCELLENTLY tiring day yet bunch of fun!

14th June 2011

This day is the second day of my internship in Thailand to work as an ASEAN ambassador. According to Jave this would be the day of arrival of my roommate and 2 Vietnamese girls who will live in the same apartment as me. I got up from my bed when Jave knocked on my door. Oh my God! It was already 10am and i was still in my lingerie!! I jumped out, grab my cardigan and opened my door for him. Jave said that the 2 vietnamese girls already arrived so i came to their room to say Hi. Their name is Giang Hoang and Nguyen Thi Thanh Giang. They both named Giang. And i have no idea how to call them differently. They were very nice and polite. Sooo 180 to me.

Thanh Giang can play this traditional musical instrumet that usually played by chinese. And i think that it’s so cool. I went back to my room to take a bath and i will skip those unimportant things i did as the rest of the day was just doing great especially when i had my dinner with those vietnamese girls by the river of Chao Praya.

  

Ps: My roommate is FINALLY arrived at 11pm with Jave and i was already so sleepy and already again in my lingerie!! 

15th June 2011

Third day of my internship is actually still my free day. So, i spent it with my roommate and the vietnamese girls shopping for our apartment and then separated because the vietnamese girls hadn’t finish shopping yet.  

Me and my roommate decided to watch Kung Fu Panda as it hadn’t been played in Indonesia because of the foreign movie taxation issues. There’s a very interesting experience i had. Before the movie was played all of sudden everyone stopped doing what they were doing, stood up, and had a moment of silent as a video about their king being played on the screen. I looked at each other with my roommate and both of us swore that it was like the most solemn moment since we arrived in Thailand. After watched the movie, we got back to our apartment by bus and that is all my story for the third day.  

Ps:  The Ronald McDonald statue here has a different pose than the one in Indonesia. He doesn’t sit with one leg rests on the other but he puts his hands in front of his chest with both of his palm facing each other like trying to say “Sawadee.”

16th June 2011

16th June is the first day of the ASEAN Ambassador Conference. So we need to go to the ministry of foreign affair in the morning. Because we couldn’t  find any usual car taxi then, we decided to separate us into 2 groups and the first group had to go by tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk is a vehicle that looks like bajaj in Indonesia but it’s bigger. This vehicle can only be found in Thailand. So riding on it, was an unusual experience. The tuk-tuk driver often drives very fast so it’s a little dangerous but super fun!

 

After we got at the ministry of foreign affair, we had the conference. On the first day, every delegates need to know each other so we had this kind of game and many interactions activities. On this conference we were taught about ASEAN  and ASEAN community 2015. So that we have the information needed to share to the Thailand’s student when we’re in the roadshow.   

The conference started at 9.00 and ended on 18.00. After finished conferencing, we’re heading to Siam. Siam is a very crowded area usually full of tourists and foreigner where there are so many malls and department store. We went to MBK to have dinner there.  In the food court of MBK there are plenty of foods than can be chose from different countries. 

After finished having dinner at MBK we took BTS from Siam station to Wongwian Yai and took taxi there to get to our apartment.

17th June 2011

17th June is the second day of the ASEAN Ambassador Conference. We had so many great moments and ended the day with taking many pictures around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

 

18th June 2011

The ASEAN Conference’s over and now it’s the time for us to discuss about the project for the road show. Jave, our OCP picked us up at the apartment and we’re heading to the Phrachan to have lunch and after that to Siriraj hospital area to find a good place where we can sit and talk about our project. We decided to make the presentation stay in Thai, since not many Thai students can understand English. So, to make them have the idea of what we’re trying to explain, we’re gonna use Thai language. After the discussion is over we decided to go to Thammasat University. But, the road was blocked because the royal family’s passing through, so we have to wait until the royal family was through. The king is hospitalized in Siriraj hospital so it’s very common if the road around the hospital is blocked if there’s any royal family want to use the road. It was the first time for me to see the Queen of Kingdom of Thailand.

Finally, after the royal family’s cars were passing through we’re heading to Thammasat university which located across the Siriraj hospital. Instead of being separated by streets  the two places are separated by the famous Chao Praya river. So, we had to take the boat to croos the river. 

Inside the Thammasat University we took many pictures and wandering around. Jave told us a story about the massacre of many Thammasat students around the campus area when Thailand was ruled by a dictator. There are some statues built to honour the victims.

  

After wandering around Thammasat we went to a field that across the front gate of Thammasat  where we could see the Grand Palace from far distance. We played around at the field until an officer came up and spoke something that we didn’t understand. We hurriedly stood up because we thought that we didn’t allow to step on the grass. But, wait, why everybody is stop doing what they’re doing and stand up? Then we realize that it was already 6pm and it was the time when all Thailand’s national flag being down and the moment of national anthem being played. Everytime, this thing happen we need to stand up and listen to the song in order to respect it. This is another Thailand’s tradition that so different from Indonesia.

   

We decided to have dinner and got back home because we’re already feeling so tired

19th June 2011

IT IS SUNDAYYYY!! And Sunday means one thing in Thailand. CHATUCAK WEEKEND MARKET!!!! Yeaaayy.. So me and Dani, my roommate, and the other 3 Vietnamese girls decided to go shopping at Chatuchak which located at the north of Bangkok. You can reach Chatuchak by BTS and stop at the Mo chit station or by MRT and stop at the Chatuchak market or Kamphaeng Phet or by taxi like i did, because it’s nearer and cheaper from our apartment.

 

We did shop a lot there, well at least i did. But me and Dani are separated with the other Vietnamese girls because they decided to go home early and we still want to go shopping. After tired of shopping and wandering around we decided to buy some snack and beverages which are fried quail eggs, fried squid egg, and fried chicken with french fries. All in small portion. And we had Thai Ice thai which basically is tea mixed with milk. The interesting part of this tea is that the barista did some tricks to mix the tea and the milk.

We took BTS to go back because Dani wanted to go to exchange her money, and the best money changer in Bangkok is the Super Rich money changer which located near Big C, one of the department store at downtown Bangkok. We took the BTS from Mo Chit Station and stopped at Chit Lom Station. We need to walk through the sky walk bridge and we arrived at the Super Rich money changer. After we exchange the money, we had our lunch at the Central World another department store around the area. 

We got back to our apartment frorm Chit Lom station BTS to Saphan Taksin (Central Pier) because we’d like to take a boat rather than taxi. But before went to Chit Lom station we took a look around Gaysorn, one of the luxurious department store in Bangkok.

 

PS: The last boat for orange line is at 7pm. We almost being left by but thank God we made it. And the view of Chao Praya river in the evening is stunning! You should try!

20th June 2011

Today me and Dani went to Debby’s house (another Indonesian EP) which located at Vibhavadi Rangsit to discuss about our show at ASEAN Village. We went there by taxi because there aren’t any BTS nor the MRT that passing through the area. We had our discussion and came up with new creative ideas. We went back to our apartment at 8pm.

PS: the taxi cost us 200 THB and we need to take the highway to go there and it cost us 45 THB. Thank God! Debby ‘s sister provided us with food, because i have no idea how much money should we spend if we had to buy food for ourselves. LOL.   

       

21st June 2011 

Jave, our OCP took us to Dusit Palace. But because the other night he said that he wanted to take us to the Grand Palace. I decided not to come as i already been there. At 9 am he picked us up and he just explained to me again that they’re not going to visit Grand Palace but Dusit Palace and after that Dusit Zoo. And that moment i haven’t take a shower because i thought they’re going to go to the Grand Palace. So i told him just leave me and i’ll be catching them up later at the zoo.

I spent my day alone without my roommate writinng on my diary and preparing song for ASEAN Village. Around 2 pm i decided to join my friends at the zoo. So i took taxi, and it cost me about 60 THB. From the apartment to the zoo. I paid for foreigner ticket that cost 100 THB and got inside to find Jave and my friends. 

We took a walk around the zoo and saw many kind of animals. Dusit zoo isn’t actually that big but it’s neat and clean. I had the chance to hold a penguin and took a picture with it. The Dusit zoo is located near the King Chulalongkorn statue and Vimanmek Palace which architecture is influenced by western architecture.

  

After going to the zoo we headed home and buy some stuffs at the Pata Pinklao Department Store. 

22nd June 2011

Today, all Indonesian delegates planned to have a meeting at MBK, so that we can discuss about performance that we’re gonna perform at the ASEAN Village. Me and my friend Dani, took a boat to Saphan Taksin the Central Pier and after that BTS to Siam. We walk to MBK and meet other Indonesian delegates at MBK’s food court on the 6th floor.

Because at the previous meeting, I was one of the main performer so I had to brief other performer about the new idea for the performance. I explained that we’re going to have a fashion dance with main performances are Pencak Silat, Sajojo Dance, Topeng Kelana Dance, Mamayang Dance, and Sekar Jagat Dance all wrapped up. The idea was to show the audiences the diversity of Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke. 

With this performance, each delegates hopes that Indonesia would be a place that can attract foreigner tourists with its cultural diversity. We held the meeting until 8pm and after that we had dinner together and got back to our apartment as we planned the other meeting for the next day at Chulalongkorn University.

PS: MBK has this special performance of Muay Thai, Thailand traditional martial art, that you can watch every day in the evening at the front gate of MBK.

23rd June 2011

Today is the day of the second meeting before the General Rehearsal that will be held on the next day. We met at the Faculty of Art of Chulalongkorn University and practiced there. Unfortunately, not all performers could come as some of them already started their road show to high schools around Bangkok. There were only 6 of us and we’re trying to practice hard so that our performances can really representing Indonesia.

PS: Chulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand while Thammasat University is the second oldest. It is also one of the best university in whole Thailand. To get to Chulalongkorn Universty you can take pink bus number 1 or 4 across Siam Centre near 7 eleven. And it is a FREE bus!

24th June 2011

GENERAL REHEARSAL  Day!!!!!! 

Today is the day of our General Rehearsal day. Me, Dani, my roommate, Giang Hoang, Nguyen Giang, and Vicky Tran (the Vietnamese girls) were heading to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by taxi.  The taxi wasn’t taking the usual road so we’re kinda have to pay a little more than the previous visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

It was very tiring day, not because we had many things to do but because we had to wait for so long just so we could decorating our booth. In my personal opinion, the committee wasn’t very good on organizing the day. But, anyway we got our rehearsal though it’s only once and we made the decoration of our booth.

   

I got home by taxi, and got sleep inside the taxi. The other girls also felt very tired and we didn’t really pay attention that actually the taxi was heading to the wrong way. So we were turning around and turning around until Giang took out her paper with our apartment address on it that’s written in Thai. We reached home, undoubtedly super tired.

PS: The music for our performance just finished being mixed in the early morning. So basically General Rehearsal day is the first day of all Indonesian performers could actually practice with the real complete music.

25th June 2011

It is THE DAY!!

It’s the day of the ASEAN Village 2011. We got up very early because we had to arrive maximum half past six. Plus, I need to have my makeup and hair do done. Also I need to made up other performers. I took a bath and had my make up on. And Dani helped me do my hair. I have this fake hair which has 1 meter long and it’s very difficult to tight it up with my own real hair. Thank God Dani made it up very good. I helped Dani with her makeup and we went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Vietnamese girls.

After we arrived, Dani, once again saved my life by helping me with my costume. It’s a complicated kind of costume so I really did need someone to help me. After finished with my costume, I had other performers makeup done and we were ready to welcome the guests in our booth.

They were all very excited about Indonesia. Almost everyone really enjoyed our snacks that we provided for them such as Banana Sale, Maicih, Oncom Crackers, and others. Even, some students asked me to teach them about Indonesian Traditional Dance from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam called Saman dance. Many people came and joined us while I was teaching them how to do that.  They were all very excited and asked me to teach them more. Unfortunately, it was the time for Indonesia to perform our performance. We got ready at the back stage and after reminding all the routines we’ve been practiced I gave this little supportive speech to all the performers. 

    

Finally, the time is arrived. We danced and enjoyed our performance as we already did that many times. The crowds were very enthusiastic and they gave us applause every time each of us got inside the stage and performing their parts.

 

We performed beautifully. Or at least we thought so. We were very proud of ourselves because in so limited time, we could produce something that entertains people. That’s what matter the most. All those experiences were being reported in ASEAN media and TV.

Around 3 pm the event was finally over. We cleaned up our booth and gave some stuffs that we used for decoration to the President of AIESEC Thailand for souvenirs. Some of Indonesian EPs planned to have dinner together with some of vietnamese. So we headed to Siam Square and had dinner in Oldies. A café which served us with Thailand food, and has this vintage decorations around its place.

Me and Dani got back to our apartment by BTS, and that’s the end of the day.

26th June 2011

Me and Dani woke up very late and went to Tesco to buy something and have lunch. We found this small place that sells chicken rice and the taste is so good. After got back from Tesco, I took a nap while Dani was waiting for her family arrive in Bangkok from Pattaya (Dani’s family was having holiday here in Thailand).

In the afternoon, Dani left me to meet her family in Central Bangkok and stayed in the hotel. So I  was kinda alone and bored. Then I decided to text Eins, my Chulalongkorn’s student friend and asked her about her free time so I could go to Chulalongkorn’s library with her to find some journals for my final paper (I’m a last year student and when this project held I’m still doing research for my final project ). Eins told me that she’s free in the morning because in the noon she had this laboratory practice. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention, Eins also a pharmacy student just like me.

So I decided to meet other Indonesian EPs who work for LCCU (Local Committee of Chulalongkorn University) and decided to sleep over in their apartment so it’s easy for me to reach the Chulalongkorn in the morning. Since my apartment is so far from the central Bangkok and Chulalongkorn is located in the central. Also for another personal reason which is kinda bored with the Vietnamese girls because they don’t really like to go and try new things. Can you imagine? They keep eating fried chicken every day beside instant noodles and eggs!! They almost never tried Thai foods while I’m an impulsive kind of person who loves to try so many things. They can’t stand the smell of Bangkok (though it is actually sometimes that bad)and they barely go out unless it is located near our apartment and.  (So sorry to tell you this)

I had dinner with Indonesian Eps in Siam Paragon in a restaurant called Ging Kalpapruek which cost me so much not even worth for what I got and headed to their apartment which located not far from Chamcuri residence.  

My friends from Indonesia stayed in an apartment with a girl from Malaysia named Geraldine. But she usually called as Jade. Jade is fun and she’s an easy going type of person. So there were 5 of us in a quite small room. And we’re sleeping in very weird positions so each of us could actually get a space on the bed.

27th June 2011

Today is the day where I spent my day looking for some journals in Chulalongkorn University’s library. I couldn’t find any journals that related to the topic of my final paper. But I did copy some books. Eins was really helpful. She even helped me by lending me her library card so that I can copy the books outside the library. Tired of looking for the journals, we decided to have lunch at the campus canteen. I had chicken rice with spicy tofu and bamboo shoot for my lunch. After me and Eins had lunch together Eins got back to have her laboratory practice and I headed to Siam square for window shopping and waiting for Dani because we planned to meet there.

In the afternoon, I met Dani with her family in Siam Discovery after she finished visiting Madame Tussaud. But, she needed to spend more time with her family until her family heading to the airport. So, I decided to get back to the apartment without her.

Dani arrived in the evening, and not long after that, other Indonesian Eps from LCCU came to sleep over in my apartment because they didn’t go to the Chiang Mai with other EPs for tour. So, now, me and Dani had another 3 persons slept in our room. It was so fun spending time with them. We went to sleep very late though we had plan with Jave and other Vietnamese girls to go to the Wat Arun and Wat Pho the next day.

28th June 2011

Today we went to the Wat Arun and Wat Pho. Two of the famous temples in Thailand, which located near Chao Praya river. Wat Arun is also called the temple of dawn because a long time ago His Majesty King Taksin won a war from Burma and freed Thailand from the army of Burma only using robbed merchant Chinese boats that turned into warships. He achieved his winning in that temple at the dawn. In the other hand, Wat Pho is famous for its gigantic reclining Buddha statue and 4 graveyards of King Rama the first to the fourth. Both of the entrance tickets cost us 50 THB each. But, for Thai people it is free.

  

We took boat to go to those temples and after that we had lunch at Central World. It was Jave’s birthday. So I, Dani, and other Vietnamese girls decided to make a surprise for him. We left him at the table alone in the food court and bought a cappuccino chocolate medium-sized cake for him. We lit 4 candles and we came to him singing along Happy Birthday song. He looked very amazed for what we’ve done to him because in Thailand people do celebrate birthday but they never sang happy birthday song in front of so many people. I hope he remembered that as one of the best birthday he ever had.

 

After having lunch, we separated because the Vietnamese girls wanted to go to the bookstore to find some economic text books. But we planned to meet at the Siam BTS station. Me and other Indonesian Eps walked around the central world and then headed to Siam BTS station in front of Siam Paragon. But before reached the BTS I went to find a CIMB Thai ATM because I had to withdraw some money. If you have this CIMB Niaga account basically you can withdraw money in CIMB Malaysia or CIMB Thailand without getting any charges, just the exchange rate. But, if you’re using visa then you will get a charge of almost half percent of money that you withdraw (I’m not trying to promote anything just for the info).

After we met at the Siam Paragon we took a walk around the Siam area which has a night market and very crowded. We decided to go back to the apartment because we’re feeling so tired of the activities of the day.

29th June 2011

This is the premiere day of the Transformers 3. So it is easy to guess that all the Indonesian EPs who now sleep in my room are going to watch the movie. We went to Central Plaza Pinklao. One of the malls near to my apartment and we watched the movie after having lunch together. It was okay. Though I’m not a biggest fan of Transformers but I enjoyed the movie.

After watching Transformers we had dinner in KFC. But, the KFC Thailand has very different menu than in Indonesia. They have this chicken with green curry and other menus that taste so Thai. But it is worth to try as you may not meet those menus in Indonesia.

We headed back to the apartment and those EPs from LCCU prepared for their sudden road show to this St. Gabriel School in the early morning.

30th June 2011

Today is the day where I had the chance to teach a blind kid in Bangkok School for The Blind. Jave took all of LCTU Eps to the place where he usually volunteers. It was such a great experience because I’ve never taught a foreigner especially the disable one. The name of student that I taught was Wuttichai but usually called Sent. He was 13 years old and really loves Math. We taught English to him about countable and uncountable nouns and also the gender of nouns. He sounded very enthusiast though he couldn’t speak English that good. So Jave had to translate what we taught to him in Thai. In that place, we also made some new friends. Some of them already in college and the others are still in high schools. They were all volunteering at that school in their free time.

 

After teaching, we’re heading to China Town to have dinner. Me and Dani had seafood which fortunately so famous even written and recommended in tour guide book (we actually had no idea of it before, until we spoke to one of the foreigners who came to the restaurant and sit next to our table). There were many foreigners came to eat there. The name of the restaurant is T&K Seafood. We separated from Jave and Vietnamese girls as they wanted to have duck for their dinner. We met in front of the nearest 7 eleven and headed back to the apartment after that by taxi because somehow we couldn’t find the bus to get back, probably because it’s a little too late.

1st July 2011

Me and Dani woke up SUPER LATE! We even had our breakfast all wrapped up with our lunch and it was already 3pm. We had lunch at the food park of Central Plaza Pinklao. We had Pad Thai. Pad Thai is basically Thai Kwetiau with a hint of sour and a little spicy taste, crunchy peanut, and dried shrimp. It is another Thai food you need to try. After having lunch, me and Dani went to buy a phone SIM card for Dani and bought a package of blackberry’s service at True (the cheapest provider in Thai). We also bought some snacks at the Tops Supermarket and buy a kettle so that we can boil some water to eat instant noodle. After finished shopping, me and Dani had our dinner at the McDonalds while waiting for the rain to stop. 

We headed back to the apartment and spent the rest of the day in front of our laptops.