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$39 means “Welcome to Singapore”

Posted in Asia, Travel on February 21, 2010| 12 Comments »

“Look! There is a promotion from Airasia, going to Singapore from Jakarta for free!,” I said to my friends, YR and JW, one morning at JW’s office when I visited them in Jakarta a year ago. “Are you serious? We can go to Singapore for New Year’s holiday then,” YR replied to me. “Let’s ask LG and YH, who knows they are interested to join us,” YR added.

YR, JW, LG, and YH are my best friends! We came from the same town, Surabaya. We met 12 years ago and since then we have often travelled together. In the next minutes JW was on the phone with LG and LG happily accepted the offer, unfortunately YH couldn’t join this time.

Best Friends Forever: YR, LG, me, and JW

We decided to travel on 11 to 15 January 2010 which was 11 months after we booked our flight online at Airasia website and voila… Each of us only paid IDR 390,000 (equivalent to USD$39) for taxes and luggage at that time. “It’s not a bad price for Jakarta-Singapore return guys,” I said to YR and JW. LG was more than pleased when she was informed that she only needed to pay $39 for her flight and moreover, this was her first trip abroad so I guess she was the lucky one…

11 months went so fast, we finally did our trip six weeks ago!

In Singapore we stayed in a very modest hotel called Fragrance Ruby, it’s a budget traveller hotel in Geylang area and you can easily book it at http://www.booking.com without paying in advance. The rate was S$55/night including tax (equivalent to USD$40) for standard room. The room was very small which only fits for maximum two people. However, the room was very clean and it has basic needs for travellers such as AC, cable TV, bathroom attached with hot and cold water, electric kettle, and a hair dryer.

The neighbouring area was not so good actually, Geylang is a famous red light area in Singapore. However, these people won’t disturb you, apparently they also know how to respect tourists who stay in their area. The good thing about Fragrance Ruby Hotel is, it’s not far away from Changi Airport, it takes only 15 minutes by MRT train, one of public transportations in Singapore, and it’s only a couple of blocks away from Al Junied MRT (train) station.

When we planned this trip I told YR and JW that I wanted to do culinary tour in Singapore instead of shopping. Therefore my two dear friends did their homework carefully by asking friends where to find good food in Singapore. It was not bad that we finally found some great places to eat where they served delicious food.

Merlion, the mascot of Singapore.

Day one:

Culinary tour starts on Orchard Road where we had one dollar ice cream. It’s only a small stall with a bicycle cart parked along Orchard Road. We usually bought the one which was parked in front of Takasimaya shopping mall. “I want strawberry this time,” that’s what I told the seller because I always had chocolate one before.

One dollar ice cream on Orchard Road

Orchard Road is the most popular part of Singapore especially to those who love shopping, it offers shopping malls from one corner to another with top designers such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Armani, Burberry, DKNY, Esprit, well, you name it! We visited the new shopping mall called Ion, the main entrance was designed like an ion, it was quite interesting. We also visited Wheelock building and I was quite amazed with its roof interior design!

Orchard MRT Station is where to stop to go to Ion

LG posed in front of Burberry store at Paragon Mall

Ion at night

Wheelock's roof interior design

Day two:

We started our day at 10 a.m. and we had a noodles breakfast at one of the food court right in front of Al Junied MRT station. The place was clean and the food was also not bad, we paid around S$2 for a bowl of noodles and S$1 for a bottle of mineral water.

We continued our trip to another shopping area called Bugis Junction. In this area you can find one complex of shopping centre where you can find good quality Singaporean brands with reasonable price. Ok, I said that I didn’t want to shop but I ended up buying a dress, a pair of sandals, and a hair clip in Bugis Junction, I gave up!

Bugis Junction

Illuma Mall in Bugis Junction, interesting building!

We ended our shopping spree in Bugis Junction with a very nice lunch at Xin Yuan Ji restaurant. It’s a charcoal fish head steamboat and seafood restaurant on 31 Tan Quee Lan Street which was just across the road from Bugis Junction. If you go to this restaurant you better make reservation before because when we went there we had to wait nearly 30 minutes to be seated, it was full!

Aside from steam rice, we ordered fish soup, fish and baby kailan stirred with garlic, fried chicken with shrimp flavour, and fresh Thai coconut… Yummy! Each of us paid S$12 and this was considered expensive according to our budget but since we had dedicated this trip as our culinary mission so it was not a big deal.

Fish and baby kailan stirred with garlic

Fried chicken with shrimp flavour

Fresh Thai coconut

Next destination was Chinatown to buy some souvenirs. LG and I finally couldn’t help ourselves to buy some dresses there… Women!!! From Chinatown we went to Mustafa Centre to buy some chocolates to bring home. If you like chocolates, go to Mustafa Centre! It offers various brands and types of chocolates and the price is cheap too. You can take MRT to Ferrier Park and then just walk a couple of blocks from there.

I also had a good deal at money changer in Mustafa Centre. They gave me a very good rate! That day the exchange rate of USD$ to S$ was USD$100 = S$136 but the money exchange in Mustafa bought my USD$100 for $138 instead!

In the evening on the way back to the hotel we ended up sitting and enjoying durian, the fruit that “smells like hell but tastes like heaven,” on a small fruit stall on Geylang Street. The durian was from Sembawang, the most delicious one, we bought one for S$32. I don’t like durian but that night I was tempted to taste it and it was not bad. I couldn’t eat a lot though I felt like those durian stick on my throat till the next morning!

Durian smells like hell but tastes like heaven!

Day three:

If you go to Singapore, you won’t miss Sentosa Island! It’s the place where you can find beaches and a lot of tourist attractions in Singapore such as museums, Merlion, 4D Max Cinema, Underwater World, laser show, and dolphin show (Soon there will be Universal Studios too!). You can go to Sentosa Island either by sky car (the famous one but it was under renovation when we were there), by train, or by bus and spend the whole day in the island. We decided to take a train from Harbour Front.

Harbour Front

The train route to Sentosa Island

For JW, YR, and myself, Sentosa Island is not a new thing but for LG who’s the first time visitor, everything must be tried! We decided to get Sentosa Choice Package S$36.90 for four attractions: The Merlion, World War II museum Fort Siloso, Tiger Sky Tower, and Sentosa 4D Magix. We had to spend additional S$3 for the train Harbour Front-Sentosa Island return, and S$10 for the Songs of the Sea laser show in the evening. Everything went perfect especially the laser show, “Songs of the Sea,” except in every attraction the official tourist photographer will take you a picture and then sell it between S$15 to S$20!

Welcome to Sentosa Island

The beach

View taken from Tiger Sky Tower

The Universal Studios is built here

The harbour

In the evening we went to Clarke Quay area where the night life in Singapore is. I met a friend whom I knew virtually, AS, and we all had some drinks and enjoyed the night at one of the cafés there. YR’s friend once told us to find Turkish Ice Cream in Clarke Quay and we found it, it was a small stall and the seller was a very funny Turkish man. He would pretend to drop your ice cream on your shirt and YR was wearing white shirt that night so he was a little bit worry that the man would drop his S$3 ice cream on his shirt.

Turkish Ice Cream in Clarke Quay

Day four:

We went to Marina Square where another area of shopping centre in Singapore is. In Marina you can find three big shopping malls are attached to each other. We had Mr. Bean soya milk and coffee at Starbucks in Raffles City as our breakfast.

Bean

As part of culinary tour, we didn’t miss the Indonesian restaurant “Ayam Penyet Ria” (smashed fried chicken mixed in chilli paste) in Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road, and chocolate fondue’s “Max Brenner” in Esplanade, the biggest art centre building in Singapore whose roof looks like durian. I ordered hot chocolate marshmallow while the others had various chocolate fondue such as dark chocolate and tiramisu. We also met one of our old friends, SK, whom we hadn’t met each other for nearly eight years I guess.

Fried fish served with fresh vegetables and chilli paste... Very Indonesia!

Max Brenner's hot chocolate marshmallow

The Esplanade

Day five:

Our flight to return to Jakarta was in the evening so we still had enough time to continue our culinary spree. We catch up MRT to Novena to go to the famous Founder Bai Kut Teh Restaurant on 347 Balestier Road. As soon as we arrived in Novena we crossed the street and took bus# 21. We then stopped at Shawn Plaza and the restaurant lies right across the street.

A full set meal of Bai Kut Teh... Minus Coca-Cola though!

Bai Kut Teh is a Chinese soup originally from Klang, Malaysia, I have never had Bai Kut Teh in Malaysia but I bet it must be very delicious like the one I had at Founder Bai Kut Teh Restaurant. The price was reasonable, it was S$10 for the full set meal including the pork ribs soup, stirred vegetable, fried bread, and steam rice. If you are a pork lover, I suggest you don’t miss this one out of your itinerary in Singapore, it’s a must try!!!

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Virtual buddies become real buddies

Posted in Asia, Travel on January 25, 2010| 16 Comments »

Happy New Year!!!

I promised to write soon but I’m afraid it was not as soon as I expected, sorry folks… Holidays had consumed my time after nearly six months in Sudan without having any break. I had a great time and as usual, it was always too short.

Went home felt so good, spending Christmas and New Year with my family and friends was amazing. Most of all, I had a chance to visit some friends whom I only met virtually before. MI, NH, and SC are three awesome girls whom I met through social network, Twitter. It started with our common interest in an ex-boy-band, NKOTB. From our ‘Twitter ritual,’ we finally became good friends, the idea to spend a weekend together and a-girls-night-out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they come from, came up and we finally made it happen in early of this year.

Left to right: Me, SC, MI, and NH with SC's NKOTB dolls' collection

I flew out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from my hometown, Surabaya, Indonesia, with ‘The World’s Best Low-Cost Airline’ called AirAsia. If you happen to have an idea to travel around South East Asia I suggest you to fly out with AirAsia. The price is cheap but very convenient, for example, I only spent about USD$100 for my round trip Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta. For that, I booked three months in advanced but if you booked earlier you might get cheaper.

I was picked up by MI and NH at LCCT Airport, I was very surprised with their warm welcome and in fact, it was the first time for us to meet up face to face. Soon after that, SC joined us and we went to Burger King for lunch.

NH and MI welcome me at the airport

Burger King!

After lunch, we went to Citrus Hotel where I stayed at on my first night. Citrus Hotel is a three star hotel and located in city centre. It was not far away from Bukit Bintang, downtown area, where shopping centres and restaurants are.

The room rate in Citrus Hotel is not expensive I’d say, it was MYR129 (USD$39) per-night for standard room inclusive of tax and breakfast. However, some travel reviews suggested to book Club floor room instead with MYR149 (USD$45) per-night inclusive tax and breakfast. If you stay on Club floor area means you will get free wireless internet in your room and you have access to Club floor lounge where you can use their free business centre with free snack and soft drinks, you won’t get these facilities if you stay in standard room. I finally did what people suggested and I never regret!

At the Club floor lounge

Although I never had a chance to enjoy the hotel facilities but I noticed Citrus Hotel has quite facilities like gym, swimming pool, spa and nice restaurant with international cuisine.

In the evening, SC, MI, NH and I went to see a movie, Sherlock Holmes, at One Utama Mall cinema. At the cinema I also met my long-lost dear friend, KE. KE & I were in UN mission in Afghanistan together back in 2003/2004. That night was a special night for me, I met my virtual friends and also my old friend.

KE & I finally meet again after Afghanistan 2003/2004

The second night I moved out to a four star hotel downtown, Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Center. I should say this hotel is one of the luxurious hotels in Kuala Lumpur. Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Center has all facilities of most four/five star hotels to offer. It has swimming pool, gym, jacuzzi, spa, restaurants and it’s adjoining to Times Square Mall which used to be the biggest shopping centre in South East Asia back in 2004.

Actually I booked this room together with MI, NH and SC because we planned to have a girls-night-out at Red Box Karaoke in Low Yat which was just across the street from Berjaya Times Square Hotel. We booked one superior room with only MYR277.73 (USD$85) per-night inclusive of tax. This rate was a special rate which allows you to book 30 days early and you get 30% discount from its internet published rate, MYR355++ (USD$107++).

The picture speaks itself!

The room was very big like a studio, it has TV room, kitchen, bedroom and spacious luxury bathroom, I should say the room is nicer than Citrus Hotel. Unfortunately I couldn’t get facilities that Citrus Hotel offered in Berjaya Times Square Hotel, television at Berjaya was very old fashion, Citrus has LCD screen TV, unlike Citrus Hotel, there was no DVD player at Berjaya except CD player which was not well-played. There was no free wireless internet at Berjaya, if you want to get 24 hours internet connection you have to pay MYR50 (USD$15).

Our room was on the 26th floor and it offered spectacular view of Kuala Lumpur from our room’s window.

Kuala Lumpur taken from Berjaya Times Square Hotel 26th floor Room B2602

Another view from Berjaya Times Square Hotel

Anyway, less facility didn’t stop us to have fun. We shopped till we dropped at Times Square Mall during the day and in the evening we went to Red Box Karaoke to have our girls-night-out. Each of us paid MYR50 (USD$15) to book a karaoke room for two hours and it was including dinner buffet and two free non-alcoholic drinks. I think it was not bad for total MYR200 (USD$60) especially we got bonus to use karaoke room for another two hours FREE! We really enjoyed ourselves singing and dancing until 2 a.m. Apparently we got along so well, not only virtually but in the real world too!

A girls-night-out at Red Box Karaoke

The next day I returned to Citrus Hotel. In the evening I was invited for a fine dinner by KE and her husband, VC, at Leonardo’s Restaurant in Bangsar area. Bangsar was like 20 minutes away by car from Tiong Nam road, where Citrus Hotel is. The food selection at Leonardo’s was impressive, it offered not only Western food but also local food like Bai Kut Tee. VC and I ordered pork ribs steak, KE ordered Bai Kut Tee. The steak was very delicious and a couple of glasses of white wine made the evening so perfect!

Blue Sunday I should say… I felt like didn’t want to return to Indonesia but I had to because my best friends in Jakarta were waiting for me to go to Singapore on the next day. NH and MI dropped me off at the airport, we were sad to leave our fun weekend behind. We had lunch at Old Town White Coffee before we said goodbye. Old Town White Coffee is the largest kopitiam restaurant chain in Malaysia. It offered various delicious local dishes like Nasi Lemak, Curry Mee, Assam Laksa, and also hot/cold beverages, of course, its coffee, tea and chocolate. I ordered Assam Laksa (Fish soup with noodles) and cold original Old Town White coffee. The funny thing is, I thought Old Town White Coffee was really white coffee, literally, but it was not… It was normal black coffee with cream and sugar… Silly me!

Old Town Assam Laksa... Yummy!

Old Town White Coffee

This story was published at AirAsia’s official blog – http://www.blog.airasia.com under the same title.

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Dancing in the mud…

Posted in Africa, Asia, Mission Life on December 14, 2009| 1 Comment »

To be in the reverse position sometimes is a little bit awkward… At least that was what I felt when the first time I had to host some journalists in Sudan. Prior to join United Nations (UN) I was a journalist for a local weekly newspaper in East Timor called, East Timor Sun. When I worked for East Timor Sun Newspaper, I was often being invited by UN to cover their occasions or projects. UN would take us, the media, to go to visit their projects, to interview people and take lots of pictures. Sometimes we had to go by car or even helicopter if the project site was far away. One day, our (UN) car was stuck in the mud in the middle of heavy rain when I was invited by United Nations Mission In East Timor (UNMISET) to cover the visit the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG) in some rural area after militia attacked one village and raid the cattle of the villagers.

UN-Media photo group in Dili East Timor when I was still a journalist back in 2003

Posed with President Xanana Gusmao when I covered the Independence Day anniversary of East Timor in 2003

Six years later, the position is changed. I’m now the one who is hosting the media to visit UN projects and occasions. As I mentioned earlier, the first time I felt so awkward because I was in their position once.

My first experience in hosting journalists in Sudan was during the visit of the UN Secretary-General, Ban-Ki-moon, in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, back in September 2007. At that time I was the focal point of the media who would like to cover the UN SG in Juba. Aside from the program itself, I had to take care of their accommodation, transportation, and be with them during the events to make sure they followed all the rules.

My best shot of Ban Ki-moon during press conference. He looked at my camera!

When I was asked to take up on this responsibility I was very nervous because I had to handle nearly 100 national and international media including BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, etc. Not to mention I also had to liaise with the Minister of Information and Communication of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). This was a huge task for me who was not even a year to join United Nations Mission In Sudan (UNMIS) at that time, fortunately RA, my colleague from UNMIS HQ Khartoum, came to help me. I was very exhausted during the preparation but in the end I was grateful that the coverage of the whole programs went so well and everybody was happy!

On the bus hosting the journalists to make sure they behave!

The latest one was six months ago, I had to host five Khartoum-based national media (newspapers) visiting UN in Malakal, the town where I’m living and working now. I always mentioned about Malakal all the time, for those who don’t know where Malakal is, I will tell you now… Malakal is the capital of Upper Nile State in Southern Sudan and for your information, Southern Sudan has ten states in total. Malakal is located on the banks of White Nile just north of its confluence with the Sobat River.

Anyway, back to media visit…

It was a three-day program and mainly to show them both UN mission and UN agencies’ projects for the community. I took them to several projects such as school feeding project of World Food Program (WFP) in an elementary school called, Dar Salam; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s support project on the school’s building construction in Shaab Girls Basic School where 1,152 students were enrolled there; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s project to renovate police stations; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s project to support the fishermen and farmers; UNMIS vet hospital to help locals to treat their cattle; and finally UNMIS river transportation unit which is operated by Bangladeshi Navy.

One of the journalists was trying to cook the food for WFP school feeding

The students of Dar Salam elementary school

Visiting one of the police stations that was renovated by UNDP

One of the fishermen who was supported by FAO

Enjoy the boat ride with UNMIS Bangladeshi Navy Force Riverine Unit

The whole program was really fruitful, those journalists got most of the information they wanted, they took pictures, and interviewed people. Everything went as planned except for the weather. Somehow during the visit (the second day precisely) the rain was just suddenly pouring and it never stopped! We were not ready with our rubber boots so we finally had to walk with bare foot, we were simply dancing in the mud… A bit scary because it was very slippery and I was afraid to fall down into the mud but it was fun too! This is exactly how I feel everytime I hosted the media, I was a little bit nervous and afraid because they might quote me wrongly but somehow it was fun too because I used to be one of them!

Dancing in the mud...

Had to walk with bare foot when visiting UNICEF school construction site

At the end of the visit, my fellow journalists said that ‘Malakal visit’ was impressive and unforgettable… Dancing in the mud was the highlight! They were happy to see the ‘real’ face of Malakal (muddy and slippery) so they knew the real condition in Malakal. They promised to write something about it and apparently the promise was kept because Malakal finally became the headlines of most newspapers in Khartoum for the entire week!!!

Hosting Khartoum-based national media visiting UN in Malakal in 2009

This story was published at http://dreamerchant.com under the same title.

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Culture shock in Afghanistan

Posted in Asia, Mission Life on December 3, 2009| 3 Comments »

“President Obama plans to send 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan…”

Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan has been the hottest news for the last three days. Everytime I watch the news on TV, the above quote has always been the headline news of the day.

Speaking about Afghanistan… It reminds me to my experience living in Kabul back in 2003-2004.

I never thought that I would spend one year of my life in Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous countries in the world where bombs and rockets are exploded almost everyday with additional experience – being robbed in the first month of my stay. I went to Afghanistan to work with United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). When I received an appointment letter I was a little bit shocked because I never thought that I would be sent to Afghanistan. I still remember the first time I set my foot at Kabul airport on October 20, 2003. My first impression about Kabul city was ruined and cold. It was the first time in my life I could really feel how to be in the war zone area; from the airport on the way to town I saw so many buildings were collapse and ruined because of bombs and rockets explosions. Kabul is the largest city in Afghanistan with approximately three millions of population. It used to be very modern and popular as economic and cultural centre. Unfortunately the war which began in October 2001 between U.S. military operation and al-Qaeda, an Islamic extremist which is led by Osama bin Laden torn the city apart and left it ruined and wasted. After two years of war, people were trying to do their activities in town like normal but I could feel that they were still filed with fear and anxious. I could see people were walking on the street with eyes looking down it seemed they were afraid to look at the strangers and very reserved. Most women were still wearing burqa: it’s long blue veil to cover their face and body. This made Kabul seemed very cold and unwelcome. This impression was confirmed after I was being robbed at the Chinese restaurant three weeks later.

In the first two weeks I was put into a guest house in the middle of town. I recall the guest house was very modest such as the building was very old and the furniture was incomplete. I had to pay USD$35 per-night including breakfast and dinner but still I considered it was a little bit expensive. On the third week I decided to move out and rent a house together with five of my colleagues, three females and two males. It was nearly a week after my housemates & I moved into the new house when the robbery happened. It was seven o’clock in the evening when we, the female residents, came home and the electricity was off. We just moved into that house so we still tried to organize our house such as to bring in some furniture and to have proper kitchenette therefore we were unable to cook for our dinner. “Let’s have dinner in the nearest restaurant, I saw there is a Chinese restaurant just a cross the road,” my housemate, CS, suggested. Somehow we all just agreed with her idea without giving a second thought whether this restaurant was security cleared by the UN security. At that time security situation in Kabul was unpredictable and unsafe therefore we must not go to any restaurant which was not security cleared by the UN and there were only six restaurants allowed to be visited by UN staff. These six restaurants were cleared because they were within safe zone area; near UN office, so if something happened it is easy for security to evacuate us. We knew that this restaurant was not cleared by the UN security and we were also aware that this wasn’t a good idea but because we were very hungry so we thought that a quick dinner across the street would be fine. As soon as we came to the restaurant we ordered a big bowl of hot sour chicken soup as appetizer before we went for our main course. The restaurant seemed nice and quiet with Chinese decoration style such as a golden dragon was placed on top of the gate, a panda and bamboo painting and red lanterns were hung on the wall. The Chinese waitresses were also very friendly even though they could hardly speak English. They came to our table with big smile and tried to communicate with us as best as they could like they gave us the menu list and pointed out some numbers which I understood straight away that they wanted us to order the food by pointing out the menu numbers. Besides us I saw some Indian gentleman who also had dinner on the table next to ours.

When we were almost finished our soup we were shocked by screaming and yelling from outside restaurant. Suddenly there were eight Afghan gunmen came into the restaurant, they covered their faces with scarf but I noticed from their language they used which was Dari, a daily language which is used by locals. For a second I couldn’t believe what I just saw, “We are being robbed!” that was I whispered. I’m not that good in distinguishing any type of gun so what I can say is these robbers had long armed guns, one of my housemates said that it was AK-47. They wore light green military uniforms but I wasn’t sure whether they were really military. I was frozen like ice cube, I could not move myself. I was trying to make myself believe that this was just a bad dream but it was not… It was real! We were all pushed into the kitchen and one of the robbers yelled at us, “Dollar, dollar, dollar!!!” He took all of our money, I still remember I had USD$10 in my pocket and I took it out straight away and handed it to the robbers but my housemates got robbed USD$100, USD$150 and USD$900 each! The robbers also asked for our mobile phones but this time I didn’t surrender mine. I put my mobile phone into my inside pocket of my jacket and I insisted not to give it up voluntarily. Luckily none of the robbers touched me so they didn’t know that I had one. At that time my phone was on and I really wished no one called because it would have been disaster for me if it rang!

The robbers forced us to sit on the floor to watch them beating and looting the Indian gentleman. I was terrified to witness the Indian gentleman being beaten brutally. From the appearance I assumed that this Indian was a rich businessman: he had a lot of money in his wallet and he wore Rolex watch, big gold necklace and bracelet. The robbers just didn’t waste their time they took everything from the Indian, his money, watch, necklace, bracelet and mobile phone. Basically this Indian gentleman was left with nothing but wounded and injured especially his head. I held my breath when I saw one of the robbers hit the Indian’s forehead with his gun over and over. “Oh God, I just came to Afghanistan and I don’t want to die like this,” that was the only thought in my mind. I didn’t even dare to look at the robbers directly and all of us were silent not any single word came out from our mouths. Some of the robbers went to the restaurant bar and took all liquors, wines and beers. They also grabbed all the money in the cashier. Finally after they got everything they wanted, they locked us up in the kitchen, threw the key away and left. We didn’t make any single move or sound until we heard nothing outside. As soon as we were sure that the robbers already went away we broke the door and four of us ran away back to our house. I was in the deep shocked and so were my housemates. We thought that we were going to die there or at least shot or injured. “It was like an action movie but this one was real!,” that was my housemate, MA, recalled. I felt like just waking up from a nightmare. My other housemate, IV, couldn’t make any comment because she was the one who was robbed USD$900 and we couldn’t get our lost to be reimbursed by the insurance because that Chinese restaurant was not cleared by the UN security.

Indeed we were unfortunate: we came to the wrong place at the wrong time; we came to the restaurant which was not on the UN safe list which we should have been aware that we were not allowed to go there because anything bad could happen at anytime in Kabul. But this taught me something meaningful which I have valued it since. I learned how to appreciate life more especially if we are living in a tough country like Afghanistan: our lives are put at risk everyday. Today I’m alive but tomorrow I might die because of bomb, rocket or gun shot. Today the town where I live is peaceful but tomorrow there may be a fight between government soldiers and rebels. Maybe I’m just having dinner at home instead of restaurant but suddenly there is a rocket shot and blown my house. I have become wiser to live my life and I have also become more careful and precautions on surroundings. I never know when I’m going to die but when the time comes at least I know that I don’t waste my life for nothing like ignoring the security advisory and going to the place where I shouldn’t go.

Imee at Kabul Stadium

This story was published at http://dreamerchant.com & http://pralangga.org – Our Peacekeeping Journey under the same title.

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