Chapter 4: Hatyai "illegal" Trip

Like I told you before, I was planning to go to Hatyai again with my girls which we did just a few hours ago. YEAH, The Company finally went to Hatyai. Not only because we can finally had quite a good shopping but also the fact that we went to Thailand ILLEGALLY. Yes people, believe it or not, none of us which each comes from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Somalia had entered Thailand border with stamps or visa. We illegally entered Thailand! OMG, wasn't it crazy? Yess it was!

First challenge: MALAYSIA IMMIGRATION

Everything was fine for me. As I'm an Indonesian and I entered Thailand many times before. We all lined up for the immigration check. The first problem was coming from Muna who needed to get her stamps on the office because she just renew her passport and all her previous stamps (datas) were, of course, in her old passport. We had to wait for her and answered all those officers questions and bla bla bla. But al least, the point is, she got the stamps and we all officially outside Malaysia.

*Took a picture in front of Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration Office. Ready for the adventures!

*On the bus from Malaysia Immigration in Bukit Kayu Hitam to Thailand Immigration in Danok

Second challenge: THAILAND IMMIGRATION

Before that, I have to remind you that we know nothing about the visa regulation to enter Thailand. We just tried our luck. And it turned out that none of the countries are on the list for Visa on Arrival which meant we had to get back to Malaysia. But smart Fatima, she kept begging the officer to let us enter the border and Muna tried to convince them that we only wanted to go for shopping. It came to decicion that we had to go back until, thanks God, one of the nice officer called us and let us in! Yeah, he DID let us in, without any visa or stamps, just told us to go on. We didn't think twice! We didn't think of any problem that might happen with us after that. We just did it! Even I'm the one who supposedly can get my immigration stamps just entered freely like that and join my girls! I mean, we really wanted to have shopping in Hatyai so we just went! It wasn't all that free tho. He asked one of our passport (Muna's one) as a guarantee that we will go back in few hours, and we did.

*We bought our fatoor in Danok, the only place I know would profide us halal food.

*We used TukTuk to go to the Night Market. The girls were so happy because they finally can try this public transportation.

*See how crowded it was! And we almost lost Amber! hahah.

Third challenge: ILLEGAL TOURISTS!
Who will feel safe or comfortable when you go to a country illegally, I ask you? No one. Yeah. We felt unsecure, nervous, and all of these worried being caught or something. But afterall we did enjoy our trip. Amber cannot believe herself, I mean she's the one who really doesn't wanna break the rules but she just did. We like this feeling of being illegal and crazy and stuff. We dared try to break the rules! It wasn't just any rule. It IS international rules. A serious ones. If we were caught, khalaz, we'd be in jail. And another thing was, we promised the nice officer who let us in to go back on time so we really ran out of time. Girls shopping really needs lots and lots of times. Especially if you shop in Hatyai, the whole night won't be enough for you. But we tried our best to got back on time although we had to finished our shopping early and we kinda forgot to buy the things we really wanted to buy :D

Fourth challenge: (again) MALAYSIA IMMIGRATION

Remember that we got the departure stamps before? Then we entered Thailand illegally which meant we had no proof at all that we had been in Thailand. So, the problem was when we wanted to enter Malaysia again, the officer quite confused because we had no Thailand stamps then we made a very stupid and obvious lies ever; we told the officer that we didn't go to Thailand instead we just stayed in Duty Free. It was quite unreasonable because Duty Free closed at nine and it was 11 o'clock that time when we were in the immigration. Also, if they hadn't noticed, our plastic bags are all in Thai language that of course it wasn't coming from Duty Free. So, we made another silly lie by telling them that we met our friends from Thai who bought us all of our shopping. I think they knew we lied anyway but as long as they let us go, we are happy. Extremely happy! Ok, next as we can already guess, they once again let us in.

*Never forget to take a picture here, the proof that we had entered Thailand :D

*Welcome back to Malaysia *sigh*

Can you guys imagine how happy we were to be back here in Malaysia?? We were so happy! We really wanted to shout as loud as we can with all of this crazy and dangerous adventours we've been through! It's safe to be back. We knew that nothing to be worried anymore. We got our shopping, we weren't caught and throen to the jail, and we were absolutely proud of ourselves. We just became a few hours criminal in Thailand, hahaha.

Chapter 3: Hatyai Sept '08

WELCOME TO THAILAND!

Oh ya! This wasn't my first time going to Thailand, Hatyai in this case, but still I felt so excited. Every semester I have to go to Thailand or I'll feel like there's something missing.

*missing means I'll loose the chance of adding more stamps on my passport which I like on doing, haha, psycho!

This time.. It was quite different. Not just because I went with my other 10 friends but also I did a very big shopping. Balik kampung is in process so I bought my family some stuffs. So so excited! Lots of things I bought and I can say I'm quite satisfied :D

Anyway.. first plan was all only three of us going (Ugi, Aulia and me) then I found out there was another group of 8 people planning to go to Hatyai exactly at the same time with us, so.. why didn't we join them and it would be more fun and that's true.

We rent a van for ourselves and enjoyed the trip. We went to this Night Market, the famous one in Hatyai and shopped till drop! Hahah..

Never expected us to be gather all the time. We just enjoyed our shopping until we realized that our friends' were all missing. We all went to different direction. That didn't happen with me, Ugi and Aulia tho. Both of them need me as their "body language" translator and helped them bargain. Ooh, so nice..

*Finally I found this glasses! Quite expensive tho (I mean, for me who won't really gonna use it the price is quite unacceptable) but at least I can just take a picture with it :D

I was happy, exhausted and satisfy also. Can't regret it. And, I didn't spend that much money although I feel like I shopped alot. Maybe, maybe, there'd be second trip to hatyai this month. I'll bring my girls there and hopefully I got the same joy and fun!

Chapter 2: The Beauty of Ramadhan

Salaam...

There's something bothering my mind. A thinking. About Ramadhan.
This is the 3rd Ramadhan I have in Malaysia. I cannot say that I enjoyed it that much for those two previous Ramadhan. But this time, this Ramadhan, alhamdulellah, I enjoy it more than I can imagine. You might not know how different it is to have Ramadhan with and without your family. I used to have Mom who always tickles me and wakes me up for sahoor (early morning meal before Fajr). She never forgets to make a good appetizer for iftaar (break-fasting). Dad who always force (because we barely do it heartedly LOLs) us to go pray Taraweh in the mosque. My younger sister who sneaks the food thinking that we don't know but actually we know. Me wash tons of clothes because our housemaid goes back to her hometown and many other memorable things.

It was way different while I have to face the fact that I'm having my Ramadhan without my family. It's kinda tough the first time I tried but at least I can survive even though I never really feel the beauty of Ramadhan itself. There are a lot of things I've never done on the previous two Ramadhan but I do it in this Ramadhan such as;

1. Wake up for Sahoor. Yess. It was very difficult for me to wake up for Sahoor. I was damn lazy. Even if I did wake up I could only manage to eat an Appolo cake or Oath with a glass of water. That's it. What happened after it is so predictable. I felt so dizzy in the middle of the day because I didn't eat properly and I felt so weak. But amazingly it didn't happen this time. I wake up every day, 5A.M, I prepare my Sahoor; toast with chocolate and cheese, boiled eggs, cereal, or fried rice and lot of plain water. I am proud of myself, I can't even believe it myself. I mean, me?? Wake up so early in the morning?? With no mom who has to tickling me and wake me up up?? Me?? Yeah, it's me. The new me.

2. Pray on time. I even used to skip praying. That was bad. But this Ramadhan, OMG, every time I heard adzan I feel something pushing me to take wudhu and pray. I am, again, proud to say to myself that I never skipped, not even once, the five times prays a day this Ramadhan! I'm trying not to sound arrogant, because I don't want it to be a sin saying all of this things, but subhanallah... I mean, I can't even believe it myself. The best part is I also do my Taraweh every night. Although I have night class and just get back after 11, I will pray. I do feel tired but 2 rakaat Taraweh and 3 rakaat Weter won't make me feel more tired. How wonderful this Ramadhan is.. Right?? Mom asked me once about my Taraweh, she kinda disappointed because I don't go to the mosque and pray jamaah (remember, that what they always force us to do). But I explained her that I read my Qur'an in my Taraweh and I wish I can finish it by the end of Ramadhan that's why I don't go to the mosque. Also the fact that it was overall 23 rakaat and so hot in the mosque and I have to come early if I wanna take the best place underneath the fan, so thanks, I prefer to pray by my own.

3. Khatam Qur'an. Yes. This idea come from my beloved roommate, thanks to Sammar. She's the one who taught me to read Qur'an in my taraweh and try to khatam (finish). And I do it. I mean, I read it many times a day this Ramadhan and not only when I do my Taraweh. If I remember back in those previous two Ramadhan, I didn't even touch the Qur'an. I did read it but mostly because of force and some only because I was in the mood. But this time I wanna read it because I feel like I enjoy it, I want to finish it, again and again. Really, I don't know how to express this feeling. I try to read more everyday because I know once my period come, I have to stop for few days and I don't know how fast I have to catch up to finish it. Inshaallah I'll finish it. Ameen.

4. The Beauty of Ramadhan. What I mean is the days in Ramadhan itself. Nuzulul Qur'an night, Lailatul Qadr nights. I want to feel it. I want to enjoy it. Especially the last lailatul qadr nights. Everytime I think that I haven't got my period yet I pray to God to make it faster (my period) so I can get the lailatul qadr night. And allhamdulellah, I got my period although it has to cut some of the chance of my lailatul qadr nights. But still, I can't wait to welcome them. I have a lot of do'a I want to ask from God, hehehe... Hey, doesn't mean I don't ask God my do'a, I do it everytime I pray but you know that they say if you do it in lailatul qadr nights the possibility of being accepted is even bigger than the usual pray. I can't miss the chance!

Okay, that's all my story about my beautiful ramadhan. Hope people have the same feeling toward Ramadhan just the same like me or even better.

Smile!
Dara

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Hi all!

Don't know how to start. Actually, long time I didn't write (in blog, I mean). Then someone named Reena (Who's she? I'll tell you later on) asked me to create one. Then, here I am.


Let me introduce myself.. My name's Mira Ayu Lastari. But most of my closed friends called me Dara. OK, for you Malay people I know, I know the way you rolled your eyes when you heard my name facing me like "Say it again? What's your name? Dara? Do you know what's it mean?", like I don't know what it's meant. I know Dara means "virgin" in Bahasa Melayu. So sometimes I heard those people giggling, mentioned my name "Dara, Dara" but what was in their head is "Virgin, Virgin", WTF.

*WTF:What The Freak (and not f*ck, I got that "freak" idea from QT; Who's he? Later on I'll tell you :D haha)

Enough about my nickname. I told myself that next time I meet any new Malaysian friends, I'll just introduce myself with my real name; Mira. Oh ya, you might want to know why I got Dara as my nickname. Ask me why and I'll say, "I don't know" haha, I mean, that's true! I don't know. But sometimes I dun't really wanna look like an idiot who doesn't even know why people named me Dara, so I made a good fake-but-not-really-fake answer. I'll tell anybody that when I was young, around 6yr old, I was the only little girl in the neighborhood. Back in time, there was a song called "Dara kau cantik jelita" (Dara you're very beautiful). And that song was very famous. And since then people called me Dara. Maybe because the fact that I was, and am, beautiful *cough* and I was the only Dara (namely "virgin" or little girl) in the neigborhood then people called me with the name. Haha, I told myself I'm quite creative making up a good story like that.

OK, did I just say that I wanted to stop writing about my name? haha, this time I WILL really stop. Next!

I was born in Jakarta. When? Haaa, this is another complicating mystery (if I can't call it a mistake, doh). Biologically I was born on February 24th 1987. My father left few months after I exsited in this world. You can imagine how was my mom that time, just new-married (almost 2yr only), lovely husband died and the fact that she had to be a single parent for me, so to make it short, she forgot to make me a birth certificate. It was few months after that my uncle reminded her to make me a birth certificate, and she did it. But she change my birthday into July 24th 1987. She said, she was late for more than six months. If she still wanted to make my birthday certificate like the way it should be (on February) she has to pay for summons. And, she didn't want it. So, she made it up for me. And, the funny part is my mom never told me my real birthday until umm, my 17th birthday! Haha, it was quite a shock for me to know that I'm a Pisces instead of Leo (you should know how proud I was to be Leo!). But Pisces is not bad.
Anyway, I now celebrate both birthdays. Those who know my July birthday will celebrate in July, for few less who knows my February's birthday will celebrate it with me on February :D

Continue..
I'm currently studying in Universiti Utara Malaysia, taking International Affairs Mangement, and single *twink*. I like listen to the music, my friend Muna (Who's she? I'll tell you about her later on :D) said that I'm the bank of songs. Ask any songs you want, I have them (almost all but not always I have them, I mean I'm not that freak *scroll eyes*) old and new songs, pop, R&B, HipHop, Rock, Indie, Korean, Arabic, Cartunes, Religious, anything! And, I like reading so so so much! If you go to the mall with me and later on you find out that I'm gone, no need to worry. Just go to the bookstore and you'll find me there. My favourite book is no other than HARRY POTTER!

Yeah! Ask me anything about the book, I'll answer you *proud*. I also like books written by Meg Cabot, Nicholas Sparks, Norah Roberts, Dan Brown, and so on. I like watching movie, especially those include dancing and explosions. Umm, what else? I like stalking on people *evil laugh* and travelling.

So far, so on, this is all about me.
Thank you for reading..