Tötönafögu

Ha wö yaugö khigu

Na no uasiwaisi zekolagu sambalö u halö'ö khigu 

Baloido khigu

Lö usawöi zazigu

He ato Niha Bule bazingagu (he ato Nono Gehai ba zingagu)

Sambalö ube khöu dödögu

Bazihayao-yao balö irai sa olifudo 

Zikhalau khigu nano öböbö mbu 

Fabö'ö niha böö nafazazi taria löi törö

Mado Daeli daa sambalö möi khömö 

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J****P 

Yapp!!! Hanya 6 kata rahasia untuk terbang ke luar negeri PP dengan gratis bahkan bisa ada untungnya juga. Rahasia ini saya baru tau kemarin dari dua orang muda yang baru kenal saat saya terbang dari Istanbul 🇹🇷 ke Budapest 🇭🇺 

Seperti biasa sebelum pesawat lepas landas, saat penumpang lain masih berangsur masuk ke kabin pesawat, saya membuka halaman buku saya (sekarang saya menggunakan reMarkable, jarang bawa buku lagi) karena I don’t usually know how to do nothing 😜 beberapa hari terakhir saya sedang membaca buku dari Robert T. Kiyosaki "Rich Dad Poor Dad."

Saya berusaha untuk fokus dari kebisingan para penumpang. Tiba-tiba fokus saya terganggu oleh obrolan dengan bahasa yang tidak asing di telinga saya. Saya perhatikan ada dua anak muda berwajah Asia sedang sibuk memasukkan cabin baggage mereka ke dalam overhead compartment.

Selama perjalanan saya di luar negeri baik itu di dalam pesawat, di dalam kereta, di stasiun, di bandara, dll, tidak jarang saya berpapasan dengan orang-orang yang sedang mengobrol dengan menggunakan bahasa Tanah Air. Saya bukannya sombong, tapi jarang sekali saya mendekat dengan alasan sok kenal atau sok dekat. Saya biasanya tidak menyapa karena saya tidak selalu punya mood untuk mengobrol, saya lebih memilih untuk terus asik membaca. Alasan lain saya tidak mau nanti berujung jadi teman seperjalanan. Saya lebih memilih untuk solo 😝

I may once have wanted to see myself acting in a movie on the big screen, but I had never dreamt of working as an actual actor. I intended to be famous, and once even tried to pursue a career in the music industry, but I never acted on a stage or played in a theater. One day, my friend from Myanmar, Aye, who also lives in Budapest, got an offer to act as an extra in a film cast in Croatia. I thought the idea of acting in a film, even as an extra with a small part, sounded cool, and I started to fantasize about how I would act in front of a film director.  

My fantasy took a further step towards reality when, with Aye’s recommendation, I visited the same film agency and signed an agreement of availability in October 2022. After just a month, I began to get some offers. As I’m a full-time student, my school schedules didn’t always fit into the timetable offered by the agency. But finally, it worked out, and I agreed to work one day of their schedule on 30 November 2022. 

I was assigned to act in the same scene that included a small group of other extras who were cast as two Thai officers and six paramedics. Like me, all the other extras were Asians, and the scene was set to replicate a street in Thailand. I was cast as one of the Thai officers. It was fun, but the work was more challenging than I had expected. 

The shooting location was in Budapest, with its gloomy November sky and daytime temperatures as low as 2°C. In contrast, the setting of the film was Thailand, a warm tropical country in Southeast Asia. This required that every cast member put on summer clothes even though the actual temperature was near freezing. Luckily for me, my Thai-officer costume allowed me to conceal some heavy long underwear that kept me a bit warmer. For the other actors, the film director demanded simple costumes of shorts and light t-shirts. 

Making a film is not simple. It’s normal to retake the same scene again and again. And no matter how severely the cold embraces deep into your bones, you must express the feelings and make the same reactions as if you are enjoying a warm tropical day in front of the camera. 

The crews treated us very well, providing the extras with a warm waiting room with meals and coffee/tea. They take good care of us, putting on our make-up, combing our hair, helping us to put on our costumes, and even fastening our shoelaces. When we were working outside in the November weather, they immediately covered us with warm blankets during the short breaks between scenes or retakes. 

In fact, I didn’t do this for money; it was merely to gain some experience. After all, the payment is not so bad. I earned 18.000 ft per day (= 45 euros) or the equivalent value of 700.000 Rupiah.  

Just about every traveller does some kind of planning for his/her trip. Some plans require the busy ticking off of the daily list of places: spending the morning and afternoon at the famous places in a town, finding the quickest way from one point to the next using the phone’s map app, then chowing down at a local restaurant.

But travel isn't just about that. Idea: what if you get out of the familiar routine, and seize the chance to meet new people? If you’re travelling solo, it’s the perfect opportunity to share your experience with someone in the same boat. I believe that such an authentic human connection adds richness and spice to every life experience. And I am happy to say that I have been lucky to develop friendships while on the road. 

In Turkey, after an overnight bus ride from Pamukkale-Denizli, I ended up at one of the cave hostels in Göreme-Cappadocia on 21 August 2018. It was my first experience sleeping in a human-created cave. Without AC and even in Summer, it was chilly inside the carved-out chamber, but thankfully a quilt kept me warm at night. 

In the morning, I found myself at a breakfast table with other backpackers: Su, a friendly lady from South Korea nibbling her food with hot sauce, a souvenir from Korean Airlines; Junior Kareka, a Brazilian globetrotter who had tracked just about every part of the world; Takahiro Namba, a brave Japanese teenager who was making a solo trip of a couple of weeks through several countries; and Jon Mendoza, another true voyager from the Philipines who lived in Abu Dhabi and who was enjoying photoshopping his travel pictures. 

“Hi, how is the food?” is one of the simplest ways to open a conversation with strangers. Don't be too reluctant to show a little smile on your face, to express a feeling that you are interested in talking to new people. 

And with these strangers, my question was rewarded with laughter. The conversation that followed compared experiences and built up positive feelings until we found we were at ease with each enough to plan some activities together: trying out local food, hanging out chatting over beer and sharing stories, and exploring together Göreme’s World Heritage Site, houses carved into the caves by Christians refugees escaping from the dominance of the Roman Empire.

Getting up at 5 a.m. is not usually considered one of the benefits of travelling, but when you have new friends, somehow it encourages you to yawn “yes” when it is time to get out of bed. Before dawn, we hiked to the highest point of the town. The moment when you testify to nature’s splendour at sunrise is an experience you can’t miss when in Göreme.

Because this is the number one attraction in Göreme, it means the plateau summit is always packed with tourists. But that didn’t bother me as I found some space to put my feet up for a rest and just live in the moment. As the dawn rose, it created a magical light in the sky, as if to cue the spectacular launching of dozens of hot air balloons into the sky over the stark landscape of Göreme valley. Erosion of the almost golden lunar landscape had formed fascinating towers of “fairy chimneys” that made me feel like I was on another planet. 

After three nights in Göreme, I headed to Istanbul to continue my trip, but the friendships made in Göreme did not end there. We are still in touch virtually through social media. 

A few months later, while on a trip to four Asian countries, I made it to Jeju Island, South Korea. I remembered that Su lived in Seoul, but I hadn’t made any plans to travel to Seoul. But after contacting Su, she agreed to meet me in Busan where she welcomed me with an amazing hospitality that I will not forget for the rest of my life. With her friend who also lives in Busan, she invited me to the best seafood restaurant in town. For your information, Busan is considered heaven by seafood lovers. I was in awe watching the fine food served on the full table. The table was full -- I didn’t know how to start chowing down on all the food. After spending a few hours in the restaurant, her friend drove us to Haedong Yonggungsa, a temple that lies along the gorgeous rocky shoreline to the north-east of Busan, a location which is unique as most Korean temples are built in the mountains.

It was hard to say goodbye because Su had made another plan for the evening, I also had made an appointment to meet other friends. Although it was just a short reunion, the memory will last in my mind forever. 

Research has proved that kindness is contagious, that when someone shows us his/her goodness, it inspires us, too, to be kind. And as this kindness has no boundaries, you can kindle the goodness in any stranger you meet on the road. And who knows -- she/he may become one of your best friends. 

Making travel buddies is surprisingly easy, it just takes a willingness to be a little social. You might feel uncomfortable at first, but when you get in the groove you will see the world doesn’t seem too big, or lonely, after all.

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