#837 - Mid Year 2010 Trip : Guang Zhou and Yiwu, China

ENGLISH

For some reasons, I won't write about this trip to China in details. Well, I had so many new and interesting experiences while I was there and I think I know a new way to share about it in a much more compact post without reducing the content (a detail story can take four or five posts to complete anyway :-D)

1. First of all, my recent trip to China wasn't really a "vacation" trip. That's why I didn't visit any touristy places. But hey, it doesn't mean a non-vacation trip is boring or stressful. Quite the contrary, it was so enjoyable and exciting in a unique way.


2. I took my very first non-Indonesian domestic flight. It was exciting, you know, taking a domestic flight in another country :-) The flight was CZ 3795, a China Southern Airlines' flight from Guang Zhou to Yiwu.


3. Speaking about flights, to get to (and from) Guang Zhou I took Garuda Indonesia flights which centered in Jakarta. Thus, I went Yogyakarta - Jakarta (GA 201) - Guang Zhou (GA 898) - Jakarta (GA 899) - Yogyakarta (GA 218) with Garuda. I was lucky as all my four flights with Garuda were all using brand new Boeing 737-800NG with entertainment facility on board! :-) Some detail informations about my flights:
   
   
   • My GA 201 flight was on a Boeing 737-8U3 registration code PK-GMM. We took off from runway 09 of Adisucipto Airport, Yogyakarta and landed at runway 25R at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. In this flight, I (my mom actually) sat next to Didi Nini Thowok, haha... :-)
   • My GA 898 flight, scheduled to fly about 1 hour 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time of GA 201, was on a Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GMK. We took off from runway 25R of Soekarno Hatta International Airport and landed at runway 20L at Guang Zhou Baiyun International Airport, about 4 hours 30 minutes later. Apparently, a transit time of 1 hour plus is more than enough :-)
   • My CZ 3795 flight was on a Boeing 737-31B registration code B-2941. We took off from runway 20R of Guang Zhou Baiyun International Airport and landed at runway 02 at Yiwu Airport. It was a pretty short flight, taking only about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
   • My CZ 3796 flight was on a Boeing 737-3Y0 registration code B-2909. We took off from runway 02 of Yiwu Airport and landed at runway 20R of Guang Zhou Baiyun Airport.
   • My GA 899 flight was on a Boeing 737-8U3 registration code PK-GME. We took off from runway 20L of Guang Zhou Baiyun International Airport and landed at runway 25R of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. This flight was delayed for about 2 hours as the GA 898 flight that day was also delayed (thus, creating a chain reaction of delay).
   • My GA 218 flight was on a Boeing 737-8U3 registration code PK-GMN. We took off from runway 07L of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and landed at runway 09 of Adisucipto Airport. The flight was not really convenient as we had to climbed up and down stairs to board the airplane at Soetta (our gate was at Gate F5 while the aircraft was parked at Gate D) and we had to wait the ground crew to disembark four unaccompanied baggages.
   
   Anyway, China Southern Airlines apparently applied different style of seat-numbering. On CZ 3796, I was seated on seat number 42J while the aircraft was a Boeing 737-300!! It is impossible (based on the assumption that they used conventional seat-numbering) for a Boeing 737-300 to have up to 42 rows and a "J" seat (there are only 6 economy seats per row in a Boeing 737 series). Apparently, the economy class numbering starts with number 31 and it is in an A-B-C (aisle) H-J-K configuration :-)


4. If you think the traffic in Indonesia sucks (due to many people not obeying the rules), then go to China! You will find Indonesian traffic is much more orderly and friendly. I find people there driving crazily, even crazier than angkot driver in Bandung! In Yiwu, seeing cars "colliding" is a daily menu as I literally saw the "scratching" everyday! And surprisingly, it didn't only involve "cheaper" cars, but also the expensive and fancy branded cars!!
   
   The other crazy thing is that crossing a road is one damn dangerous and life-threatening activity to do in China (than in Indonesia). I assume that when we cross a road, we "predict" about the speed of the upcoming vehicles and analyze whether crossing at that time is safe or not. Plus, this works under the assumption that a driver should slow down when a pedestrian is about the cross a road (especially when the pedestrian crosses in a "legal" space, i.e on a zebra cross). Well, in China, the assumption FAILS as drivers tend to drive really fast and not willing to slow down when somebody wants to cross!! That's why it is super hard (and heart-beating) when we have to cross a road when the traffic is high.
   
   People there were also "selfish" in term of driving. For example, one day we tried to stop a taxi. When a taxi passed, I waived and the taxi stopped for us. The "crazy" thing is that it didn't stop in the curb side of the road, but in the middle of the bustling road! So, we had to cross half of the road to get in the cab! Another example, people didn't bother to park their cars in a "neat" order, thus, raising the chance of another car-scratching.
   
   I don't know whether I can generalize this or not but at least this is based on my experience.


5. Quite the contrary from what I read and hear, I found many Chinese people I met friendly and very kind. I didn't speak nor read Chinese, but they were still really kind. One time, I had to contact a local number in Guang Zhou. Since a SIM Card was unbelievably expensive (in the hotel :-D), I walked out my hotel and found a public telephone. I tried to dial the number but something went wrong as the sound I heard on the line was really "strange". At that time, there was this local girl next to me and I knew she spoke English (she spoke with her friend in English). I asked her about what was wrong, and she helped me. Plus, she offered me to use her phone instead!! Well, I insisted not to (since I didn't want to bother her that much) but she insisted. She then called the number through her phone (wew) and told me what was wrong! How nice she was! There were also several other occasions where I experienced similar kindness. Well, this might because I was in a business area, where people already knew being nice and polite is important :-)


6. Still, I found several Chinese people were "rude" and "not hygienic". Well, this might be because of culture difference though.
   
   One day, after meal at a restaurant, I washed my hand at the sink. While I was taking the washing soap (so I practically was still in front of the sink), an old guy suddenly washed his hands at my sink (without saying anything first)!! How rude that was!?!? He didn't wash that long and just went away after that, not even looking at me or what.
   
   Another day, inside a trade center, I found many people spitting. Well, it might still be fine if they spat in the toilet or to a tissue or something, but nope, they spat just to the FLOOR IN the mall!! I was so shocked seeing that and I had to watch my steps closely, LOL. Then, I was told that the condition now has been much better than in the past! Well, I don't want to imagine how it was in the past!! haha...


7. Being in China for just 11 days, I already learned new words or phrases. I think this is one beauty of going abroad by ourselves, we learn MORE about the destination. And I also found that the word "lihai" and "ca kue" (both are common words in Bahasa Indonesia) are apparently Chinese words, hahaha...


8. There is no trip (to a country with English not being a national or native language) without having a "lost in translation" experience. In China, it was worse. I think the accent of some locals are really thick, plus they don't use Latin alphabet which makes things worse for some cases. One day, I wanted to borrow a nail clipper from my hotel's housekeeping. I called housekeeping to bring me a nail clipper. I pronounce "nail clipper" slowly hoping they would understand. He then responded: "Okay, so you want to bollow a clip boald" [read: "Okay, so you want to borrow a clip board"] (yeah, lisp). Bllaaaaarrrrrr.... . He didn't understand at all but when he said he would send someone up to my room, I agreed, since I think speaking face to face can be a lot more understandable as we can "mime" what we want. Then, a waiter came to my room bringing an : "ironing board" and the iron!! LOL. After I mimed about cutting my nails, he understood (finally).
   
   The other day when I was in Guang Zhou, I needed some pieces of paper, a marker, and a cutter. I desperately tried to tell the waitress what I needed but she just didn't understand. Instead, she brought me a pen and a roll of toilet paper, wkwkwkw. I tried to mime what I wanted but it didn't work out this time. The waitress seemed not to understand at all (she just understood that I wanted paper).


9. Food is always one interesting thing to explore while we are traveling. In China, of course I mostly had Chinese food, LOL. I found some "strange" menus as usually I only find this kind of menu in a daring TV show like Fear Factor or The Amazing Race. For example: alive scorpions! I also had a chance to eat Chinese style Shabu-Shabu. It is pretty much like Japanese-Style Shabu-Shabu but the unique thing is that it involves ca kue, and the ca kue is also soaked in the boiling pan. Anyway, normal Chinese portion for a menu is really huge (compared to Indonesian portion), you can see one comparison below.

Well, that's all for now. If there are another experiences that I forget to write about now, I will write it down in the future :-)

::: My Travel Path, taken from Google Earth.


L : Garuda Indonesia's Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GMM was ready to fly to Jakarta as GA 201 from Yogyakarta.
R : Garuda Indonesia's Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GMK was ready to fly to Guang Zhou as GA 898 from Jakarta.


L : Complimentary Breakfast On Board Garuda Indonesia's flight from Jakarta to Guang Zhou.
R : On board Garuda Indonesia's brand new Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GMK flight no. GA 898 from Jakarta to Guang Zhou.


L : The City of Guang Zhou
R : at Beijing Lu, Guang Zhou


L : Beijing Lu at Night
R : Complimentary Snack (digestible biscuit) on board my very first non-Indonesian domestic flight, China Southern Airlines flight no. CZ 3795.


L : China Southern Airlines' Boeing 737-31B reg code B-2941 which brought me on my first non-Indonesian domestic flight.
R : The city of Yiwu.


L : "Alive scorpions". I dunno whether they ate them alive or not, but this bowl of scorpions was put on a "display" table where they put cooked meals as the samples of their menus.
R : First meal at Yiwu, scorpions-free :-D


L : Crossing the road on a motorbike with no helmet!
R : A satayman cooking mutton satay. Tasty, very different from Indonesian satay!


L : The city of Yiwu
R : The city of Yiwu at night with a BMW Series 7


L : A unique designed building at Yiwu.
R : One spot at Yiwu during the night.


L : In Yiwu, I found this drink in every restaurant!!
R : Korean-style yakiniku I had.


L : China Southern Airlines' Boeing 737-3Y0 reg code B-2909 which would bring me back to Guang Zhou as CZ 3796.
R : Another view of Guang Zhou.


L : A bus with electricity power at Guang Zhou.
R : McD in China.


L : A standard-sized portion. Well, I deliberately put the chopsticks next to it as a comparison!!
R : Some historical remains from the Ming and Yang dynasty as exhibited in Beijing Lu, Guang Zhou.


L : Another view of the city of Guang Zhou. The new Guang Zhou TV Tower makes a small appearance in this picture :-D
R : A menu list written in Chinese. I only understand the price, hehe


L : Chinese Food dinner at Guang Zhou
R : A Garuda Indonesia's passenger should wear this sticker there.


L : A View of Guang Zhou Baiyun International Airport
R : A Delayed Flight


L : Garuda Indonesia's Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GME which would fly back to Jakarta as GA 899 from Guang Zhou.
R : Complimentary Dinner Menu Choice on board Garuda Indonesia's flight GA 899.


L : And I picked this complimentary Dinner on board Garuda Indonesia's flight GA 899.
R : A view from my window on board Garuda Indonesia's flight GA 899 on a Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GME.


L : The city of Yogyakarta at night, as we were approaching runway 09 to land.
R : Garuda Indonesia's Boeing 737-8U3 reg code PK-GMN which brought me back to Yogyakarta as GA 218.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Karena beberapa alasan, aku tidak akan menulis perjalananku ke China ini dengan terlalu mendetail. Yah, aku mendapatkan banyak pengalaman baru dan menarik ketika disana dan aku rasa aku tahu deh cara baru untuk membagikan pengalamanku melalui posting yang padat (soalnya kalo pake penceritaan detail kaya biasanya bisa jadi lama nih sekitar empat ato lima posting :D)

1. Pertama2, perjalananku kemarin ke Cina ini bukan perjalanan "jalan-jalan" loh. Makanya aku nggak mengunjungi tempat2 untuk turis gitu. Tapi ya bukan berarti perjalanan bukan "jalan-jalan" itu membosankan atu bikin stress koq. Agak berlawanan, menyenangkan dan menarik dengan caranya sendiri loh.


2. Aku juga menaiki penerbangan domestik non-Indonesia pertamaku loh. Asik aja, iya kan, naik penerbangan domestik di negara lain :-) Penerbangannya adalah CZ 3795, penerbangan China Southern Airlines dari kota Guang Zhou ke Yiwu.


3. Ngomong2 tentang penerbangan, untuk pergi ke (dan dari) Guang Zhou aku naik penerbangannya Garuda Indonesia yang berpusat di Jakarta. Makanya, aku pergi dengan rute Yogyakarta - Jakarta (GA 201) - Guang Zhou (GA 898) - Jakarta (GA 899) - Yogyakarta (GA 218). Beruntung juga semua empat penerbangan dengan Garuda adalah penerbangan dengan pesawat baru Boeing 737-800NG dengan fasilitas hiburan di pesawat loh! :-) Sebagian detail mengenai penerbanganku:
   
   
   • Penerbangan GA 201ku dengan pesawat Boeing 737-8U3 kode registrasi PK-GMM. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 09 Bandara Adisucipto, Yogyakarta dan mendarat di landasan pacu 25R Bandara Internasional Soekarno-Hatta. Di pesawat ini, aku (mamaku seh sebenernya) duduk di sebelahnya Didi Nini Thowok, haha... :-)
   • Penerbangan 898ku, dijadwalkan terbang sekitar 1 jam 15 menit setelah waktu tiba GA 201, terbang dengan pesawat Boeing 737-8U3 kode registrasi PK-GMK. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 25R Bandara Internasional Soekarno Hatta dan mendarat di landasan pacu 20L Bandara Internasional Baiyun di Guang Zhou, sekitar 4 setengah jam kemudian. Ternyata, waktu transit sejam lebih dikit itu cukup juga loh :-)
   • Penerbangan CZ 3795ku menggunakan pesawat Boeing 737-31B kode registrasi B-2941. Kami lepas landas di landasan pacu 20R Bandara Baiyun dan mendarat di landasan pacu 02 di Bandara Yiwu. Penerbangannya singkat juga, hanya sekitar 1 jam 20 menit.
   • Penerbangan CZ 3796ku menggunakan pesawat Boeing 737-3Y0 kode registrasi B-2909. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 02 Bandara Yiwu dan mendarat di landasan pacu 20R of Bandara Baiyun di Guang Zhou.
   • Penerbangan GA 899ku menggunakan pesawat Boeing 737-8U3 kode registrasi PK-GME. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 20L Bandara Internasional Baiyun di Guang Zhou dan mendarat di landasan pacu 25R Bandara Internasional Soekarno-Hatta. Penerbangan ini terlambat selama dua jam loh karena GA 898 hari itu terlambat (makanya mengakibatkan reaksi berantai keterlambatan).
   • Penerbangan GA 218ku menggunakan pesawat Boeing 737-8U3 kode registrasi PK-GMN. Kami lepas landas dari landasan 07L Bandara Internasional Soekarno-Hatta dan mendarat di landasan pacu 09 Bandara Adisucipto. Penerbangan ini agak sedikit menyebalkan soalnya kami harus naik-turun tangga loh untuk naik pesawatnya di Soetta (gerbang keberangkatan adalah Gerbang F5 sementara pesawatnya parkir di Gerbang D) dan kami juga harus menunggu kru darat untuk menurunkan beberapa bagasi tak bertuan.
   
   Ngomong2, maskapai China Southern Airlines ternyata menerapkan sistem penomoran kursi yang agak berbeda. Di penerbangan CZ 3796, aku duduk di nomor 42J padahal pesawatnya adalah Boeing 737-300!! Mustahil (dengan asumsi penomoran kursi konvensional) untuk sebuah Boeing 737-300 memiliki kursi sampai 42 baris dan memiliki kursi nomor "J" (kan cuma ada 6 kursi ekonomi sebaris di seri Boeing 737). Eh ternyata, penomoran kelas ekonominya dimulai dengan nomer 31 dan konfigurasi kursinya A-B-C (lorong) H-J-K :-)


4. Kalau pada merasa kondisi lalu lintas di Indonesia itu parah (soalnya banyak orang yang nggak menuruti aturan), pergi deh ke China! Akan didapatkan kalau lalu lintas di Indonesia itu lebih teratur dan bersahabat. Menurutku, disana orang menyetir dengan gila, bahkan lebih gila daripada sopir angkot di Bandung! Di Yiwu, melihat mobil "serempetan" itu pemandangan setiap hari deh. Ini beneran soalnya aku memang setiap hari melihat dua mobil serempetan di jalan! Dan gilanya lagi, kejadian itu nggak hanya terjadi pada mobil2 "murah" lho, bahkan terjadi juga antar mobil bermerk mahal nan keren!!
   
   Hal gila lain adalah menyeberang jalan itu merupakan hal yang sangat membahayakan nyawa di Cina. Aku asumsikan ketika akan menyeberang jalan, kita "memperkirakan" kecepatan kendaraan yang akan datang dan menganalisa apakah aman untuk menyeberang atau enggak. Plus, ini berdasarkan asumsi kalau seorang sopir akan memelankan kendaraannya kalau seseorang mau menyeberang jalan (apalagi kalau mau menyeberang di tempat "resmi" kaya di zebra cross gitu). Nah, di Cina, asumsi ini TIDAK BERLAKU karena sopir itu cenderung nyetir dengan ngebut dan seperti nggak mau ngerem loh ketika ada yang mau menyeberang!! Makanya sangat susah (dan bikin deg2an banget) ketika harus menyeberang jalan disana apalagi waktu jam-jam ramai.
   
   Pengemudi juga biasanya agak2 "egois" gitu. Misalnya nih, di suatu hari kan kami akan naik taksi nih. Nah, waktu ada yang lewat, melambailah kami untuk memanggil itu taksi dan taksinya akhirnya berhenti untuk kami. Hal "gila"-nya adalah tu taksi berhenti bukan di pinggir jalan, tapi di tengah jalan yang lagi rame! Jadi, kami mesti menyeberang setengah jalan untuk naik taksinya! Contoh lainnya, orang sepertinya ga peduli deh parkirnya itu serampangan, akhirnya kan kemungkinan serempetan jadi makin besar tuh.
   
   Nggak tahu sih ya ini bisa digeneralisir atau engga tapi paling nggak kaya gini deh pengalamanku.


5. Agak bertentangan dengan apa yang kubaca atau kudengar, aku malah merasa banyak orang Cina yang kutemui ramah2 dan baik loh. Aku sekarang sih nggak bisa ngomong bahasa Mandarin atau baca tulisan sana, tapi masih aja koq mereka baik. Suatu kali aku harus menelepon sebuah nomor lokal di Guang Zhou. Karena harga SIM Card ajubile gila mahalnya (di hotel :-D), aku jalan keluar hotel dan nemu sebuah telepon umum. Aku mencoba menghubungi nomor itu tapi ada yang salah karena suara yang aku dengan malah "aneh". Nah, waktu itu, ada seorang cewe orang sana yang berdiri di sebelahku dan dia bisa ngomong bahasa Inggris (soalnya dia ngomong pake bahasa Inggris sama temennya sih). Nah, aku tanya dia tentang apa yang salah, dan ia menolongku. Plus, dia malah menawarkan untuk memakai hp-nya loh!! Yah, aku sih ngomong nggak usah (soalnya nggak enak banget kan merepotkan gitu) eh dia tetep bersikeras. Dia terus menelepon nomor itu pakai hp-nya dan memberitahuku apa yang salah! Baik hati kan! Ada beberapa kejadian lain dimana aku mengalami pengalaman yang serupa. Yah, ini mungkin karena aku berada di area bisnis sih, dimana orang sudah sadar akan pentingnya bersikap baik dan sopan :-)


6. Walaupun begitu, aku masih merasa beberapa orang sana itu agak "gak sopan" dan "jorok" deh. Ini mungkin karena perbedaan budaya aja kali yah.
   
   Suatu hari, waktu lagi makan di restoran, aku kan lagi cuci tangan di wastafel. Ketika aku sedang sabunan (jadi ya praktis aku masih di depan wastafelnya), seorang om2 gitu tiba2 cuci tangan di wastafelku (tanpa tedeng aling2 loh)!! Ga sopan banget kan!?!? Dia nyuci tangan ga lama sih dan langsung pergi begitu aja setelah selesai, ga ngeliat aku dulu ato apa gitu.
   
   Di hari lain, waktu di dalam tempat perbelanjaan gitu, aku melihat banyak orang sembarangan meludah loh. Yah, mending kali yah kalo mereka meludah di toilet ato pake tisu ato apa lah, tapi enggak lho, mereka meludah begitu aja di LANTAI DI DALAM mall-nya!! Aku kaget banget melihat itu dan akhirnya harus berhati-hati dalam melangkah deh, LOL. Kemudian, aku dikasi tau kalau kondisi sekarang ini sudah jauh mendingan dibanding kondisi dulu! Yah, gamau deh membayangkan gimana kondisi dulu!! haha...


7. Di Cina selama hanya 11 hari, aku sudah belajar beberapa kata dan frasa baru loh. Inilah yang aku rasa sebuah keindahan pergi ke luar negeri dengan ngurus sendiri semuanya, kita belajar BANYAK tentang tempat tujuan. Aku juga baru tahu kalau ternyata kata"lihai" dan "ca kue" itu kata bahasa Mandarin loh, hahaha...


8. Tidak ada perjalanan (ke negara dengan bahasa utama atau bahasa lokal bukan bahasa Inggris) tanpa mengalami pengalaman "lost in translation". Di Cina, malah lebih parah lagi deh. Aku rasa aksen beberapa orang sana itu agak "kental", plus mereka tidak menggunakan aksara Latin jadi ya agak susah juga. Di suatu hari nih, aku ingin pinjam gunting kuku (nail clipper) ke hotelku. Nah, aku telepon tuh bagian housekeeping-nya dan memintanya untuk membawakan gunting kuku. Aku mengucapkan "nail clipper" pelan2 supaya mereka bisa ngerti. Ternyata responnya seperti ini: "Okay, so you want to bollow a clip boald" [read: "Okay, so you want to borrow a clip board" 'Oke, jadi Anda ingin meminjam clipboard'] (ya, agak2 cadel gitu). Duaaaaaaarrrrrr.... . Dia nggak ngerti sama sekali deh tapi ketika ia bilang akan mengirim seseorang ke kamar, aku setuju aja, soalnya aku rasa kalau bertemu muka kan mungkin lebih bisa dimengerti dan lagi bisa "memeragakan" yang kita mau kan. Trus, pelayannya tiba di kamar sambil membawa: papan setrikaan beserta setrikanya!! LOL. Habis memeragakan menggunting kuku, baru deh dia (akhirnya) ngerti.
   
   Di hari lain ketika sedang di Guang Zhou, aku membutuhkan beberapa lembar kertas, spidol, dan cutter. Aku berusaha keras memberi tahu pelayannya tentang yang kubutuhkan tapi dia kaya nggak ngerti2 juga. Malah, dia membawa sebuah pulpen dan satu rol tisu toilet itu, wkwkwkw. Aku mencoba memeragakan hal2 itu tapi kali ini hal itu gagal. Pelayannya nggak ngerti sama sekali (dia cuma ngerti aku butuh kertas).


9. Makanan selalu menjadi hal menarik untuk dijelajahi ketika sedang jalan-jalan. Di Cina, tentu saja seringnya aku makan masakan Cina, LOL. Aku menemukan beberapa menu "aneh" yang biasanya cuma ditemui di acara2 tantangan seperti Fear Factor atau The Amazing Race. Misalnya: kalajengking hidup! Aku juga berkesempatan makan shabu-shabu ala Cina. Mirip2 aja sih sama shabu-shabu Jepang cuma hal yang unik adalah yang versi Cina ini melibatkan ca kue, dan ca kue-nya ikut dimasak di pancinya itu. Ngomong2, porsi normal menu Cina itu besar sekali loh (dibandingin porsi Indonesia), bisa lihat tuh perbandingannya di atas.

Yah, itu dulu deh untuk kali ini. Kalau ada pengalaman lain yang kelupaan ditulis sekarang, aku tulis ntar aja yah :-)