#828 - The Use of Technology

ENGLISH

Before I continue the story of my vacation to three countries, I'd like to write something else as an interlude first.

So, last night one of the most-awaited (I guess (?)) match in this edition of World Cup was held. It was between two of the strongest teams, Germany and England. Well, honestly, this year I do not support either of these teams, so I hope I am neutral and unbiased here.

Anyway, one part of the match was really controversial. Quoted from one of the link: "With England trailing 2-1 in the first half, Lampard’s shot from just outside the area hit the crossbar and bounced down. Replays showed the ball had crossed the goal line. After landing inside the goal, the ball spun back into play." Really controversial, rite? It should have been 2 - 2 .

Then, I got this info that apparently, some months prior, FIFA rejected the use of video technology to help referees decided whether disputed goals should be given. It was also controversial at that time, but I managed to find a pretty unbiased article here.

Well, I still don't understand FIFA's decision. Football is one kind of sport which, of course, respects fairness. If one teams scores a legal goal, than they deserve to get the goal, right? The problem is that because of human's flaw, sometimes the goals are overruled. This is actually understandable since sometimes it happens in just split seconds on that huge field and no wonder the referee misses it. With this techno-era, we have some people developing a technology to help referees to determine whether a "goal" is legal or not. It is supposed to be a good news, right? Because it will simply bring more fairness to the sport. But then, FIFA rejected it!!

Football would not gonnabe the first sport to implement technology (if FIFA had accepted it) in it. Since some years ago, the hawk-eye system has been used in some sports, named tennis and crickets. Since then, I believe, it has improved the fairness of the game. Many bad calls have been contested and "turned" into good calls. So, technology in sport is not a new thing.

If FIFA feared that football would not be "human", well, FIFA, as the international governing body, still can put some "restrictions" into the degree of technology to be put in the sport. In some tennis tournaments, each player can only "challenge" calls three times per set while there is a chance that there are more than three bad calls per set, noone knows. But at least, the "new" system has helped the match to have (maximum) three lesser bad calls per player per set. In football, one restriction FIFA can apply is to allow ONLY the "goal-crosschecking" technology, for instance. This "goal-crosschecking" technology is, I think, necessary because a goal is probably the most sensitive and important thing in a match. The number of it determines the winner and the loser of the match. This will surely help the referee's job. The installment of this technology will not bring the sport to 100% fair play, but at least it is getting closer to it.

So, actually FIFA doesn't have to worry about the "other technology" or the potential "technologizing" of the sport. This is because FIFA has the power to limit that. If FIFA doesn't think the other technology is that crucial to be installed in the sport, then don't be it!! But what FIFA still has to remember is that fairness must still be upheld in the sport. I know football is (likely) the most popular sport in the world but it doesn't mean FIFA can let unfairness keep going on while a new technology is available to prevent (or at least reduce) it just for the sake of "why should we have technology in a game where the main part should be humans". It is either FIFA works on it or people will (slowly) "leave" the sport. The number might not be significant though, but it is a bad promotion for football, right?

Well, this is probably because FIFA has its own focus. Its focus is on the "traditional and conventional" game while my focus here is on the "fairness". Apparently these two are contradictive as the more of one of them means the lesser of the other one. The focus is supposed to be on the more important one. So, which one is??

::: England's Only Goal.

note : picture was taken from here. Credit: Breloer/AP

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelum melanjutkan cerita liburanku ke tiga negara, aku ingin menulis sesuatu dulu nih sebagai selingan.

Jadi, kan semalam salah satu pertandingan yang paling ditunggu (aku rasa(?)) dari edisi World Cup kali ini telah diadakan. Pertandingannya adalah antara dua dari tim-tim terkuat, Jerman dan Inggris. Yah, jujur nih, tahun ini aku nggak mendukung yang mana pun dari kedua tim ini, jadi ya mudah-mudahan aku netral dan tak bias disini.

Ngomong2, satu bagian dari pertandingan semalam sangatlah kontroversial. Aku kutip dan terjemahkan langsung dari salah satu link: "Ketika Inggris sedang tertinggal 2-1 di babak pertama, tendangan Lampard dari luar area (penalti) mengenai tiang atas gawang dan memantul ke bawah. Tayangan ulang menunjukkan bahwa bola telah melampaui garis gol. Setelah memantul di dalam gawang, bola dimainkan kembali". Nah, kontroversial kan? Harusnya skornya jadi 2 - 2 tuh.

Kemudian, aku mendapat info ini bahwa ternyata, beberapa bulan yang lalu, FIFA menolak penggunaan teknologi video yang dimaksudkan untuk menolong wasit menentukan apakah bola dinyatakan gol atau tidak. Waktu itu keputusan ini juga kontroversial, tapi aku nemu satu artikel yang cukup tak bias disini.

Yah, aku sih nggak mengerti ya sama keputusannya FIFA. Sepakbola kan satu olahraga yang, tentu saja, menunjung tinggi sportivitas. Jika satu tim mencetak satu gol sah, ya mereka berhak dong mendapat gol itu kan? Masalahnya adalah karena kelemahan manusia, kadang gol itu dibatalkan. Ini sebenarnya bisa dimengerti karena kadang peristiwanya kan terjadi dalam waktu sepersekian detik di lapangan yang besar banget itu kan dan nggak heran dong kalau wasitnya melewatkannya. Nah, di era teknologi seperti sekarang ini, ada beberapa orang yang mengembangkan teknologi untuk membantu wasit menentukan apakah sebuah "gol" itu sah atau tidak. Teknologi ini seharusnya merupakan berita bagus kan? Karena ya tentu saja teknologi ini akan lebih membawa keadilan di olahraga ini. Tapi kemudian, FIFA menolaknya!!

Sepakbola bukan akan menjadi olahraga pertama yang menggunakan teknologi (kalo FIFA waktu itu menyetujuinya) di dalamnya. Sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu, sistem hawk-eye telah digunakan di beberapa olahraga, misalnya tenis dan crickets. Sejak itu, aku percaya, bahwa tingkat keadilan di olahraga tersebut telah naik. Banyak keputusan buruk telah "ditantang" dan "diubah" menjadi keputusan yang baik. Jadi, teknologi dalam olahraga bukanlah hal yang baru.

Jika FIFA takut sepakbola tidak akan menjadi "manusiawi", yah, FIFA sebagai badan sepakbola internasionalnya, kan bisa memberikan "batasan-batasan" mengenai sejauh mana teknologi bisa dilibatkan dalam sepakbola. Di beberapa turnamen tenis, setiap pemain hanya bisa melakukan "challenge" sebanyak tiga kali per set ketika bisa saja kan jumlah keputusan buruk dalam satu set lebih dari tiga kali, nggak ada yang tahu. Tapi setidaknya, sistem yang "baru" ini telah membawa pertandingan untuk memiliki (maksimum) lebih sedikit tiga keputusan buruk per pemain per set. Di sepakbola, satu pembatasan yang bisa FIFA lakukan adalah HANYA mengizinkan teknologi "pengecekan gol" saja, misalnya. Teknologi "pengecekan gol" ini kurasa penting karena gol adalah (mungkin) hal paling sensitif dan penting dalam satu pertandingan. Jumlahnya menentukan pemenang dan pecundang dari suatu pertandingan. Ini tentu akan sangat membantu pekerjaan wasit. Pemasangan teknologi ini tidak menjamin keadilan akan tercapai 100% tetapi setidaknya pertandingan sepakbola menjadi lebih "dekat" ke keadilan tersebut.

Jadi, sebenarnya FIFA tidak harus khawatir dengan "teknologi lain" atau potensi "penteknologian" sepakbola. Ini karena FIFA memiliki kekuatan untuk membatasinya. Kalau FIFA tidak merasa suatu teknologi penting untuk dipasang di sepakbola, ya nggak usah!! Cuma apa yang harus FIFA ingat adalah keadilan kan harus dijunjung tinggi dalam olahraga. Aku tahu sepakbola (mungkin) adalah olahraga paling terkenal di dunia tapi bukan berarti FIFA bisa membiarkan ketidak-adilan terus terjadi dong padahal jelas ada satu teknologi yang bisa membantu untuk mencegahnya (setidaknya menguranginya) hanya demi alasan "kenapa kita harus memiliki teknologi dalam permainan dimana bagian utamanya adalah manusia". Ini sih antara FIFA harus memikirkan jalan keluarnya atau orang akan (perlahan-lahan) "meninggalkan" olahraga ini. Jumlahnya mungkin nggak akan signifikan, tapi ini adalah promosi buruk bagi sepakbola, kan?

Yah, ini sih mungkin karena FIFA memiliki fokusnya sendiri. Fokusnya adalah pada permainan "tradisional dan konvensional" sementara fokusku disini adalah"keadilan". Ternyata, keduanya cukup bertentangan karena pemilihan yang satu akan mengurangi porsi yang lain. Tentu seharusnya fokus diarahkan pada mana yang lebih penting. Nah, yang mana nih??

#827 - Mid Year 2010 Vacation : Singapore, Krabi, KL (Part 2)

ENGLISH

Previously on Mid Year 2010 Vacation : Zilko and two of his friends went on vacation to three countries: Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. After spending two nights at Singapore, now they were ready to go to Thailand. Oh well, he had a trouble sleeping apparently.

Day 3 (Sunday, 13 June 2010)

Yes, I was sleep-deprived that night. I already asked the receptionist to wake us up (through the morning call) at 3 AM and call a taxi for us at 4.05 AM. We decided to get to the airport a bit early because AirAsia suggested its passengers to check in three hours prior to the departure time. So, because my flight would be at 7.40 AM, the check in counter should be open by 4.40 AM, rite? We arrived at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 at about 4.30 AM. But at that time, the check in counter was still closed, and noone seemed to be working there. Okay, we waited, waited, and waited. They then finally opened their check in counter at: 5.30 AM!!! D*mn!!! We got to the airport WAY too early!! We could have had one extre hour of good-quality sleep but we sacrificed it for nothing!?!? Arrrggghhhh....

After having breakfast at that terminal (I was the only one who had breakfast actually, my friends didn't), we went to the gate. The flight was on time. It was AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFZ, a Malaysian owned aircraft, flight no AK 720 to Kuala Lumpur. Oh btw, that day we went to Thailand with one transit at Kuala Lumpur. The flight took off from runway 02C. Singapore - Kuala Lumpur flight is apparently one short flight. Just after taking off and the seat-belt sign had been turned off, we descended and the pilot informed us that we would be landing at Kuala Lumpur shortly! Well, I hadn't even opened half of the in flight magazine!! Anyway, so we landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport's runway 32L at about 8.25 AM.

In KLIA, AirAsia is located at the LCC Terminal (LCCT), which I had never been to before (the last time I went to Kuala Lumpur, the LCCT hadn't been built yet). So, I just followed all other passengers to the terminal, haha. LCCT is pretty much similar to Changi's Budget Terminal, but LCCT is a bit much more minimalist IMO. The placement of all the rooms is not really passengers-friendly. Passengers have to go back and forth, circling all the rooms, and going up and down to finally get out of the airport. But hey, it's a budget terminal, so who would complain? :-)

So, after taking my luggage, I accompanied my friends to have breakfast. Well, I should have held my hunger earlier that day because meals at LCCT was much cheaper than meals at Changi, haha. Anyway, our flight to Krabi had been rescheduled to fly at 1.15 PM (from 12.20 PM), so we had like four hours to kill. The reason why I picked the earliest flight from Singapore was to give us much transit time. So, let's say our flight from Singapore had been late, we would still have had time to catch our flight to Krabi (if we missed it, we would be doomed as there was only one flight daily between KL and Krabi).

After checking in and going through the "unfriendly" terminal design again, we were already at the departure lounge waiting for our AK 804 flight to Krabi. Tick tock, at about 12.30 PM, there was an announcement that our flight would be delayed for about 30 minutes. Okay, so we gotta wait for another 30 minutes. At about 1.15 PM, finally we were allowed to board the plane. It was AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AHM. Twenty minutes on the plane, she still stood still at the tarmac. The pilot reported to us that there was a problem with the aircraft and the technicians were trying to fix it. Another ten or fifteen minutes, he reported us bad news: it was unserviceable and we had to wait for a replacement aircraft!! So, we gotta disembark the plane and went back to the departure lounge again!

I knew that it was a standard procedure and I think it is a GOOD procedure, but I was kinda pissed because we needed to get to Krabi asap. We only had two nights in Krabi and the next day (Monday) we had to take that tour to Phi-Phi Islands. The problem was that we had not booked the tour yet because we knew it would be cheaper to book it on the spot. D*mn, if we didn't get the tour, our trip to Krabi would be worthless!! Now, we gotta wait for an undetermined time! It was kinda frustrating, beside I was so hungry, lol.

At about 2.50 PM we were allowed to board the aircraft to Krabi. Surprisingly, it was still the exact same aircraft: AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AHM!! Oh, apparently they were able to fix the problem eventually. Our flight took off from runway 32R of KLIA and headed to Krabi. I convinced myself that we still had time to book the tour since according to the schedule, we would land at about 4.30 LT. We should have passed the immigration and luggage claim by about 5 PM. Anyway, during the flight, we passed Penang Island!! Well, I recognized the island of course!! Then, at about 4.30 PM we landed at runway 32 of Krabi International Airport, Thailand. Krabi Airport wasn't such a busy airport which is nice in some ways.

Anyway, after passing the immigration and claiming our luggage, we were heading out of the airport. On the way, two aggressive vibrant taxi operators approached us (well, we were approaching them actually because they had these two counters and they screamed loudly offered us their services). We picked the closest counter and booked a taxi to get to our hotel. Oh yea, prior to the start of this vacation, I also wrote down our hotels' address so that we could show it to the locals and hopefully it would be easier for them to understand. For our hotel in Krabi, I also looked for its address written in Thai, but I couldn't find it. So, I just went with the address in Latin hoping there would be no problem. The lady at the taxi counter seemed to understand and I was relieved.

Then, while we were walking to the exit door of the airport, we passed a travel agent. It was already over 5 PM and we decided to check its offer. If it was good (on budget), we would book the local tour to Phi-Phi Islands there since the time was already thin. Fortunately, they offered us good offer with on-budget price (1,200 THB each) to go to Phi-Phi Islands. Well, at that time, we already set 1,350 THB as our "good to go" with 1,500 THB as the top. So, we decided to book it right away.

Anyway, during this local tour booking process, this funny conversation occurred.

Me : "Is it easy to find a taxi in Ao Nang to go to Krabi Airport?"
Travel Agent : "500 baht."

*sudden quick awkward silence*

I then realized that she thought I was asking her how much a taxi cost from Ao Nang to Krabi Airport, haha. Language Barrier, sometimes it sucks but it is kinda funny at times. Since it was not really an urgent matter, I just neglected the in-answering answer.

So, after everything was done, we left the airport and met our taxi driver. To make sure he knew where we were heading, I showed him the address of our hotel. But then, he made this gesture saying that he didn't speak English AND he did NOT read Latin words!!! **Tara..... **. D*mn, suddenly I felt like I was in The Amazing Race and got a bad taxi driver. Luckily, he knew where to go. I guess that lady in the taxi counter already told him where we were going to.

The trip to Ao Nang was SO enjoyable! The scenery was very beautiful with all those limestone hills!! Anyway, so we arrived at our hotel at about 5.30 PM. It was Palm Paradise Resort. You can read at the previous entry that our original hotel was closed so we were moved to this hotel. Lucky there was no problem during the check-in process. We knew we would get cottage rooms (we ordered two rooms) there and in our mind, we would get one cottage with two rooms. But apparently, we got TWO cottages!! WHOOOAAAA!!!!! We were so surprised since one cottage is already really large with king size bed, LCD TV, private bathroom, and even a living room!! We got TWO of them for the price of only about 25 USD (around Rp 225,000.-) per night per cottage!!

Our plan that day was to get to the beach asap because we were already running against time. We would like to get there before it turned dark. The hotel actually provided free transport service to the beach. The hotel is about 800 meter down the hill from the beach. But we decided to walk anyway, which turned out to be a foolish decision!! haha... .

Anyway, so we finally arrived at the Ao Nang Beach. It was so different with what I imagined before. I thought Ao Nang was a more beautiful beach with a giant limestone rock nearby. But it wasn't anything near that. In some ways, it was like Kuta Beach, Bali but with more serene atmosphere. There was this main road next to the beach with bunch of bars, shops, restaurants, minimarts, and gift shops. But I really like the quiet and serene atmosphere, really relaxing!!

After spending some time on the beach, we decided to have dinner at a Thai restaurant. I didn't really like the taste of the food. After dinner, we walked around the beach and enjoyed the atmosphere. I was really exhausted and sleepy because I only had 2.5 hours of sleep earlier that day. I didn't sleep at all during our trip from Singapore to Krabi. That's why we got back to our hotel kinda early, at about 8.30 PM.

to be continued...

Note : I know that in the previous entry, I wrote that I would write about Phi-Phi Islands here. Apparently, because of the length of this entry, that would be impossible. So sorry about that, but I guarantee I will write about it in details next!! :-)

Next on Mid Year 2010 Vacation :

• The beautiful Phi-Phi Islands.
• Noppharat Thara Beach.
• The town of Ao Nang.

L : A busy morning at Changi Airport Terminal 1 on Sunday.
R : Roast Chicken Rice as My Breakfast that day.


L : AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFZ just arrived from Kuala Lumpur. She will fly back to Kuala Lumpur as AK 720. In the background, A Korean Air's Jumbojet Boeing 747-400 can be seen taking off from runway 02L.
R : Flying Over Johor Bahru, Malaysia.


L : Landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport's Runway 32L.
R : The main terminal of KLIA. Two Malaysia Airlines and one Cathay Pacific are visible.


L : The Departure Lounge of LCCT KLIA.
R : Finally, Going to Krabi!!


L : The troubled AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AHM flight no AK 804 to Krabi.
R : Noodle as my lunch at LCCT.


L : Passing Penang Island. I went there about 11 months ago.
R : One cottage at Palm Paradise Resort.


L : One view of Ao Nang Beach after sunset.
R : One view of Ao Nang Beach. This pedestrian walk is just across the beach.


L : One view of Ao Nang Beach. This beach is somehow similar to Kuta Beach, Bali, but with more serene atmosphere.
R : My Thai Cuisine with beef as my dinner that day.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelumnya dalam Mid Year 2010 Vacation : Zilko dan dua temannya pergi jalan-jalan ke tiga negara: Singapura, Thailand, dan Malaysia. Setelah menginap selama dua malam di Singapura, kini mereka siap untuk pergi ke Thailand. O iya, ia juga mengalami kesulitan tidur ternyata.

Hari 3 (Minggu, 13 Juni 2010)

Ya, aku kekurangan tidur malamnya. Aku meminta resepsionis hotel untuk membangunkan kami (dengan fasilitas morning call) jam 3 subuh dan memesankan taksi untuk kami jam 4.05 subuh. Kami memutuskan untuk berangkat ke bandara agak awal karena AirAsia kan menyarankan penumpangnya untuk check-in tiga jam sebelum jadwal keberangkatan. Jadi, karena penerbangan kami adalah jam 7.40 pagi, seharusnya konter check-in-nya sudah buka jam 4.40 pagi kan? Kami tiba di bandara Changi Singapura di Terminal 1 jam 4.30 pagi. Tapi, waktu itu konternya masih tutup, dan nggak kelihatan ada orang yang sedang bekerja disana. Oke, kami menunggu, menunggu, dan menunggu. Kemudian akhirnya konternya dibuka jam: 5.30 pagi!!! Si*lan!! Kami tiba di bandaranya TERLALU dini!! Tau gitu kan kami bisa tidur nyenyak sejam lebih lama tuh tapi kami mengorbankannya untuk sesuatu yang tidak ada!?!?!?Arrrggghhhh....

Yah, setelah makan pagi di terminal (cuma aku sih yang makan, temenku engga), kami pergi menuju gerbang keberangkatannya. Penerbangannya tepat waktu. Pesawatnya adalah Airbus A320-216 milik AirAsia kode registrasi 9M-AFZ, pesawat kepunyaan Malaysia nih, dengan nomor penerbangan AK 720 tujuan Kuala Lumpur. Oh, omong2, hari itu aku pergi ke Thailand dengan satu kali transit di Kuala Lumpur. Pesawatnya lepas landas dari landasan pacu 02C. Penerbangan Singapura - Kuala Lumpur ternyata adalah penerbangan yang sangat singkat loh. Baru saja lepas landas dan lampu tanda kenakan sabuk pengaman dipadamkan, pesawatnya sudah turun lagi dan pilotnya memberi tahu bahwa kami akan mendarat di Kuala Lumpur segera! Haha, padahal aku belum aja membuka setengah dari majalah pesawatnya lho!! Kemudian kami mendarat di Bandara Internasional Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) di landasan pacu 32L pada sekitar jam 8.25an pagi.

Di KLIA, AirAsia berada di Terminal LCC (LCCT), yang belum pernah aku kunjungi sebelumnya (terakhir kali aku ke Kuala Lumpur, LCCT belum dibangun tuh). Jadi, ya sudah aku ikutin saja tuh penumpang-penumpang lain yang jalan ke terminal, haha. LCCT ini kurang lebih mirip2 lah sama Budget Terminal di Bandara Changi, hanya saja LCCT ini agak lebih minimalis kalo menurutku. Penempatan ruang-ruangannya juga agak kurang ramah-penumpang. Penumpang harus bolak-balik, mengelilingi ruangan, kemudian naik dan turun untuk akhirnya keluar dari bandara. Tapi kan ini terminal yang minimalis untuk penerbangan murah nih, jadi sapa yang komplain? :-)

Kemudian, setelah mengambil bagasi, aku menemani temanku makan pagi. Yah, harusnya aku menahan lapar waktu di Changi ya karena makanan di LCCT lebih murah daripada di Changi loh, haha. Ngomong2, penerbangan kami ke Krabi telah diundur menjadi jam 1.15 siang (sebelumnya jam 12.20 siang), jadi kami memiliki waktu sekitar empat jam disana. Alasan mengapa aku memilih penerbangan terpagi dari Singapura adalah untuk memberi kami waktu transit lebih lama. Jadi, misal nih penerbangan dari Singapura telat, kan nasug ada waktu untuk mengejar penerbangan ke Krabi itu (soalnya kalo ketinggalan, bisa berabe karena hanya ada satu penerbangan sehari dari KL ke Krabi).

Setelah check in dan melewati desain terminal yang nggak "ramah" itu lagi, kami kemudian berada di ruang tunggu keberangkatan menunggu penerbangan AK 804 tujuan Krabi. Tik tok, sekitar jam 12.30 siang, ada pengumuman kalau penerbangan kami akan tertunda selama sekitar 30 menit. Oke deh, nunggu lagi deh setengah jam. Sekitar jam 1.15 siang, kami akhirnya diizinkan untuk menaiki pesawat. Pesawatnya adalah Airbus A320-216 kode registrasi 9M-AHM milik AirAsia. Dua puluh menit di atas pesawat, tuh pesawat masih diam saja di tempat parkirnya. Pilotnya kemudian memberi tahu kalau ada masalah teknis dengan pesawatnya dan para teknisi sedang memperbaikinya. Sepuluh sampai lima belas menit kemudian, pilotnya memberi kami kabar buruk: kerusakannya tidak dapat diperbaiki dan kami harus menunggu pesawat pengganti!! Jadi, kami harus turun dari pesawat dan kembali ke ruang tunggu keberangkatan lagi!

Aku tahu bahwa itu adalah prosedur standar dan aku rasa sih ini prosedur yang SANGAT BAIK tetapi aku agak jengkel karena kami kan harus tiba di Krabi segera tuh. Kami hanya menginap dua malam di Krabi dan keesokan harinya (Senin) kami harus ikut tur ke Kepulauan Phi-Phi. Yang jadi masalah adalah kami belum memesan tur lokal kesana karena kami tahu kalau memesan di sana jatuhnya akan jauh lebih murah. Si*l, kalau kami sampai nggak dapat turnya itu, perjalanan ke Krabi akan sia-sia saja dong!! Sekarang, kami harus menunggu selama waktu yang tak dapat dipastikan! Agak membuat frustrasi juga, di samping aku memang lapar sih, lol.

Sekitar jam 2.50 siang, kami akhirnya bisa menaiki pesawat tujuan Krabi. Yang mengejutkan adalah, masih pesawat yang sama lho: Airbus A320-216 kode registrasi 9M-AHM milik AirAsia!! Oh, ternyata baru saja mereka bisa memperbaiki masalahnya. Penerbangan kami kemudian lepas landas dari landasan pacu 32R KLIA dan terbang menuju Krabi. Aku meyakinkan diriku kalau masih ada cukup waktu untuk memesan tur lokal itu karena menurut jadwal, kami akan mendarat sekitar pukul 4.30 Waktu Lokal (WL). Seharusnya sih kami sudah akan melewati imigrasi dan pengambilan bagasi sekitar jam 5 sore kan. Ngomong2, pada penerbangan itu, Pulau Penang kelihatan loh!! Tentu saja aku mengenali pulaunya!! Kemudian, sekitar jam 4.30 sore kami mendarat di landasan pacu 32 Bandara Internasional Krabi, Thailand. Bandara Krabi bukanlah bandara yang sibuk makanya di satu sisi enak juga tuh.

Kemudian, setelah melewati imigrasi dan mengambil bagasi, kami berjalan keluar dari bandara. Di jalan, dua operator taksi yang agresif bersemangat mendekati kami (sebenarnya kami yang mendekati mereka sih karena mereka kan berada di dua konter taksi itu dan mereka teriak-teriak menawarkan dengan suara keras servis mereka). Kami memilih konter yang terdekat dan memesan taksi menuju hotel. O iya, sebelum berangkat kan aku menulis semua alamat hotel kami tuh jadi kami tinggal menunjukkannya ke orang lokal dan mudah-mudahan itu akan lebih mudah dimengerti mereka. Khusus hotel di Thailand, aku sudah mencari alamatnya dalam versi tulisan Thailand, cuma aku nggak berhasil menemukannya. Jadi, ya sudah aku pergi dengan alamat dalam huruf latin-nya saja dan berharap mudah2an tidak ada masalah. Mbak-mbak di konter taksinya kelihatannya sih ngerti, jadi aku lega deh.

Kemudian, ketika kami berjalan menuju pintu keluar, eh ternyata ada agen travel. Waktu itu sudah lewat jam 5 sore dan kami memutuskan untuk mengecek tawaran mereka. Kalau tawarannya bagus (masuk budget), ya kami akan langsung memesan tur lokal ke Phi-Phi di situ aja karena waktunya kan sudah mepet banget. Untungnya, tawaran mereka bagus deh dengan harga yang masuk budget (1.200 THB per orang) untuk tur seharian ke Kepulauan phi-Phi. Waktu itu sih, kami sudah memutuskan harga 1.350 THB sebagai harga yang "ok lah" dengan 1.500 THB sebagai harga maksimum. Makanya, kami memutuskan untuk memesan disana langsung.

Ngomong2, waktu proses pemesanan tur lokal ini, terjadilah percakapan berikut ini. (ceritanya dalam bahasa Inggris)

Aku : "Cari taksi dari Ao Nang untuk ke bandara susah nggak sih?"
Agen travel : "500 baht."

*krik...krik...krik*

Kemudian aku menyadari kalo dia mengira aku bertanya berapa biaya taksi dari Ao Nang ke bandara, haha. Halangan bahasa nih, kadang menyebalkan cuma di sisi lain ya agak lucu juga. Karena itu bukan hal yang penting, ya udah deh aku abaikan aja jawaban nggak nyambung itu.

Jadi, setelah semuanya beres, kami meninggalkan bandara dan bertemu sama sopir taksi kami. Untuk memastikan tujuan kami, aku menunjukannya alamat hotel kami. Tapi kemudian, ia membuat gerakan ini yang menyatakan bahwa dia nggak bahasa Inggris DAN ia TIDAK bisa membaca huruf Latin!! **Jreng jreng.... **. Si*l, aku langsung merasa seakan-akan lagi ikutan The Amazing Race dan mendapat sopir taksi yang jelek nih. Untungnya, ia tahu tujuan kita. Kayanya sih mbak2 yang di konter taksi sudah ngasi tau dia ya.

Perjalanan ke Ao Nang SANGAT mengasyikkan lho! Pemandangannya bagus banget dengan semua bukit-bukit kapur itu!! Ngomong2, akhirnya kami tiba di hotel sekitar jam 5.30 sore. Hotelnya adalah Palm Paradise Resort. Bisa dibaca di posting sebelumnya bahwa hotel awal kami ditutup sehingga kami dipindahkan ke hotel ini. Untung banget nggak ada masalah selama proses check-in. Kami tahu kami akan mendapatkamar cottage (kami memesan dua kamar) disana dan di benak kami, kami akan mendapat satu cottage dengan dua kamar. Ternyata, kami malah mendapat DUA cottage!! WHOOOAAAA!!!!! Kaget banget deh soalnya satu cottage aja kan sudah besar sekali dengan satu ranjang ukuran king, TV LCD, kamar mandi dalam, dan bahkan sebuah ruang tamu lho!! Eh kami malah mendapat DUA yang artinya harganya adalah sekitar 25 USD (atau sekitar Rp 225.000,-) per malam per cottage!!

Rencana kami hari itu adalah segera pergi menuju pantai karena waktu sudah mepet. Kami ingin sampai sana sebelum hari menjadi gelap. Hotelnya sebenarnya memberi transportasi gratis menuju pantai tuh. Jaraknya lumayan juga, 800 meter menuruni bukit. Tapi kami memutuskan untuk jalan kaki, keputusan yang sangat tolol sekali!! haha... .

Ngomong2, akhinya kami tiba di Pantai Ao Nang. Beda banget deh sama bayanganku sebelumnya. Aku kira Ao Nang itu pantai yang lebih indah dengan sebuah karang kapur raksasa di dekatnya. Ternyata nggak kaya gitu. Di beberapa sisi, pantainya mirip pantai Kuta, Bali tetapi dalam atmosfer yang lebih tenang. Ada sebuah jalan utama di pinggir pantai dengan banyak bar, toko-toko, restoran, mini-market, dan penjaja oleh-oleh. Tapi aku suka sih sama suasana sepi dan ketenangannya, membuat rileks!!

Setelah menghabiskan waktu di pantai, kami memutuskan untuk makan malam di sebuah restoran Thailand. Aku nggak begitu suka sama rasa makanannya. Setelah makan malam, kami jalan-jalan di pinggir pantai dan menikmati suasananya. Aku sangat lelah dan ngantuk karena kan malam sebelumnya aku hanya tidur sekitar 2,5 jam. Aku nggak tidur sama sekali lho sepanjang perjalanan dari Singapura ke Krabi. Makanya kami kembali ke hotel agak awal, sekitar jam 8.30 malam.

bersambung...

Catatan : Di posting sebelumnya aku menulis bahwa aku akan menceritakan perjalananku ke Kepulauan Phi-Phi di posting ini. Ternyata, karena panjangnya posting ini, hal itu nggak mungkin dilakukan. Sorry banget nih, cuma aku jamin koq di posting berikutnya aku akan menulis tentang perjalanan itu dengan mendetail!! :-)

Selanjutnya dalam Mid Year 2010 Vacation :

• Kepulauan Phi-Phi yang sangat indah.
• Pantai Noppharat Thara.
  
• Kota kecil Ao Nang.

#826 - Mid Year 2010 Vacation : Singapore, Krabi, KL (Part 1)

ENGLISH

Well, the time has come, it is time to share with you my vacation experience I had last week when I went to three South East Asian countries. Anyway, as I promised here, I will write about one of the two problems I had just before my vacation started. Yeah, this one particular problem was closely related to this vacation.

Day 0 (Thursday, 10 June 2010)

I always try to prepare anything in advance, so that I won't meet many difficulties ahead. That was the case. One day before my departure, I tried to collect maps about how to get to my hotels during my stay in Singapore, Krabi, and Kuala Lumpur. When I opened the official website of my hotel in Krabi, I found a very disturbing news: the hotel has been closed temporarily for renovation reason!! I was so shocked!! I then checked my email and found no announcement about it!!

I reacted by emailing the online travel agent where I bought the voucher and all available email addresses in that d*mn hotel's website. Then, I thought email might not be an effective way of complaining because it had already been D-3 since my trip to Krabi, while the next day I would be going to Singapore! Well, lucky the travel agent's website featured a live chat window so that I could complain in real time. The "surprising" thing was that they didn't know the hotel had been closed before I told them!!! Well, to make long story short, eventually they were able to find me a replacement hotel not so far away from my original one. So, one problem was solved and I was so relieved. The whole process took about one day to complete.

Whatta time for the problem to show up!! hahaha...

Day 1 (Friday, 11 June 2010)

I had this vacation with two of my friends whom are currently studying in Bandung. You can find the reason why we chose Yogyakarta as our departing point here. As a result, my friends had to travel to Yogyakarta prior to our departure. They then scheduled to take train to go to Yogyakarta on Thursday evening, which meant they would arrive on Friday early morning. I picked them up at the railway station early in the morning.

At about 5.45 AM, we went to Adisucipto International Airport to catch AirAsia's flight to Singapore at 7.35 AM. I was so excited since it was my first time going abroad not with my parents, haha. Anyway, the whole process went smoothly including the fiscal-free immigration, which relieved me so much.

The aircraft arrived on time. It was Indonesia AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code PK-AXD. At about 7.35 AM, we took off from runway 09 Adisucipto Airport. It was a smooth flight under a shiny day, whatta way to bring up the mood! My flight then landed a bit sooner than scheduled, 30 minutes ahead of the schedule, great!

We then took an MRT to go to our hotel in Singapore which was in Geylang Area. Even with the map, we had slightly difficulties in finding the hotel. Well, it was apparently because I trusted my friends to read the map we misread it and I neglected one minor inconsistency between the map and the fact, haha. Well, it was such a shiny day and I was bringing two big luggages!! It was kinda torturing and mood-draining. Anyway, now I know how hard it is to be in The Amazing Race!! :-) Well, during that hotel searching, we experienced one annoying thing. We asked (in English) the address to the locals (well, they were restaurant waitresses to be precise), but they replied with: "No English please". I was like "Whaaat??? You are living and working in Singapore, a country with English as its national language, and you don't speak it??". I can understand if this happened in Malaysia or Thailand, but not Singapore.

Anyway, that afternoon, we tried to catch a bus to the city. We went to the nearest bus stop and read all the buses' destination from there. We found "NR 7" as the only route which passed our destination. We waited and waited, but NR 7 never showed up while all other routes had been served with at least two buses. Tired, we decided to take the MRT instead. Later on that day, we found out that "NR" stands for "Night Ride" which means the bus only operates at night!! Ah, that explained everything!! Lucky we were not that persistent to wait for it to come, LOL.

That day, we just went around Singapore. We went to City Hall and Raffles Park. There was nothing in the Raffles Park, just a hilly park which is good for exercising, LOL. Later that evening we just strolled around and ended up at Esplanade Park. There was this food market, really similar to Gurney Drive Foodstalls, the one in Georgetown, Penang, I went to last year (but not the price, haha). That pretty much summed up all activities on day one. Suddenly, Singapore felt boring for me, hmmm.

Day 2 (Saturday, 12 June 2010)

I was kinda really exhausted the day before because I had several long days and problems (one of them was the "closed" hotel in Krabi). I got up pretty late in the morning.

Day 2 was kinda unexciting for me. I just strolled around Singapore again. I went to Bugis, Little India, then ended up in Orchard. O yea, in Orchard I bought Uncle's Ice Cream. I actually knew this ice cream some months ago while it was involved in the Detour Task of TAR 16 in leg 9. It looked tasty and I was anxious about it. And yeah, it was DELICIOUS for only S$ 1!! :-)

Well, that was pretty much Day 2 for me, not that exciting. I went back to my hotel early to prepare for the next day, which would be very exciting for me as we were going to Krabi on Sunday!! :-) However, that night, I had difficulty sleeping, damnit. In total, I had only about 2.5 hours of sleep, while I had to get up at 3 AM the next morning because we had to catch the 7.40 AM flight to KL.

to be continued ....

Next on Mid Year 2010 Vacation

• Long transit in Kuala Lumpur.
• Arriving in Krabi, Thailand.
• Very beautiful Phi-Phi Islands

L : Indonesia AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code PK-AXD was ready to fly to Singapore Changi Airport as QZ 7138 from Adisucipto Airport, Yogyakarta.
R : On board Indonesia AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code PK-AXD.


L : A scenic view at 38,000 feet. The cloud formed three "gorges"
R : A 12-inch turkey breast sandwich. Yeah, it was HUGE.


L : One view from Clarke Quay, overlooking Marina Bay.
R : My meal (Lamb Chop) at Kopitiam at Vivo City. I also had "Bandung" as my drink. I think it is a syrup mixed with milk.


L : The Fountain of Wealth.
R : A night view of Singapore, overlooking Merlion Park.


L : One spot at Bugis.
R : Another spot at Bugis.


L : One spot at Orchard Road.
R : Chocolate Uncle's Ice Cream. Yeah, it is an ice cream sandwich.


L : A huge meal at Billy Bombers. Considering the size, it is not that expensive.
R : Another spot at Orchard Road.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yak, waktunya telah tiba, ini adalah waktunya untuk menulis pengalaman liburan jalan2ku ke tiga negara di Asia Tenggara minggu lalu. Ngomong2, seperti yang kujanjikan disini, aku juga akan menulis satu dari dua masalah yang aku hadapi tepat sebelum liburanku ini dimulai. Ya, satu masalah itu sangat berkaitan erat dengan acara jalan2 ini.

Hari 0 (Kamis, 10 Juni 2010)

Aku selalu mencoba untuk mempersiapkan semuanya di depan, jadi sedapat mungkin kesulitan akan terhindarkan nantinya. Ini adalah kasusnya. Sehari sebelum keberangkatan, aku mencoba mengumpulkan peta tentang bagaimana untuk mencapai hotel-hotelku ketika di Singapura, Krabi, dan Kuala Lumpur. Nah, ketika aku membuka website resmi dari hotelku yang di Krabi, aku menemukan sebuah berita yang mengganggu : hotelnya sudah tutup sementara karena alasan renovasi!! Aku kaget banget kan!! Aku kemudian mengecek emailku dan ternyata memang nggak ada pengumuman tentang itu!!

Aku bereaksi dengan mengemail agen travel online dimana aku membeli voucher hotel itu dan semua alamat email yang tersedia di laman website si*l itu. Kemudian, aku mikir kalau email mungkin bukan cara yang efektif untuk komplain karena kan sudah H-3 sebelum perjalananku ke Krabi, padahal besoknya juga aku sudah pergi ke Singapura! Yah, untung agen travel online itu menyediakan fitur live chat window jadi aku bisa komplain secara langsung. Hal yang "mengejutkan" adalah mereka nggak tahu lho hotelnya itu tutup sebelum aku kasi tau mereka!!! Yah, mempersingkat cerita, akhirnya mereka bisa mendapatkan hotel pengganti yang nggak jauh dari hotel awalku. Jadi, satu masalah terpecahkan dan aku sangat lega. Keseluruhan prosesnya memakan waktu sekitar satu hari.

Bener2 deh tuh masalah memilih waktu yang "tepat" untuk muncul!! hahaha...

Hari 1 (Jumat, 11 Juni 2010)

Acara jalan2ku ini aku lewati bersama dengan dua temenku yang sekarang sedang kuliah di Bandung. Bisa dibaca deh alasan mengapa kami memilih Yogyakarta sebagai titik keberangkatan disini. Sebagai akibatnya, temen2ku harus pergi ke Yogyakarta sebelum keberangkatan. Mereka memilih untuk naik kereta ke Yogyakarta di hari Kamis malam, yang artinya akan sampai Jumat subuh. Aku menjemput mereka di stasiun tuh Jumat subuh.

Sekitar jam 5.45 pagi, kami pergi ke Bandara Internasional Adisucipto untuk naik penerbangan AirAsia ke Singapura jam 7.35 pagi. Aku sangat bersemangat karena ini kali pertama aku pergi ke luar negeri tidak bersama ortu, haha. Ngomong2, semua prosesnya berjalan lancar termasuk pengurusan imigrasi bebas bea fiskal, senang deh hatiku.

Pesawatnya tiba tepat waktu. Pesawatnya adalah Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-216 kode registrase PK-AXD. Sekitar jam 7.35 pagi, kami lepas landas dari runway 09 Bandara Adisucipto. Penerbangannya mulus sekali, benar-benar menaikkan mood nih! Malah penerbanganku mendarat agak lebih cepat dari jadwal, sekitar 30 menitan lah, bagus deh!

Kami kemudian naik MRT untuk pergi ke hotel kami di Singapore di area Geylang. Walau dengan peta, ternyata kami harus menghadapi sedikit kesulitan untuk menemukan hotelnya. Yah, ternyata itu karena aku mempercayai temenku untuk membaca petanya kami salah membacanya dan aku mengabaikan satu inkonsistensi kecil antara peta dan kenyataan, haha. Yah, hari waktu itu sedang cerah2nya dan aku harus membawa dua kopor yang lumayan besar!! Agak menyiksa dan mengeringkan mood juga. Ngomong2, kini aku benar-benar menyadari bagaimana sulitnya di The Amazing Race!! :-) Btw, waktu pencarian hotel itu, kami mengalami satu hal menyebalkan. Kan ceritanya kami nanya (pake Bahasa Inggris) alamatnya ke orang lokal (yah, mereka adalah pelayan sebuah restoran untuk lebih tepatnya), tapi mereka menjawab dengan: "No English please" (terj : tolong jangan pake bahasa Inggris). Reaksiku (dalam hati) "Apaaa??? Kalian ini hidup dan kerja di Singapura, sebuah negara dengan Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa nasionalnya, dan kalian nggak bisa ngomong Inggris??. Aku bisa paham kalau kejadian ini terjadi di Malaysia atau Thailand, tapi nggak di Singapura deh.

Ngomong2, sialnya, kami ingin mencoba naik bus ke kota. Kami pergi ke halte terdekat dan membaca semua tujuan dari semua bus yang berhenti di halte itu. Kami menemukan bahwa "NR 7" adalah satu-satunya rute yang melayani tujuan yang kami inginkan. Kami menunggu dan menunggu, tapi koq NR 7 nggak muncul-muncul yah padahal semua rute lain telah dilayani oleh setidaknya dua bis loh. Cape, akhirnya kami memutuskan naik MRT aja. Kemudian di hari yang sama, kami baru tahu bahwa "NR" itu singkatan dari "Night Ride" yang artinya busnya cuma beroperasi di malam hari!! Ah, itu menjelaskan semuanya!! Untung ya kami nggak sekeras-kepala itu untuk menunggunya untuk datang, LOL.

Hari itu, kami jalan2 keliling Singapura aja. Kami pergi ke City Hall dan Raffles Park. Nggak ada apa-apa tuh di Raffles Park, cuma taman berbukir yang bagus untuk berolahraga, LOL. Sorenya, kami jalan-jalan lagi dan berakhir di Esplanade Park. Disana ada tempat makan ini, sangat mirip dengan Gurney Drive Foodstalls, yang ada di Georgetown, Penang, yang aku kunjungi tahun lalu (tapi harganya engga, haha). Yak, itulah kira2 aktivitasku di hari pertama. Tiba2, Singapura terasa membosankan untukku, hmmm.

Hari 2 (Sabtu, 12 Juni 2010)

Aku merasa agak kecapekan sehari sebelumnya karena aku mengalami beberapa hari yang panjang dan masalah2 (salah satunya ya "tutupnya" hotel di Krabi itu). Aku jadinya bangun agak siang.

Hari 2 agak membosankan untukku. Aku cuma jalan2 di Singapura aja. Aku jalan ke Bugis, Little India, dan akhirnya balik ke Orchard. O iya, di Orchard aku makan Uncle's Ice Cream loh. Aku tahu tentang ini beberapa bulan yang lalu soalnya es krim ini terlibat dalam sebuah tugas Detour di TAR 16 di babak 9. Di TV kelihatan enak jadinya aku penasaran untuk mencobanya. Eh, ternyata memang ENAK loh, dan harganya cuma S$ 1!! :-)

Yah, kurang lebih itu sih hari 2ku disana, nggak terlalu menarik. Aku kembali ke hotel agak awal untuk mempersiapkan hari selanjutnya, yang akan menjadi sangat menarik karena kami akan pergi ke Krabi di hari Minggu!! :-) O iya, malam itu, aku mengalami kesulitan untuk tidur deh. Totalnya, mungkin aku cuma tidur selama sekitar 2,5 jam saja, padahal aku harus bangun jam 3 pagi tuh keesokan harinya karena kami harus naik pesawat jam 7.40 pagi ke KL.

bersambung ....

Selanjutnya dalam Mid Year 2010 Vacation

• Transit yang lama di Kuala Lumpur.
• Tiba di Krabi, Thailand.
• Kepulauan Phi-Phi yang sangat indah.

#825 - I Am Back!!

ENGLISH

Well, I am back!! This afternoon I arrived at Yogyakarta, after spending one week of vacation in three neighboring countries: Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Well, I will write the story in more detail really soon but not now as I am kinda really tired.

However, overall, I gotta say that Krabi, Thailand is AWESOME!! I really love all the beaches there and the warm (literally and figuratively) atmosphere in Thailand!! In other hand, I am kinda bored with Singapore. I will tell you why later. I think some of you will agree with me on that. Anyway, overall, it was a super fun holiday and vacation!! I really enjoyed it!! :-)

Ah, I also changed my blog's layout today. I decided to use the new feature Blogger offers. I am calling this new layout: "Go Green, Save the World" since I would like to ask all of us to take part to create a greener world :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Halo Semua, aku kembali!! Siang tadi aku tiba di Yogyakarta, setelah menghabiskan waktu seminggu liburan ke tiga negeri tetangga: Singapura, Malaysia, dan Thailand. Yah, aku akan menulis cerita liburanku dengan lebih mendetail nanti ya soalnya aku sekarang sedang capek sekali.

Secara keseluruhan sih, aku harus bilang bahwa Krabi, Thailand itu KEREN SEKALI!! Aku sangat suka semua pantai disana dan juga kehangatan atmosfer (secara harafiah maupun tidak) di Thailand!! Di sisi lain, aku koq agak bosan dengan Singapura yah. Aku akan tulis mengapa nanti. Cuma rasanya sih akan ada beberapa orang yang mungkin akan setuju denganku. Ngomong2, pokoknya liburan dan acara jalan2 kemarin itu bener2 menyenangkan deh!! Aku sangat menikmatinya!! :-)

Ah, aku juga baru saja mengganti layout blog-ku hari ini. Aku memutuskan untuk menggunakan fitur baru yang ditawarkan Blogger. Aku menyebut layout baru ini: "Go Green, Save the World" karena aku ingin mengajak kita semua untuk berpartisipasi dalam mewujudkan dunia yang lebih hijau :-)

#824 - Problems Before Fun

ENGLISH

Well, tomorrow, my vacation to three countries officially starts!! Woo Hoo!! I am catching AirAsia's flight from Yogyakarta to Singapore. On Sunday, I am going to Thailand.

Anyway, one thing is kinda weird. Just before my vacation (fun), suddenly all problems appeared!! I wont's specify those problems, but I will write it in later entries as each of them belongs to each topic, which I have a plan to write about anyway, hehe, so be patient!! :-) But my point is that, somehow, just before the "fun", it seems that we have to "pay" for it in advance, with all those problems we have to deal with. Is it just me or what?? Hmmm

Well, but now that I think about it, actually the thing that makes something interesting, exciting, and memorable is problems. If everything goes fine and smoothly, always going just as the way we predict, it is not interesting nor memorable anymore, is it? Haha, I know that in some ways, this statement can be seen as a "comforting statement" for myself, because I encountered these problems. Maybe it is true.

Haha, for now, there is nothing much I can say. So, I'll just attach some gastronomic pictures :-)

::: Not so tasty Indian Curry at a new Indian Restaurant in Jogja.

::: Not so tasty mutton satay.

::: TASTY Fried Ribs with Onion. My favorite menu at Iga Bakar Sagan.

::: Surprisingly TASTY "Pisang Goreng" (Fried Banana) at Iga Bakar Sagan.

::: Not so tasty martabak I had two days ago.

::: Lopis, A Local Delicacy from Jogja, made from "ketan" (one "sticky" form of rice)

::: Sesame Fried Chicken I had yesterday.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Besok, liburanku ke tiga negara resmi dimulai!! Asiiik!! Aku akan naik penerbangan AirAsia dari Yogyakarta menuju Singapura. Di hari Minggu, aku akan pergi ke Thailand.

Ngomong2, satu hal kerasa aneh deh. Sebelum liburan (bersenang2) dimulai, koq tiba2 banyak masalah muncul yah!! Sekarang aku masih belum akan menuliskan masalahnya apa, cuma akan aku tulis nanti koq karena tiap masalah itu merupakan bagian dari tiap topik yang memang aku rencanakan untuk aku tulis nanti, hehe, jadi sabar yah!! :-) Yah, intinya adalah, kerasanya itu, sebelum "bersenang2", sepertinya kita harus "membayarnya" di depan, dengan semua masalah yang harus kita hadapi itu. Ini cuma aku saja atau tidak sih?? Hmmm

Yah, kalo dipikir2 lagi seh, sebenernya hal yang membuat sesuatu itu menarik, asyik, dan berkesan adalam masalah. Kalau semuanya lancar-lancar aja, semuanya seperti yang diprediksikan, nggak asik atau berkesan lagi deh, bener nggak?? Haha, memang sih ini kedengarannya seperti pernyataan "penghiburan diri sendiri" dariku. Eh, mungkin juga tuh

Haha, untuk kini, belum banyak yang bisa aku tulis. Jadi, aku unggah beberapa foto yang berhubungan sama gastronomi saja deh ya :-)

#823 - 2010 French Open

note : this entry will only be written in English, due to its length :-)

This Sunday, the second grandslam tournament of this year: the French Open was concluded. There were several surprising results throughout the tournament. Some of the "surprises" were good, but the other were really not.

Firstly, in the women's doubles, Venus and Serena Williams became the champions, beating world no.1 in doubles, Liezel Huber, who partnered with last year's champion, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in the semifinal. They only managed to lose one set throughout the tournament, at that match against Huber-Medina Garrigues. I think in some ways it was because Serena just had this super singles' quarterfinal match against Samantha Stosur not long before the match, where she lost in a thrilling three setter. Venus and Serena beat Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in a relatively easy final, by 6-2, 6-3. With this victory, Venus and Serena Williams are the current doubles title holders in all four grandslam! (2009 Wimbledon, 2009 US Open, 2010 Australian Open, and now 2010 French Open). In total, they have collected 12 grandslam doubles titles, and they have never been beaten in any grandslam doubles final. Plus, this means that this Monday, Venus and Serena will rise to world no.1s in doubles for the first time in their career. Congratulations to the Williams sisters!!

::: Venus and Serena Williams with their women's doubles trophy. They just won the "Williams Slam", where they won four grandslam doubles titles in a row.

The women's singles experienced some upsets, IMO. The first quarter of the draw seemed to be the toughest one, putting Serena Williams (world no.1), Justine Henin (four times French Open champion), Maria Sharapova (former world no.1), and Samantha Stosur (superb form on clay recently) in it. Then, Samantha Stosur became the winner of this quarter, beating Justine Henin and Serena Williams both in three sets. Venus Williams was actually the favorite to be the finalist from the bottom half. But then she lost to Nadia Petrova. For the first time in many years now, all the semifinalists had never won a grandslam singles title yet: Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Francesca Schiavone, and Elena Dementieva, even though Jankovic and Dementieva had reach one and two grandslam final(s), respectively.

::: Francesca Schiavone's winning trademark. She kissed the court after winning a match.

Then, for some frikkin' reasons, Stosur and Schiavone made the final!! Well, I was both so happy and felt kinda weird with this formation. Happy because this meant that Serena Williams and Venus Williams will still occupy world no.1 and no.2 ranking this Monday. Further, this means that they will be seeded first and second in Wimbledon, a grandslam on grass courts, where they are the best players this era on it. This guarantees that if they meet, it will be in the final. In other hand, this formation was VERY strange. Even if now I have to think about it, I still think it was so weird. With all respect to both player, I can see this final (Stosur vs Schiavone) in an international level or a Premier 600/700 tournament. Or in a grandslam, I can see this meeting in a fourth round, or quarterfinal at the furthest. But NOT the final!! I didn't feel the "grand" aura of a grandslam final from this combination. Well, it's true that some new faces are needed to make the game much more interesting, but there are some other players who would also be "new" faces in a grandslam final, named Agnieszka Radwanska or Victoria Azarenka, but would bring "grander" aura. Anyway, we still had to accept this fact. Plus, Samantha Stosur had played brilliantly throughout the tournament. She was clearly the favorite and this still could be an entertaining final. Schiavone got lucky this year. Sure she beat Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, but Wozniacki was hampered by injury. Then, Dementieva retired in the semifinal. Wow, fortune was really on her side. Then, in the final, Stosur crumbled. She did not play her best and lost 4-6, 6-7(2) to Schiavone! Francesca Schiavone won this year's French Open!! WOW!! This is totally unexpected. Two weeks ago, no one would predict she would win the title. But she proved it wrong! She became the first Italian woman to win a grandslam singles title. Next year will be such a challenge for Schiavone to defend her title. But for now, congratulations!!

::: Francesca Schiavone, 29, with her trophy with Eiffel Tower as the background.

On the men's side, (finally) Roger Federer fell in the quarterfinals. Thus, ending his 23 streak of semifinal appearances at a grandslam. Who beat him?? The guy whom he beat last year in the final of French Open: Robin Söderling. Well, not that I don't like Federer, but it's that this loss will make men's tennis much more interesting. Somehow, I am a bit bored with Federer and Nadal's dominance of the sport recently. Federer's dominance was clearly obvious from the rankings points prior to the French Open. He was world no.1 with 10,030 points, while Nadal, the world no.2, only had 6,880 points. However, with this loss, Nadal would be world no.1 if he won the title. Another new names rose to the table: Tomáš Berdych and Jürgen Melzer who reached the semifinals but lost to Söderling and Nadal respectively. So, the final was between Robin Söderling and Rafael Nadal.

This final was a promising final as Söderling broke Nadal's unbeaten record (at the French Open) by beating him in the fourth round last year. It was apparent that Nadal was troubled with his injury at that time (he had to skip Wimbledon and he went on a title-drought season until April this year). So, for Nadal, this was the opportunity to get his revenge. In the final, Söderling played unconvincingly, making 45 unforced errors. That gave the victory over to Rafael Nadal. Rafael Nadal won his fifth French Open title beating Söderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4!! This win also brought Nadal to a record of 100% win on clay this year, and as I said before, to the position of world no.1! Congratulations Rafa!! One more good news for Rafa: he became the first player to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London next November!

::: Rafael Nadal's famous bite.

::: Rafael Nadal posed with his trophy.

Well, again, congratulations to Venus and Serena Williams, Francesca Schiavone, Rafael Nadal, and (even though not mentioned in the entry) Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic for winning this year's French Open!! :-)

ps : all photos were taken from French Open's official website, link above.