This perfectly sums up this blog post & how I feel right now. I said I would make the 2nd blog post, 4 hours after I made this. It has been 3 years since then… But it is worth sharing though. (This post is republished on April 19th btw…)
Never. I said, never, in a million years I would imagine myself flying far far far away to countries other than Singapore, the USA, and popular places in Europe. It’s India, I’m talking about. Never in a million years, I would imagine myself landing in a place called India.
India has been in my life since I was born. Not that I have any Indian blood but my grandparents used to work with the government of India. My grandpa was the Ambassador of India, back in the Soeharto era. Therefore my house was filled with antiques, unique and beautiful pieces of stuff from India.
The stories started back in August 2012. My friend who runs a yoga studio business was talking about going to India and I didn’t take it seriously when she mentioned taking me there with her. I was like, chuckles, then didn’t think anything.
But then, there I went. On an Air Asia booth in Sarinah. Booked for departure tickets. And voila. It just happened.
The thing is, I didn’t think. It just happened like it has to happen. I used to believe that ‘good things happen to those who wait’, and it happened.
The trip was in Bellur 2012. It’s a temple and birthday celebration of BKS Iyengar held in Bellur, a small and remote village in South India. BKS Iyengar is also called Guruji, a yoga guru who first invented the Iyengar yoga style which has been known worldwide by all yogi and yogini. He is like, the suhu, the master, the VIP of yoga.
Speaking of Iyengar, it’s my favourite yoga style simply because this style is most concerned with body alignment. In yoga, the word alignment is used to describe the precise way in which your body should be positioned in each pose in order to obtain the maximum benefits and avoid injury. Iyengar practice encourages the use of props to bring the body into alignment. (I took the explanation on the Jakartadoyoga website) I have a back problem, so I like this one better.
Again. never. Never in my life that I would go to India other than just a fun trip and other fancy holidays, but with a purpose, I’ve never thought of before. You know, I am so blessed with that. Very blessed for whatever started this incredible journey, as incredible as India itself.
* * *
It is said that the weather in India isn’t far from Indonesia. Hot and shiny, perhaps hotter than here. So I just brought, regular clothes and a jacket. And a little tip for you: prepare your very deep moisturizer and body lotion because people, it’s very dry and hot over there. Write it down! And oh, very comfortable shoes or sandals, and a nice one (if you have an important occasion).
I was planning to go to Bangalore but stopped first in Malaysia. I took Air Asia from terminal 3 Soekarno-Hatta on the earliest flight. It was November 21st, and with my own eyes, I watched the perfect sunrise while sitting in front of Air Asia’s ticket place. It was pretty windy and still, I couldn’t believe that I was sitting there.
The plane finally departed and arrived at LCCT-KL (Low-Cost Carrier Terminal-Kuala Lumpur). My first abroad country! As soon as I put my feet on the airport, my first reaction was ‘what an extremely hot day!’. Haha, apparently it was also hot over there. But it’s okay. My happiness exceeds the hot weather. The first thing I did (besides taking the luggage) was to find an atm! I was very surprised that my Muamalat ShareE card can be accepted in any atm with a visa logo in it. I took some to eat.
Then, we were confused about where to eat. My friend said that the KLIA-KL (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) is way better than LCCT-KL because it’s for international flights. Well, we must go and take a look then 😀 And….we took a bus that connecting through KLIA and LCCT. FYI, the bus trip was pretty long, about 15-20 minutes because the roads were also very big, next to many oil palm plantations.
The driver was Indian! I just found out that many South Indian people wanted to work in Malaysia. FYI, the Indian people who have dark-coloured skin were coming from the south. What I like about the bus was, it’s huge! And it has like a payment device, a money meter (oh what’s the name, I forgot).
And here I was. The KLIA. For me back then, KLIA means more more more air conditioners. Cooler than LCCT. (At least that is what I need). And after strolling around finding which place to eat (oh yeah, that’ll always be a problem), we finally stopped at Secret Recipe. A place where you all can also find in Indonesia! Doh! But what shocked me was, the portion is very huge. Gigantic. With a certain amount of Ringgit, if exchanged into Rupiahs, oh you can not believe how expensive our food is with a tiny portion. I was happy there. I ate Vietnamese noodles! Lots of meatballs. Not my favourite but enough to fill my empty stomach.
And let me tell you one thing. The toilet has carpet on it! I was very stunned. (This is important since I’ve never seen this before, especially in public places in Indonesia. Don’t ask.)
There goes my KLIA short trip. We got back to LCCT (with another bus and Indian driver too), wait for the next flight scheduled to Bangalore with Air Asia. And when I entered the plane, I thought that the AC was extremely high because there was very smokey.
Apparently, it was only the disinfectant fogging, haha! Silly me.
PS: The steward/ male flight attendant was handsome. This is also important. I ordered the Twinning tea because he was handsome I need it to soothe my warm body (thanks to the AC, brrr).
4 hours to go, see you on the next blog post! Stay tuned! 🙂
el.is.in.wonderland 