Astonishing Chiang Rai – exploring the golden triangle in a cheaper and hassle-free way

This is part of my 7 days trip to Thailand last December. Even though Chiang Mai was the main destination back there, Chiang Rai which was the supplemental destination successfully exceeding my expectation. Make sure you do not miss the golden triangle region of northern Thailand. During my trip in both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, I chose motorbike as the main transportation choice. Read through on my post on how you can afford cheaper and less hassle transportation to explore the region.

Accommodation

Pan Kled Eco Hill Villa – 8.4 rated in Booking.com

Plus: Quiet and homey environment, motorcycle parking, including proper breakfast (choice of Thai or Western style), good value for money, very responsive staffs.

Minus: Hot water heater not working (however, they offered a room switch due to the inconvenience), location is far from the city center so a private transportation mode is a must.

First Day

We arrived in Chiang Rai quite late enough on a several hours bus drive from Chiang Mai. From the bus station, we took a grab car service directly to the Pan Kled hostel. Upon arriving, we checked in, had a late supper of Thai fried rice, and get a rest for tomorrow.

Renting a Bike

First thing first on the morning, renting a motorbike for the journey. Near the clock tower, there were lots of choice for Motorcycle rental. Our choice fell to the ST Motorcycle Rental.

ST Motorcycle Rental – near the clock tower – Jetyod Road

The cheapest alternative was the 125cc scooter with a cost of 250 baht per day. The deposit is a must but you can leave your passport as a substitute, which I strongly do not recommend because you need to keep your passport on your side every time wherever you go. The deposit was around 2000-3000 baht.

Fuels – for the second day full trip:
Chiang Rai – Golden Triangle (72 km)

Golden Triangle – Mae Sai (25 km)

Mae Sai – Chiang Rai (62 km)

Chiang Rai – White Temple – Singha Park – BANDAAM – Blue Temple (60 km)

Total journey was around 219 + intra city = 225 km

We refueled 2 times of 91 RON gasoline on a total amount of around 7 litres (170 baht) . An average of 32 km/litre consumption, not bad eh? The total cost of transportation all over Chiang Rai per person:

170 baht + 250 baht = 420 baht / 2 person = 210 baht per person

IT IS FREAKING CHEAP! I strongly recommend you guys to use motorbike, and if you have more budget you can go for a higher cc bike to have faster journey. The maximum speed of the scooter was 80 km/hour, while the limit of the highway was 100 km/hour.

The long 1061 road

My route was Chiang Rai – Golden Triangle – Mae Sai. The other alternative was Chiang Rai – Mae Sai – Golden Triangle. Just take the long 1061 road from Chiang Rai to reach Golden Triangle, the road was really smooth with only few of cars or local motorbike passing by. Upon reaching the Mae Sai from Golden Triangle, we were stopped by the local police for a passport and licence check. After showing my international driving licence, they let us go.

*There were some articles and blogs that telling the story on Thai police stopping and asking money from some tourists, but I do not think that is really the case. If you are wearing a helmet, having your licence, and behaving courteous then you are good to go.

the Golden Triangle

The Golden Triangle was the largest opium producer area in the world alongside the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan. It is the junction of the Mekong and Ruak river which is also a border of the Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand. The things to offer here are the view of the junction, the big sitting Buddha statue, and the House of Opium. There are two places that shows the opium related things: Hall of Opium and House of Opium. I did not go to the former one, since already visited the House of Opium.

Interesting things on the House of Opium: a story on how the drug addiction habit was actually started as a recreational activity on the early years, how they found out the opium turned out to produce the opium from the poppy, and on the end of the museum they show the effect of opium consumption. A recreational activity turned out to be a commodity business that powering the nations’ economy in the world war’s era.

There is a legend of the Mekong giant catfish as well. It is the Pangasianodon gigas which is known as Patin in Indonesia. It is also observed in the Kalimantan river as their habitat and local people consumed it as a source of protein.

Mae Sai

Mae Sai is a city in the north of Chiang Rai, it is a border city between Burma and Thailand. The city is small but lively. We visited Mae Sai on the way back from the Golden Triangle using the west side road. Must visit places here are:

The border market
Wat Phra That Doi Wao
The Big Buddha statue

All of the three are close nearby, but make sure you ride a motorbike for a convenient commuting. You can basically park your bike and get off for a place, then get in the bike to move to another places.

While exploring the market, I found an interesting traditional cardigan-like clothing. The lady owner was a Thai and the store assistant was a Burmese. You can identify the Burmese with a gold colored paint smear in their face. The clothes was so comfy and had an nice color combination, made me having bought the thing for 600 baht. I know it could be more cheaper but I like the shop owner and the assistant, and more importantly the clothes itself. We left at around 5 PM from Mae Sai, just before the sun set. On the way back, we passed by the famous Tham Luang cave where in 2018 twelve Thai boys trapped in.

Mae Fah Luang market

On the way back home to Chiang Rai, we passed by a crowded street near the Mae Fah Luang university area. Some street food vendors selling khai tot, crepes, thai tea, fried food, and waffle ball should not be missed. We took a break as well to stretch and also trying some foods.

Mae Fah Luang Food Market

the Clock Tower at 7 PM

Arriving at Chiang Rai, it was almost 7 and we proceed to the Clock Tower. At 7 PM, it showed a light show with music on the background. It was quite okay, but the traffic and crowd around slightly disturb the ambiance. I decided to come back at midnight to enjoy the clock tower.

After that, we went to the night market just nearby to have a dinner. I devoured a portion of Pad Thai (which is I like most among all Pad Thai I tried in Thailand, I think it is the most authentic one) in the food bazaar just beside the night market. There was a live music on the food bazaar, local artist singing Thai songs. After eating, we explored a bit on the night market and had a one hour Thai massage. My first time trying the Thai massage and I liked it how they stretch our body after a long riding hours from Mae Sai. For massage, most of the parlor there will offer the same price (200 baht per hour for Thai massage, and around 300 bahts for traditional oil massage).

Jetyod Road

Even though I was exhausted, a Tottenham Premier League game could not be missed! So I searched for a nearby sports bar, and found out that the Jetyod Road where I rented my bike was full of bars at night. After looking around for the most comfy place, I chose the Cat Bar which is actually the most visited bar. After parking my motorbike on the side of the street across the bar, I sat and ordered a Singha beer. That was a good night, Tottenham trashed Everton with a 6-2 win!

After the Full time whistle was blown and the bar was about to close, I rode my bike to see the Clock Tower at late night. It was nearly 1 AM so nobody was there, I could enjoyed the enthralling clock tower with no traffic on the street.

Second Day

White Temple

Wat Rong Khun is the most mainstream place in Chiang Rai. It is very crowded even in the morning. To be honest, I found this place as the most overrated. The concept of the hell depicted in the yard is quite interesting but apart from that, it is merely a touristy place. You need to pay an admission fee of 50 baht to enter the area. Moving on from here, we departed to the Singha Park.

Singha Park

Singha Park has lot to offer for a family. They have a restaurant, outdoor games, a mini farm, and a tea plantation sites. They also offer lots of good spot for photo-taking as well. The only thing is that the price of food is quite pricy, if you decided to go all-in backpacker style then you should bring your own food or skip the food in Singha Park to avoid the pricy restaurant there. I was tempted to try the climbing wall activity that costed me 150 baht (quite expensive right?) and my friend tried the zip line ride that she really enjoyed.

Bandaam Museum

This museum was promoted by the famous Thai artist, Thawan Duchanee. I enjoyed how the artist make a concept of hell into a complex, but somehow some display’s concept was seemed forced. My favorite display was the round mini house where some chairs placed on the circumference border inside the house. In the middle was a skin of a dead crocodile. It is weird, but the lighting and acoustic was good making it enthralling to sit inside. Moreover, this place is okay to visit (very touristy as well just like the Wat Rong Khun) but do not expect much from this.

Blue Temple

This was our last destination in Chiang Rai before catching up the evening flight to Bangkok. This temple was actually better than the white one, in my view. It was still full of tourist but the architectural is better than the white. The afternoon light spraying on the temple building made it even enjoyable.

Returning the bike and getting our deposit, we then hurried to the airport which is quite far from the city. Our grab driver was pretty skillful as she knew the shortcut to the airport as well so we arrived very early. The flight was also delayed, so we spent several hours waiting inside the airport.

Total Expenditure in Chiang Rai

4,154 baht

Rent a bike 2 days                        500
Gasoline First 91                          90
House of Opium entry                       50
Coconut @golden triangle                   35
Sun hat                                   120
Snacks 7-11                                55
Lunch (sweet sour pork+rice+americano)    230
Traditional clothing Mae Sai              600
Snacks Mae Fah Luang                       30
Dinner Pad Thai                            60
Thai massage + tip                        240
Beer at Cat Bar                            80
Gasoline Second 91                         80
White temple admission                     50
Singha Park lunch                         210
Singha Park climbing                      150
Bandaam admission                          80
Snack at blue temple                       55
Dinner                                     49
Accommodation for 2 nights               1150
Bus ticket to Chiang Rai                  240

Tyanna Coffee, a coffee gem in North Sumatera

Perks of being a business traveler, we do get a lot of chance to visit an offbeat area. This time I had a chance to visit the southern part of North Sumatera, which is the Padang Sidempuan city. If it is not business trip, this city definitely is not on my destination list. Based on the recommendation from a local, we managed to visit a coffee plantation site in Desa Sugi (approximately 40 mins from Padang Sidempuan).

Where is it?

The place is managed by Mr Harahap and it is called the Tyanna Coffee. It was quite far from the road, but should be manageable to reach the address since other village people will easily direct you to the infamous coffee plantation. We took a 30 minutes break to taste the coffee while hearing a short course about coffee from Mr. Harahap. They served us two different coffee with paper and french press brewing technique, and I found that the french press one was tastier.

Is coffee bad for your stomach?

Well, based on the lecture from Mr. Harahap that coffee usually perceived as the acidic liquid that damage your stomach meanwhile the perception is not fully right. The acidity level of the coffee varies within the bean type and the species of the coffee. Within one species of a coffee bean, the acidity level also varies on the grade of the bean. Grade A to C explains its “premium”ity of the beans. The grade can be told from the appearance of the bean, the good or the premium one looks perfect round without any defect. Worms inside the bean may also affect the acidity level of the bean. The bean farmer always sort their beans into those grades. On most cases when you buy the coffee powder, the quality of the beans are that of the mixed one (middle quality). If you have a stomach problem and still want to enjoy coffee, look for a premium coffee!

If you happen to travel around this area, make sure to drop a visit to this place! Truly a coffee gem in the hidden area in North Sumatera.

Sunrise Hike in Broga Hill

During my last visit to KL, I planned to do the morning hike on some hills nearby KL. Based on the recommendation of my Malay friends, two places came out with one of them is the Bukit Broga. I quickly browsed through about Broga and decided to pay a short visit. The only problem I found that it is only reachable by personal car and no public transport available toward and inward from the site. That did not stop me and in the last minutes I booked a hotel nearby Kajang, hoping that some Grab drivers are up already in the morning to get me to the Broga Hill.

*Trip was on Saturday 29 September 2018, clear weather, not raining the day before so the trail condition is okay.

Accommodation

I stayed in Uptown Imperial Hotel Kajang, with the consideration of proximity toward Broga Hill. I just went there directly from the KLIA without booking the hotel beforehand. I guess it will be safe to get a room there since no tourist attractive place on that area (Kajang). The place was nice, proper for a good rest place before your hike in the morning. There was a cafe and a spa just beside the hotel (Uptown Cafe and Imperial Spa). Arriving quite late, I decided to have a late supper (Nasi Goreng Kampung and Sate Kajang) and rest for the early hike in the next morning.

Itinerary

05:30 Wake up, look up for a Grab driver. No nearby drivers in the first 10 mins but luckily got one after that. Journey took 15 mins to Broga Hill.

06:00 Arriving at the parking lot of Broga Hill, paying 1 RM for entrance fee. Had a breakfast (sliced watermelon for 1 RM) in a foodstall. They also sell nasi lemak and snacks.

06:11 Reaching the Broga Hill entrance gate. Walking for a while until meeting some guys that asking for 1 RM for hiking fee.

06:25 Reached the 1 st hill. Noticing a lots of people were there already.

06:38 Reached the 2nd hill. Sunrise was not there yet.

07:00 Reached the top after queuing (just know that Broga Hill is a very popular place on the weekends) and did not get the beautiful sunrise. There was a saying that first timer would not get the sunrise, you need to be very lucky to get one on your first hike.

After enjoying the moment at the top and taking pictures, I went down through the other trail than the one I used on the way up. Stop near the bottom for a 5 RM Coconut water and finally reaching the gate at 08:00.

Problem of going back

The problem after the hike is getting a car back to the hotel. I tried to use my phone but the connection was just terrible (XL Axiata Priopass), in the end I did not manage to get a connection to order a Grab. Then I asked for a help from Samly (this guy is the son of the lady that guard the parking entrance) to order a Grab for me. We chatted for a while until the Grab driver arrived. Thank you Samly for the kind help!

So the conclusion I want to say is now it is very easy to go to Broga Hill without using personal car. You can use Grab (lots of Grab drivers in Kajang area woke up earlier on the weekends to carry tourist) to get there and going back from there. The thing I did not explore is the other accommodation which is closer to the Broga Hill. I guess there will be closer alternative than the Kajang area (Broga Hill is in Semenyih, 15 mins from Kajang) because I notice the University of Nottingham is just 5 mins away from Broga Hill. There would be an accommodation option nearby the campus.

My thought

Broga Hill is a nice place to have a morning hike for an exercise, the steep hill is also interesting to climb. The view is okay and would be good for chilling in the morning with your friend or family. However, I found that Broga Hill is too famous that makes it too crowded in the weekends. Suggesting to go in the weekdays so you can explore it to the fullest.

3 Days Belitung Island Trip

I always cherish the Eid Mubarak season every year. This year, I went on a 3 days trip to Belitung during eid mubarak with a very good friend of mine. Credit to her, for most of the pictures here. Our itinerary was like this:

First day (half day): East Belitung (Tarsius, Kwan Im Temple, Ahok Village, Manggar, and Laskar Pelangi village), Tanjung Pandan for sunset

Second day (full day): Hopping island + Bukit Berahu

Third day (half day): Kaolin crater + Laskar Pelangi beach, souvenirs shopping

East Belitung

Tarsius park

Forget about the national park where the Tarsius is, you cannot find the Tarsius there anymore. I strongly suggest skipping this attraction.

Kwan Im Temple

This is a Confucianism temple, worshiping the goddess of universal love. This is located on the far east of Belitung, far from everywhere. If you want to get your luck and life to be read, you can try here. It is using the ciamsi or qian shi method that had been used since the hundred years ago. Basically you will pour some wooden sticks (after praying in the altar toward gods) and count the numbers of wooden sticks. The number you get will be matched with the poetry, mainly talk about wisdom, praise (good), or warning (not good luck). Anyway, fun things to try.

Manggar

Coffee everywhere! A small villages in the East, with a lovely beach. We just passed by the village and went straight to the beach for lunch. There is nothing worth visit in the village itself, since the attractions in East Belitung are Laskar Pelangi and Ahok villages, and the Kwan-Im temple.

Laskar Pelangi village

There are two main attractions regarding the Laskar Pelangi. The Andrea Hirata museum and the school building that is being used for the shooting. We went to both places but chose to enter the latter only. We were not really interested in the literature things and the admission ticket is pricy. Because I was not into the Laskar Pelangi hype that time, these places were just okay. If you mean to go to East Belitung for another purpose, these places can be your 10 minutes short stop (only for taking pics). But a special visit just for these places are not worth the long distance. Just my two cents.

Ahok village

Just like Laskar Pelangi village, just okay for me. Ahok is the famous politician in Indonesia, who was born in Belitung. Basically in Ahok Village, you can visit Ahok’s childhood home and neighborhood. Not really interesting for me. We just paid a short visit to buy some souvenirs and took some pics.

Hopping around the islands

This is a full-day activity. What you do is actually hopping from one island to another islands in the area of north-western beach (Pantai Tanjung Kelayang). The typical islands visited are: Pulau Pasir, Pulau Lengkuas, Pulau Kelayang, Pulau Batu Berlayar, and Pulau Burung Garuda (this is not accessible, only viewing for afar). You need to book the trip beforehand and you can pay later after the island hopping finished. That time I rent Bang Midun’s boat (081949245345) after seeing other’s blog review about his service. His crew is the best! They were always ready wherever we want to go, no complaint at all when we were slacking in some island to chill and drinking coconut water, simply the best! And anyway, one of the guy took good picture as well! The price is around 500,000 IDR. When you choose to use other’s service, bear in mind that the price of one boat should be around that range.

The tips for island hopping:

Bring your own lunch from the main island. There are some food stalls in Kelayang and Lengkuas Island, but would not be enough for a fulfilling lunch. You will need a complete meal because you will do a lot of physical activities!
Apply a really good sunblock, and re-apply. The sun is really strong there!
Wear a comfy outfits and always be ready to get wet.
If you start in the morning, make the Pulau Pasir as your first destination because the later it gets, the less accessible it is. The high tide will make the island disappear.
Bring snacks for your energy booster: chocolate and sweets. Do not forget to bring biscuits to feed the fish.

My favourite island is the Kelayang island. The famous rainbow granites are here. It only took several minutes walk into the mini forest to reach there. There were a lot of big stones but the slope is okay, so everyone will have no difficulty to reach it. I reached it after the noon so the tide was quite high already (waist level). To get a good picture, suggest coming earlier to have lower tide level.

Seafood eating spree

We tried two seafood restaurant on the first and third day there. The first one was on the East Belitung and the last one was on the West.

1. RM Sinar Laut Ayung BB

In East Belitung, there are three big restaurants that tourist usually visit: Fega Restaurant, Sinar Laut Ayung BB, and Rudi Fakistan. Ayung BB and Rudi Fakistan are located side by side on Pantai Nyiur Melambai. Both of them served fresh seafood, cooked in local style. We decided to try the Ayung BB because Rudi Fakistan was closed that time (Ramadhan holiday). The verdict about their foods:

Must try their fish soup (Gangan) that is served in fresh herbs with a sour and sweet taste. The others are just normal menu that you can have in any Indonesian seafood restaurant. But, the seafood there are just so fresh! For Jakartans like me who used to eat the not-so fresh sea creatures, Belitung seafood was just tantalizingly good. If only they do not contain so much bad cholesterol though! Total costs for three people were around 200-300 thousands.

2. RM Amat

Here you can enjoy a good seafood with a sea view, because they have a outdoor seating concept just beside the sea. While waiting for your food, you can play at the beach. There are swings nearby so I guess this restaurant is very suitable for family. The food was okay but again, the freshness was just perfect! Look how nice the squid from nearb sea was served with the Padang sauce on the picture. Hmmm. The total cost was almost the same like the first restaurant.

Coffee everywhere!

Kong Djie coffee is the most famous chain of coffee shops here. It existed since 1943 and all Belitungnese just loved this brand. I tried only one branch in Tanjung Pandan beach (amongst several branches all over Belitung), while waiting for the sunset in Tanjung Pandan beach.

Verdict about the coffee: okay, nothing special about the flavour though.

Second eating spree – Hakka Chinese Food

Atep vs Acin

These are the KFC and McDonalds of the Belitung noodle. We tried Acin’s and we loved it. The noodle was not the typical Chinese noodle which is served dry. This one is served alongside some sweet sauce and some fried fishcakes, eggs, and beansprouts. The taste is more strong on the sweetness but somehow still have the refreshing taste. Must try!

Hakka restaurant

We tried a Hakka restaurant based on the driver’s suggestion. I totally forgot the name of the signature dish. It was a pork based dish, served with pork stomach and intestines. Loved this restaurant as well. Must try the local Hakka dish of the Belitungnese.

Closing remarks: Belitung is underrated. I love this destination so much. I am not a big fan of beach but still I had a good time there. The foods are also amazing, even though we did not have time to explore all. The price is cheap as well and the beach is still relatively clean. People are also nice! Come and visit Belitung!

*they are building a good hotel and golf range on the seaside so you can even consider playing golf here after doing some water activities

The Exciting Cinque Terre and Romantic Firenze

Italy had always been on my destination plan for a Europe trip. The main reason was Florence (Firenze), which had been in my wish-list after I finished reading Dan Brown’s Inferno. Later I found out that Florence did not meet my expectation because of the very obvious reason that I forgot to consider when I decided to go there on peak season. Anyway, I also wondered about the taste of “real” pizza and pasta in the homeland and also the famous Venice and Pompeii. Due to those reasons, I made up my mind to explore Italy for 8 days, visiting Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Rome, and Naples. I used trains to travel between all cities and stayed in dormitory style backpacker hostel, and trying to be frugal on spending. I tried to push the spending on accommodation and eating, and I spent a total of £ 738 (or around 830 euros). The cost already included a round-trip ticket from London to Venice and Naples to London respectively. It was exceeding my budget that time, due to unexpected admission fees for museums and almost famous tourist attractions. For example, in order to meet the famous and magnificent David in Florence, I had to pay around 14 euros and pay another 14 euros to see the the birth of Venus on a different gallery.

Cinque Terre

Cinque terre means five terrain, which tells about five main spots in the area. Out of five, I visited all of them. Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, and one additional (Levanto). The last one was not really worth to visit, it has only a view of buildings with very few tourist activity. The worst thing is it has no trekking part. It was more like a residential place than a touristy place, but if you have spare time you might not want to miss Levanto to enjoy the view. My trip began on Vernazza (the fourth place) to have the hiking trip. When I was there, route between Riomaggiore and Manarola was closed due to safety reason. To walk on the national park, you need to pay 10 euros for a one day trekking card. The trekking card enables you to access all park area, free use of toilet, internet access (well, actually I did not find any accessible Wi-Fi there). Overall, I enjoyed my walk on the national park since the weather on September is perfect for a walk. The only regretful thing is the unavailable route between Riomag and Manarola. During the walk, I got the pass scenic view of a cliff by the sea, small grape plantation, small church, and residential villages. The path is very visible and the road sign is everywhere so you will not get lost. The terrain is moderate, but have some steep terrain on some points. Overall the difficulty is okay, I noticed some elder hike there without any problem though.

Riomaggiore has the nice view of narrow coastal, perfect for sunset. I witnessed a guy proposing to his partner, just before the sun set. What a beautiful time for such a happy event! I tried the famous black ink pasta here as well (had difficulty to find this, like only 1 out of 10 restaurants serve this). My honest judgement was that black ink pasta are overrated. Hahaha. But if you never try it, you should try it to know what I felt when I have to pay for 20 euros for that pasta.

Monterosso is the most liveliest and crowdy amongst all. Nice place to get the sun’s exposure and chilling along the beach. This will probably the most crowdy terre amongst all. It has largest area, a place to sun-bathing, lots of restaurants and cafe, and an interesting marketplace in the alley area. This is my second favorite terre after Riomagg.

My suggestions if you are planning a trip for Cinque Terre:

Buy a one day ticket for the train between all fives terre, because you will end up travel between each other lots of times. Save you money.
Start your journey from the farthest village in the morning, and start your hiking journey towards the nearest (Riomaggiore). You can have a lunch break on Corniglia or Vernazza. Almost all stores open after 12 so it is always a good idea to spend the morning by enjoying the trail and later on sightseeing on the stores and restaurants at noon.
Be aware of the last train toward the town, make sure you do not miss that so you do not have to spend the night in Cinque Terre.
Wear a proper walking / hiking shoes because you will walk a lot!

Florence

Uffizi gallery. Make sure you booked the ticket before you come, or you have to queue. Ticket to be purchased online and then taken at the admission office. There is a time window when you can enter the museum, based on your booking preference. Have to visit because the famous Venus is here. The architecture is also amazing!

Accademia gallery. I went here just to see the famous David by Michelangelo. A must visit palce, you have to see how stunning are the details of the David. Worth the queue and ticket.

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. Had to pay for the admission. Did not really enjoy the visit because it was a typical catholic church and seemed too common.

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower and Duomo. Had to pay for entering, additional costly tour to reach the top of the tower. Some guys in suits will try to convince you to buy the ‘exclusive’ tour to the tower. Don’t buy it, unless you really want to go to the top. You can go to the less higher tower for free, the view was amazing enough. Pretty close with what Dan Brown illustrated in the book. You will need to pass through a narrow staircase, be aware if you are somehow claustrophobic.

Pompeii

Half day trip. Visiting the pompeii, managed to get a free entry pass (maybe they misunderstood me as one of the participants of a huge tour of Chinese people). But you had to pay for the admission to get into the ruin. Upon entering the ruin, follow the route from the east side then you expect to finish the round on the west. That was the best route, you can start with the common ruin, have a break in the field where you can see the mount Vesivius far away. There was a coffee shop nearby where you can have lunch or a coffee break there. Overall, just a bunch of stones and statues. Quite amazing when you can imagine that those are the places you usually saw in the Romanian era movie. Instead, can go to coastal place nearby because Pompeii is a boring place.

Aside from the other cities stated above, I explored Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and Venice but no special stories to write about.

BP Energy Statistical Review 2017

Last Tuesday, 13 June 2017 I had an opportunity to attend the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2017 launching in BP office in London. I am always interested in reading either BP’s energy outlook or statistical review every year, merely based on my curiosity on how the big fossil fuel players see their business in the future. Compared to a neutral organization like Bloomberg or International Energy Agency, there are some distinct points on big energy* companies’ energy outlook seeing the market share of fossil fuel in the future. They tend to overlook the share of fossil fuel in the future primary energy supply, prefer to underestimate the growth of renewable and alternative energy source other than fossil fuel. Starting from the fact that nobody can predict the future with their outlook, the move makes very sensible motives of the big energy company to favor the optimism of big fossil fuel share since that is the value of their business. The outlook might ensure their stakeholders that everything in the business is still good at least until next twenty years, as most outlook now predict the condition in 2040.

*Now the big oil companies tend to call themselves by energy company in order to remove the trademark of fossil fuel producer, even though the majority of their portfolio is still in oil and gas industry.

The opening speech was done by Lamar McKay, one of BP Deputy Group Chief Executive. He emphasized on the declining coal usage in power industry, the stagnation of carbon emission, and the strategy to achieve the emission commitment as declared in COP20 at Paris. Shortly, he also mentioned briefly about BP’s strategy on surviving the energy industry by altering their upstream investment in the gas field and strengthening their presence in the downstream industry as lube producers. Especially, he mentioned about six from seven major projects in upstream sector are gas field drilling to justify their strategy on prioritizing gas-related investment. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel compared to the others, especially coal as it emits around two times carbon than natural gas. Most people believed that natural gas is the bridge fuel for the transition from fossil fuel dominated power sector into the renewable energy powered.

The main talk was delivered by Spencer Dale, the chief economist of BP. Two main points that he emphasised were the short run adjustment and long run transition of world energy. Some issues in energy that he talked about are the resilience of tight oil that play an important part in the oil market and the unwillingness of OPEC to cut production in November 2014 when oil price started to crash. OPEC’s power to handle the market crash seemed unapparent, so the result of the event was the permanent shock and the long-term structural imbalance of the oil market. OPEC can do temporary adjustment to the stock of oil in order to stabilize the market. But no one knows what will be the stability price of oil in the next 5 or 10 years.

Natural gas, despite the expected prospect as new fuel to replace coal in power generation showed positive but slow growth. The number of gas trade through long-term contract decreased, as more short-term and small size contract became more prevalent. Added by prospect of LNG and USA shale gas capacity, gas market is expected to grow more competitive where LNG might plays an important part.

Renewables will only contributing up to 4% of primary energy supply despite its unexpected fast growth in power generation sectors due to falling cost of solar and wind energy. However, the variability of renewable power still very dependable on weather condition in the location which makes it less reliable to provide big share in the power supply. There was a question during the Q&A session that argued that the lack of renewable growth is in implication of not high enough carbon tax. It is still debatable about renewables, about what can drive more renewables penetrating the energy market. Spencer opined that price will be the deciding factor, and the way you drive the prices are numerous. However, which one will be effective is still debatable.

It was such a valuable experience for me, being the students amongst all professional with suits from a different background. Some are market analyst and trader, some are consultants, and some come from academics. The presence of fossil fuel industry is unexpectedly still very prominent in the energy industry, hence I am curious and excited for the energy industry transition that may happen in the near future.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S Review

Well, I am a new Samsung Tab Pro S user and been using it for one month. I bought it on Currys PC High Street Kensington, London for £ 499. I bought an EJ-PW7000 pen for £ 40 to enable the note writing feature. Overall, the transition from using heavy ASUS A-42JR laptop to lightweight Tab Pro S has been a pleasant experience. I am using this tab as a productive tools, mainly for note taking during lecture, processing word and spreadsheet documents, also running some optimisaiton programs for coursework, and entertainment basic like video and musics. I have not tried to play any games but I think it would be only for some basic games, not the resource intensive one.

Why I chose this over Microsoft Surface Pro 4? and iPad Pro

The 2in1 tablet laptop market mainly dominated by microsoft surface as the premium product, as Samsung tried to penetrate the market in 2016 with Tab Pro S. I did not consider iPad Pro because I want Windows OS so it did not count in my consideration. Truthfully, I chose Tab Pro S because it was cheaper than the SP 4. Back there, with student discount of 10% reduction, I need to pay around £ 770 for the SP4 with keyboard (typecover) so around £ 200 difference between the two of them with the same specifications (I bought the Intel M3 processor by the way). As I always look at the value, for standard office and internet activities purpose the Tab Pro S will be better. Maybe if you are a graphic designer, SP4 is worth to consider. I noticed the pen sensitivity is better in SP4, the pen design is more comfortable thatn Samsung’s.

Another consideration is the battery; some review in the internet said that SP4 is not so good for its battery life. Even though the Tab Pro S is not so good also, but it is still better thatn SP4.

Minus points

AMOLED display is not as good as SP4’s super screen resolution but I think it is good enough for watching HD movies.
The monitor only has two angles, 15 degree or 75 degree. SP4 has adjustable agle for the monitor. Yeap, this it the biggest minus point of Tab Pro S in myh opininon.
No backlight keyboard, yeah sometimes it is matter.

Plus points!

No need to buy a case because the keyboard is bundled as a case for the whole tab, not like SP4 that you need to buy case protection to avoid scratch.
Easy handling, easy switch to tablet and laptop mode. Very mobile! You can just flip your laptop in 2 seconds and you are ready to go.
Windows 10! Windows 10 is the good improvement, I love how quick it is and love the cortana feature altough it is not as smart as Siri. Haha.

Yeap, that is what I can share right now after 1 month of using this convenient devices that had helped much during lectures and study activities. I hope this post can help you find the insight when considering to buy a 2in1 laptop which I think will be the mainstream laptop in the future. Cheers!

Bunaken! Another perks of being a field engineer

Yeap, this is a post for remembering my field engineer days back in 2015. As a field engineer, you got to travel, a lot. Somehow it brought you to the place so beautiful or so remote that you even do not want to go back again for the next job. Luckily, I got a jackpot for the Lahendong geothermal job in North Sulawesi. With a perfect timing, the job was finished on time (well drilled) so I got released then have time to explore Bunaken!

Bunaken is an infamous underwater park with beautiful corals ecosystem (even slightly damaged) and good snorkeling and diving spots. Unfortunately, we did not have GoPro at that time so we cannot get good picture of the underwater view. We hired a underwater photograph but seemingly that guy only took the pictures of us feeding tropical fishes and some not so good photo of us holding on to the corals whilst holding out our breath.

We visited on not peak day, it is a week day I think that I met no tourists group there. We rented a private speed boat, accompanied by two local guys that bring us to three snorkeling spots. We expected to meet the legendary turtle back there, but unfortunately we did not meet him. Basically, on the package they offer to you you will get three snorkeling spots, equipment rents, and lunch. As a fish eater, I loved the food there. You can choose the fishes you want to be grilled with Manado spice style. I love their chillies, they are so good that I eat more than one portion.

I’ve been snorkeling in Bali, and I can say that Bunaken is far better. It is less damaged, the fish species are more varied and more beautiful. I met some fish species that are weird, some baloon look alike fish, and rainbow fish. It was magical under the water, the time flew so fast there. I bet diving will be more exciting as you will go deeper to see more beautiful scenery and more fishes, weirder species one. Maybe met the legendary turtle! I really recommended this place as it is not that expensive, even could be cheaper if you travel with more people so you can rent bigger ships with cheaper price. We did not stay at the island because the price is high, we prefer to go back to Manado which is 45 minutes boat ride. There are lots of cheap inn and hotel nearby the port, so do not worry.

This is some of the evidence of our trips, can you imagine the feeling you got after finishing work at this place:

To have fun at this paradise:

I hope our government (specially North Sulawei government) can promote and support the local players of tourist industry, and we as Indonesian people should explore more places in Indonesia as travel destinations. If you travel there, you will help the local economics to grow! Please explore our local travel destinations.

North West England Football Holy Journey

Liverpool

Liverpool at early morning was cold and quiet

So I departed from London Victoria Coach Station at 23:45 and arrived in Liverpool One Station at 04:50 in the morning next day. I used Megabus.com (low fare coach services) and had booked 5 days before the journey. The cost per one person is £6 for London to Liverpool journey.

It’s a mistake to arrived early at 5 in the morning because there was nothing happened yet during that hours. It was completely dark without no one observed on the street. Liverpool is a port city and its weather is colder than London’s. Adding the fact that it’s early morning, the temperature might go below 10 degrees Celcius with strong wind even in the autumn. So I ended up chilled in the middle of bus station but finally found a national express locket nearby to make myself warm. In that hour, everything was still not in business even for mart of a coffee shop. The earliest is 8 in the morning for them to get into the business. So I would not suggest you make midnight trip from London, it is better to get early morning bus from London so you arrived around before noon time.

Daily bus ticket

Daily adult ticket pass costs only £4 per person, it is enough to explore famous places in Liverpool. I visited Anfield and the Goodison Park, City Centre, Baltic Triangle, and the Albert Docks. The latter is very near from the bus station and city centre, only 5 minutes walk. So you can make that as your final destination on the day. Liverpool is not that big, compared to a city like London so one day should be enough to visit Liverpool’s popular destination.

The Albert Dock and Museum of Liverpool

Actually, the Beatles museum is also nearby, but I decided to skip that because I am not really a Beatles fan and the adult ticket costs £10. However, the Museum of Liverpool is free of entry and actually, it is quite amusing for leisure wander. It tells the story about Liverpool city, the Beatles, the dockers, Liverpool FC and Everton FC, and much more.

Anfield and Goodison Park

Anfield and Goodison Park are quite near, around 20 minutes walking. I decided to visit Anfield first because the bus station is just in front of the stadium. Surprisingly, I found a glimpse of a wind turbine near Anfield. I wonder if the wind turbine is in operation or not. It is a quite rare sight to have a wind turbine in the middle of busy city.

I visited both Liverpool and Everton official shops and noticing a very big gap between them. Liverpool shop was full of tourists, meanwhile, there was no one in Everton shop when I was there. People from all over the worlds came over to visit the famous KOP home ground. I predict the atmosphere will be amazing during the match day!

YHA Liverpool

I spent the night at YHA Liverpool, around 10 minutes walking from city centre. Good services, reasonable price, clean room, and adequate facilities. It is more than enough for a sleeping place, highly recommended for backpacker traveller. Make sure you make booking online first because the demand is high for YHA Liverpool. You might need to pay some pounds for booking fee. I always enjoy my stay in YHA (Youth Hostel Association) because it is very simple and convenient for backpacker traveller.

Manchester

As my trip was more like a football trip, Manchester is a must visit place. Etihad and Old Trafford should not be missed, at least you take a picture in front of Old Trafford and Etihad. Luckily I got there during the match day between Manchester United and Leicester City (reigning Premier League Champion) so I noticed the United Army marching down the road with their red jerseys. That day United beat the former champion so bad.

In Manchester, I stayed in my friend’s house who studied at the University of Manchester. Surprisingly, the housing price in Manchester is amazingly cheaper than London. Not only the housing price, the foods are also relatively cheaper. In my opinion, Manchester is a kind of student-friendly city by considering it is one of the biggest city in the UK.

Tips about transport in Manchester, always buy the daily bus and tram ticket when you are there. Even though you are not planning to travel much, it is always worth. I ended up paying two times transportation cost than the price I should pay if I bought the daily pass. And also beware of the bus services providers, there are several of them. If you buy the daily pass ticket from one specific company, the ticket cannot be used for other company’s bus even it is the same route. Happened to me once, where I ended up buying a new ticket.

Must visit places are Arrandale (city centre with shopping centres), Alan Turing Park, Manchester 101, Old Trafford, Etihad Stadium, Manchester Library, and the University of Manchester. The first three and University of Manchester are reachable by walking actually, it is only 20 minutes walk to each other so I suggest to walk rather than the bus because sometimes there is traffic.

Leeds

I have only stayed during the day in Leeds because I directly headed back to London before the evening. Places I visited are the Royal Armories Musem, Roundhay Park, and the city centre. I highly recommend the museum, even though you are not really into weaponry or war but the museum is really entertaining. I am not interested in war but the showcase they were just nice to see. The city centre is not so special, just a bunch of shopping stores and restaurants. The Roundhay park is a just typical park in the UK but is worth to visit to enjoy the weather and stroll around the lake. If you do not like that kind of activities, I do not recommend the Roundhay Park.

Well, that was a short story about my visit to Central UK before I started my postgraduate study in London. Hope you enjoy that.

Aplikasi Visa Student UK Tier 4 Ternyata Mudah

Grup pre-departure UK mendadak ramai sekitar bulan Mei – Juli, sekitar 3 bulan menjelang Fall semester intake dari hampir semua universitas di UK. Aplikasi visa student UK seolah momok yang lebih menakutkan dibandingkan ~~seleksi wawancara LPDP~~. Beberapa calon pelajar bisa tenang dan bersantai karena menggunakan jasa pengurusan aplikasi visa yang ditawarkan agen pendidikan terkenal seperti SUN, IBEC, atau IDP. Namun bagi yang mengurus sendiri dan first timer aplikasi visa UK, rasa takut gagal pasti ada mengingat biaya aplikasi yang relatif mahal dibanding visa ke negara lain. Saya ingin berbagi pengalaman saya mengajukan aplikasi visa PBS Tier 4 Student tanpa menggunakan kartu kredit untuk pembayaran online namun menggunakan kartu debit.

Perkenalan singkat, saya Ronald Sukianto merupakan salah satu awardee Beasiswa Pendidikan Indonesia LPDP PK-66 Laskar Dewantara yang akan melanjutkan studi tingkat magister di Sustainable Energy Futures, Imperial College London. Share mengenai aplikasi postgraduate di ICL dapat dilihat di Aplikasi Taught MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures, Imperial College London.

Dokumen yang dapat dipersiapkan

Dokumen terpenting yang perlu didapatkan adalah CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance Study). ICL hanya akan menerbitkan CAS paling cepat 3 bulan sebelum official course starting date dari program studi kita. Misalkan saya di SEF, dimulai tanggal 1 Oktober 2016 maka CAS diterbitkan tanggal 5 Juli 2016. Sambil menunggu CAS, dokumen yang dapat dipersiapkan:

Sertifikat bebas TBC dari RS Premier (Jakarta, Surabaya, atau Bali) yang berlaku 6 bulan dari tanggal tes. Tata cara Tes Bebas TBC di RS Premier Jatinegara.
Terjemahan KK dan akta lahir yang dikeluarkan oleh Sworn Translator yang diakui oleh British Embassy. Daftarnya dapat dilihat di fadfafa . Saya pribadi menggunakan jasa penerjemah Tjan Sie Tek, hasilnya memuaskan.
Paspor yang masih berlaku.
Ijazah dan transkrip akademik pendidikan sebelumnya dalam bahasa Inggris (tidak perlu diterjemahkan oleh sworn translator).

Dokumen yang tidak wajib tapi boleh disiapkan:

Pas foto berlatar belakang putih, mulai 2016 foto dilakukan saat sesi pengambilan BRP sehingga tidak perlu membawa pas foto lagi.
Sertifikat IELTS, karena biasanya pihak kampus memberi keterangan dalam CAS bahwa kemampuan bahasa Inggris kita sudah di assess sesuai kriteria mereka. IELTS tidak wajib namun boleh saja dibawa saat appointment visa.
ATAS bagi yang wajib melampirkan, kebetulan jurusan saya tidak membutuhkan ATAS.
KTP tidak perlu dibuat terjemahan.
Kartu kredit untuk membayar aplikasi visa dan asuransi kesehatan. Saya bukan pengguna kartu kredit, saya tetap bisa membayar menggunakan kartu debit.
Booking flight ticket . Saya tidak menyiapkan ini, nyatanya aplikasi visa tetap sukses.

Bagi awardee beasiswa dokumen yang perlu dipersiapkan adalah Letter of Guarantee (LoG)atau Letter of Scholarship (LoS) yang memeberikan jaminan sponsor pembiayaan perkuliahan kita selama di UK. Awardee LPDP dapat menggunakan LoG maupun LoS, namun saya pribadi menggunakan LoG.

Online Application VFS Global

Aplikasi visa UK bisa dilakukan di https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/account/register. Setelah mendaftar, segera isi form mengenai detail paspor dan data diri. Progress aplikasi dapat di save sehingga bisa dilanjutkan kapan pun kita mau. Poin-poin dalam pengisian yang perlu diperhatikan:

Nama lengkap dan nomor paspor harus sesuai dengan CAS.
Starting and end date course harus sesuai dengan CAS.
Tipe visa Tier 4 General (Sponsored) jika kita dibiayai oleh beasiswa, dalam kasus saya beasiswa LPDP. Namun pengalaman teman-teman penerima beasiswa LPDP yang memilih tipe visa Tier 4 General juga di-granted visa nya.
Masukan detail visa yang pernah didapat dan negara yang pernah dikunjungi. Paspor lama saya yang sudah dimusnahkan pihak imigrasi tetap saya tulis di aplikasi namun saya pilih “not in possession” sehingga saya tidak perlu membawa paspor lama, hanya paspor terbaru yang saya bawa.
Masukan lokasi pengambilan BRP setelah sampai di UK dengan benar karena BRP kita harus diambil dalam jangka waktu tertentu di tempat yang telah kita pilih. Saya memilih lokasi pengambilan BRP di Imperial College London sesuai petunjuk.
Tier 4 sponsor diisi dengan pihak kampus yang mengeluarkan CAS kita, dalam kasus saya Imperial College London.
Official financial sponsor diisi dengan lembaga yang membiayai studi kita, dalam kasus saya Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education.

Kartu debit – Virtual Credit Card

Saya menggunakan fitur Virtual Credit Card dari BNI, biasa disebut BNI Debit Online. Saya adalah pemegang kartu debit Mastercard dari BNI Taplus Muda. Kita dapat membuat kartu kredit virtual dengan memanfaatkan fitur sms banking. Prinsipnya VCC adalah kartu kredit virtual yang memiliki nomor unik yang dapat digunakan untuk melakukan pembayaran layaknya kartu kredit pada umumnya. Namun setelah pembayaran dilakukan, biaya akan langsung didebet dari rekening anda seperti layaknya transaksi menggunakan kartu debit. Setiap kita melakukan request pembuatan VCC, kita diminta memasukan nominal uang yang dijadikan limit transaksi kartu kredit virtual kita. VCC ini relatif lebih aman dibanding kartu kredit konvensional karena nomor kartu yang sekali pakai sehingga lebih aman dari ancaman carding.

Contoh jika menggunakan SMS banking BNI:

Ketik REQ(spasi)VCN(spasi)5000000 artinya kita meminta dibuatkan kartu kredit virtual dengan limit transaksi lima juta rupiah.

Berikut gambaran proses request VCN:

*Hati-hati dengan informasi nomor kartu (16 digit) dan verification code (3 digit) serta masa berlaku kartu. Dengan tiga informasi itu, siapapun dapat melakukan pembayaran online asalkan memasukkan data tersebut dengan tepat. Jaga agar informasi tidak diketahui orang lain.

Jika limit kartu debit hanya 10 juta rupiah, pembayaran IHS dan aplikasi visa tidak bisa dibayarkan langsung. Lakukan pembayaran IHS terlebih dahulu sekitar jam 11 menjelang tengah malam, kemudian setelah hari berganti baru lakukan pembayaran aplikasi visa. Jika limit kartu debit belum di-reset maka VCC tidak akan bisa digunakan. Pengalaman saya IHS membutuhkan biaya 342 USD (4.579.397 IDR) dan aplikasi visa 499 USD (6.681.635 IDR). Keduanya saya lakukan pada tanggal 5 Juli dan 6 Juli 2016. Kurs VCC sedikit diatas kurs jual bank BNI, mungkin selisih kurs tersebut yang menjadi keuntungan bank maka dari itu tidak ada biaya untuk penggunaan BNI debit online.

Lolos tanpa Wawancara bukan sekadar Mitos

Saya tidak mengikuti tahapan wawancara karena jam appointment saya jam setengah delapan pagi sehingga interviewer belum tersedia untuk wawancara. Petugas VFS membebaskan saya untuk melakukan wawancara yang bisa dilakukan mulai jam 12 siang, namun tidak diwajibkan. Saya memutuskan untuk tidak mengikuti wawancara karena menurut petugas, wawancara tidak menentukan lolos tidaknya aplikasi visa namun kelengkapan dokumenlah yang lebih penting. Nyatanya aplikasi visa saya sukses tanpa wawancara, ternyata perkataan mbak-mbak VFS benar loh! Total waktu proses visa saya adalah 11 hari kerja, dimulai tanggal 8 Juli 2016 dan selesai tanggal 25 Juli 2016.

Semoga cerita saya bermanfaat untuk teman-teman yang ingin mengajukan visa Tier 4 UK. Semua bisa dilakukan sendiri tanpa bantuan biro jasa atau lembaga pendidikan. Lumayan kan biaya biro jasa yang ratusan ribu rupiah. Nyatanya saya tidak dipersulit kok selama dokumen kita lengkap dan mengikuti aturan yang benar. Good luck!

Jakarta, 26 Juli 2016