A Letter from Selangor

After this letter of Ket, I got another letter from my friend from Selangor, Malaysia. She is one of my bestestestestest friend ever but please this is a secret. Don't tell her.

She will probably make fun of me once she read this post. 

So, her name is Nani Nazmi, well, she has a really long name but can we just call her Nani? But I call her teacher Nani 24/7, or sometimes asshat, or baldie, or maybe kak Nani when I'm being kind, or I'm just going to settle down with phake because she is fake af. #phakeception

It needs 300 pages of essay to write everything about this phake ass, I don't want to rant about her so I'm just gonna discuss this sweet letter from her this time. Sweet my a$$.

Around June or July 2016 (I forget), we had Skype session at night and suddenly Nani asked for my home address and I was like, not to be too full of myself or anything but do u want to send me something??? And she was like it's secret, but damn she was too obvious she left me hanging talking alone while she wrote something down. She seemed occupied by something and I was there like Nani??? What are you doing??? I'm still here??? What do you write???

I should've have ended the call and greet her later on 2020 but I'm a good girl I don't ditch people like that.

Okay I think it was around late July 2016 when she texted me whether the letter had been arrived and I answered, no, it hadn't. 

"I have sent it a month ago and yet it's still not there yet??? Wow, it goes with the wind, it's drowning in the sea, goodbye Nuha," I was facepalming myself, why I have a friend like this. 

One day, on August 2016, when I went home after school, there was a letter sitting beside my TV and I snatched it right away and it's the letter from Nani! I asked my dad when the letter arrived and he told me that he didn't know because actually he found it under the front door's rag. Later I conclude that the letter had been here all the time but the postman decided to put it under the rag because there was probably no one at home.

Or maybe the letter deserves to be there under the rag...

I thought the letter is going to be big in size, but it's actually small. I'm disappointed, Nani. I wasn't going to read the letter...I was going to burn it down...

I'm kidding. Anyway not to be overly dramatic, but she has a really nice signature. Don't tell Nani. 

She also has nice handwritting. Don't tell Nani. She is lame, the content of the letter is super lame, but thank you anyway for writing me such a cute letter. She gives me advices, and everything. She basically knows every little things about me because I always talk to her about everything that has been bugging me. 

She also likes to give me motivation, lame motivation, and we 24/7 argue over little thing and she ends up winning because I'm supid af. 

She also gives me two PHAKE photocards of Kyungsoo and Sehun and I laughed out loud because it's so cute???????? How can she get them???? Even though they are fake but how can she get them????? Bought them on black market?

She added her signature in the back of the photocards, I was going to burn them down too. Don't tell Nani. I want to throw away the letter and keep the photocards only but I'm a good person. 

*throws the letter away*

Joke, man, I still keep the letter. You know what's so funny? One day my mom opened that letter and she was like, "Oh, this is Nani? She is cute though," WHILE POINTING TO KYUNGSOO PHOTOCARD.

She. Thought. Kyungsoo. is. Nani.

I WAS HALF SNORTING HALF LAUGHING because she thought Kyungsoo is Nani. I will never accept this. I will sue everyone who gets involved on this issue. I will rent the best lawyer. I'm offended on Kyungsoo's behalf. I'm here for justice.

After I told her about this, Nani ends up making fun of me. She will never leave me alone. She will always bring this topic and tells me she is actually Kyungsoo. I want to unfriend real quick. Okay bro but thank you for letter, I appreciate it a lot. 

I will reply your letter on 2045 when EXO resign. Thank you.

Amsterdam: Checked!

I don't know how can I convince my lazy ass mind to start writing this post. Okay, after I spent two days in Paris (you can read the Paris day 2 post here), I went to the next city, Amsterdam! The capital city of Netherlands, the country of one thousand canals (maybe more, I don't know). And I told you my friends, Amsterdam is probably 99% canals.

So, this is my schedule: Thursday, March 10th 2016 23:30 PM from Porte Maillot (Paris) to Amsterdam Centraal Station (Amsterdam)!

Like you can read in the Paris story, I went to Eiffel Tower with Vista and we hurried our ass off going back to our apartment and we were so lucky because we still got the tickets from Paris to Amsterdam even when we only had 2 hours to be there at Porte Maillot, the name of the bus station. 

At first, I was so so so confused because we had no credit card to buy two FlixBus tickets (Franzi helped us to buy the tix when we were in Germany). But then thanks to Vista's friend (who might as well owns the apartment) who helped us lending the credit card. We bought the tix 2 hours before the departure, and we had to pay around €25 for each tix.

Not to be overly dramatic, but Vista and I had panick attack because Porte Maillot is far away from the apartment. We had to change metro for many times WITH OUR HUGE AND HEAVY LUGGAGES. Such an effort. 

Paris metro station has a complicated system where we have to put a travel pass to the machine and we have to get through the small gate which is being such a difficult thing to do because I brought two heavy luggages. Okay maybe I'm going to explain the transportation system in the future.

So here we go! We arrived in Amsterdam Centraal station at around 06:00 AM on early Friday. You know what? When I stepped out off the bus, I felt like I would die at any moment because it was too windy, too foggy, too cold, too much. I was shivering hard, it was so cold like so so cold my whole body is numb. Fog was everywhere, and so windy, I told you, it was too windy!!!

I ended up crying while waiting for the bus officer to take out my luggages from the bus. I honestly cried, I thought, damn, I want to go back home so much and all I think is my warm bed and warm pillows in my bedroom. I just want to skip that day so much and just go home.

6 AM is such an early morning, it looks like 4 AM here in my city. The sky was still dark, and there were not so many transportations on the street. Vista and I ran to go to the station with our luggages and we were so noisy, the tires of the luggages were so noisy. 

Like usual, Vista and I took a rest there and cleaning ourselves, and then we decided to just sit there because we were freezing to death. We bought one-day tram ticket for two people and tried to find a place to put our luggages. There is no luggage locker in the station so we have to find another place to keep them. It was located 500 meters away from the station, we were lost at first hehe.

After that...yes! Walking around!

Honestly I don't know what I should type and tell you here in this post, because my Amsterdam trip of me and Vista is just basically me and her walking around the city and we just go with the wind. 

We just walked to the nearest canal near the Amsterdam Centraal station, which is so damn huge, and just stopped there scrutinizing every people walking by. We took a lot of photos, and spent there standing over nothing. Just nothing. 

Because the weather was so crazy, and windy, I didn't have the urge to walk. I just want to rest. But it was our last day in Europe so we had to spend it effectively.

Like I've told you before, that day was so foggy. The small ships in the canals were not operating because who the hell wants to sail in the middle of this crazy weather. Not me!

People are walking so fast, and so many tourists bringing their luggages (with those noisy tires) but people around don't give it much attention because that's basically normal. If I drag my luggage in my city, people will always stare, to be honest.

Ah, I forget! Netherlands people love to ride bicycle so much. They call bicycle; fiets.

I find it funny because bicycle in my native language is pit, and I just knew it's adopted from Dutch. 

You can find bicycles in the corner of every street, in front of the shops, everywhere. They even have their own lane for bicycle. The traffic light also works for the bicycle riders. So you have to be careful to walk on the street because I almost got hit by bicycle from behind, twice.

Also be careful of the tram. They call it; spoor. And I find it really funny because train in my native language is sepur and they are pretty much the same thing. There are so many thing that screams Indonesia, Vista and I always ended up laughing and being awestruck.

We bought tickets from the station for one full day, and we decided to go to the center of the city, to the hall. We ate in the McDonald's nearby and took a walk there. There were so many people passing by. There was also Madame Tussaud in the center but we didn't go in because we were broke as fuck actually.

The one-full day tram ticket didn't do me justice.

Oh ya, people. When I bought the tickets in the nearest convenience store inside the station, Vista and I put our luggages in front of that store because we didn't want to bring it inside, it would be so complicated. In addition, the cashier is located near the entrance so we were pretty much still near the luggages, about 2,5 meters away.

When we queued to pay, an old man behind me suddenly told me that I had to take care of my luggages and don't ever leave my luggages alone.

At first I was confused but I went straight to our luggages after I gave my money to Vista to pay the tix for me.

Okay, move on.

We also went to Amsterdam museum but once again we didn't go in because...okay. Broke as fuck. We just took pictures there and continued to walk around and find interesting places located around there. 

We didn't have any internet and it was so hard to find wifi (but not as hard as Paris) so we just went with the flow without any direction, hoping that maybe we could bump into some interesting sites.

We were hungry and we then bought a pack of plain bread and strawberry jam. Damn, we were saving a lot of money by buying those foods for that day. So everytime we were tired, we just stopped by the bench and just ate there.

There were so many shops who sells flowers especially tulips because Amsterdam is popular with flowers. One again I didn't buy it because broke!!! Shit man I sound so pitiful right now. I told you once again, it was our last day so our money evaporated and we were pretty much poor at that time.

When we strolled around the shops and all, I saw someone wearing white thick coat in front of one of the shops. I just stopped and think, because I've seen this white coat before and reality hit me hard because Soca had once uploaded a photo of her in her Instagram wearing the same white coat.

I was screaming, "Soca?!" and she turned back and seemed surprised to see me. I was also surprised because all these places, I had to meet her there in Amsterdam! She was eating waffle or something (I forget) and I just laughed out loud for real.

Soca is my classmate in university who happened to be joining the same AIESEC program but she did the project in Karviná, Czech Republic. 

I asked her whether she was alone and she said that she was still waiting for kak Rona who happened to be there too inside the shop with her boyfriend. I was surprised again because kak Rona is also my friend from my city whom I met back then when I had AIESEC project in my city on June 2015.

She also took the same AIESEC project but she was assigned in Hradec Králové, somewhere in Czech Republic also. Oh my God, this world is so tiny. We all did project in Czech Republic but we met in Amsterdam at the same day and at the same time. 

Actually, later I found out, Irene (you can read it here!) also went to Amsterdam but she was already going back home when I arrived there so it's sad we didn't meet but Soca and kak Rona met Irene the day before. I am okay.

Soca had been in Amsterdam for days and she was bored so she tagged along. She decided to join me and Vista walking around more. We departed ways with kak Rona and her boyfriend. Okay yeah Soca was being our personal guide tour! 

After hours walking, and also getting lost in Amsterdam, Vista and I went to a park with the popular "I Amsterdam" sign but Soca didn't go together with us because she had been there so many times already so, yeah, she decided to go home.

I was a little bit sad because the sign was occupied of so many people or tourists like us who also wanted to take pictures. I ended up sitting near the pond seeing this man selling bubble play, I don't know how to call it in English. I suddenly can't English. 

I think it was already 4 PM when we decided to go to the biggest stadium in the country named Amsterdam Arena which is the main stadium for one of Netherlands soccer team, Ajax Amsterdam. The metro station and the stadium are located so far way so we had to walk a little bit far to be able to look at the stadium properly.

There were not so many people there because it was winter so there was no schedule for the soccer team to do practice there in the stadium. A little disappointed but it was still a good memories nevertheless.

After that, we went back to the city again because we were going to meet Faris, one of my friends from the AIESEC project, because he just went to Germany and he also would take a flight back to Jordan from Amsterdam. Once we met at the city, he told us about how he walked around Red Light District, alone, and the women kept waving at him. He was like, do you guys want to go there? We were excited, honestly. Because RLD is one of interesting sites to visit when you are in Amsterdam! (Read here to know more about RLD)

The Red Light District in Amsterdam that everyone knows about is the one where women, of all nationalities, parade their wares in red-fringed window parlours, many ready to offer more than a school boy peep-show in a private cabin. Another familiar image of the Amsterdam Red Light District is of packs of men, young and old, couples holding hands and pointing in shock of it all, giggling groups of women celebrating a hen night , and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras (except not in the direction of the female entertainers! Strictly banned!). This is proof enough that the RLD deserves a visit, if not a little look in.

That description is so true! There are so women, young and old, standing inside the glass window with red LED above it, when it's on, it means the woman inside is available, and when it's off, it means the woman inside is still 'occupied'. I kept giggling and laughing because it's so funny, this is the first time for me to walk around in this kind of place. There are so many shops there. and cafes. After that, we separated way with Faris, it was so sad.

It was our last place we visitted because we were tired. We went to Amsterdam Centraal again to take our luggages and went to Schiphol Airport to just sleep there. Right, people, we slept there at the airport! HA HA. We took a metro from Amsterdam Centraal station to Schiphol Airport (Schiphol metro station is on the underground floor and Schiphol Airport is located in the floor above). 

The funny thing is, I ran out of money to buy tickets to go to Schiphol station because the only metro available was at 00:15 AM and my ticket would be expired at 00:00 AM. What a luck. 

Vista had enough money to buy two tix but she didn't have it in coins. The ticket machine only works for coins. We were fucked up. I have to find wifi to tell my mom that I was in need of extra money again, after much begging from me and much scolding from mom, she agreed to send money but in the morning because it was late. It was around 10:30 PM when I texted my mom. I was fucked up for real.

Vista went around to find shop and asked for a change from paper money to coins. After minutes passed by, Vista got the coins from a "kind people" there at the station, after so much efforts.

We bought two one-time tickets at 11:30 PM.

The problem came again in different form. The ticket gate is so far away from our supposed metro patron. The tickets we bought can only be used starts from 00.00 AM because we bought that tix for Saturday, March 12th 2016. Like I've told you before, the only metro available was the 00:15 AM one, so we only had 15 minutes from the ticket gate to our supposed metro patron.

First, Vista went to check which terminal we were supposed to go. She then came back to my place with a pale face and said that, "We have to go to the 9th patron which is located in the further section of this station, and it's upstairs,"

Holy Mother of Plant, we were fucked.

After so much thinking, we got our plan; Vista and I will go to the patron first with our luggages, and Vista will go back to the ticket gate and wait there until 00:00 AM and will take the tix to the ticket gate, after that, she will run to the patron and meet me there.

Yes, I was panicked because the metro can come at any moment, and for your information, metros never stop by the station for more than 5 minutes. Fortunately, Vista could get to the patron on time. We were okay.

Our luggages are very heavy, so it was hard to drag them onto the metro. But there were two old men helped us and we talked a little bit because they were curious why our luggages are that heavy. Yeah right my luggage is basically 85% chocolates.


We slept at the airport. Don't be scared though, airports in Europe are safe. We strolled around the airport and found a good and decent spot for sleeping which happened to be near the arrival gate. I charged my phone in the charging table nearby and Vista slept on the bench. I played with my phone while looking at people coming from the arrival gate and saw their family picked them up bringing balloons or flowers.

It was such a cute scenes to see honestly. In Schiphol, the schedule is so hectic, there is always night flight for sure. Even after midnight, the airport is still busy.

I couldn't sleep for long at that time. I slept for one hour and then woke up. Ate some breads. Slept for one hour. And then woke up and drank milk. I was awake until morning and securities started to wake the people up from their spot because hey we were not the only ones here who slept at the airport!

Vista and I went to toilet and cleaned ourselves and we went to the departure lounge and Vista had to throw away her books because she was scared that her luggages would be overweight. I took the 11:00 AM flight and Vista took the afternoon flight.

When I sit on the waiting room, I saw a black luggage in the bench five meters away from me. Then there was this airport security who came and started to inspect the luggage. He kept tapping the luggage. After that he said something to his speaker tool, and minutes later there was this guy who suddenly came and claimed the luggage as his. I don't know what were they talking about but it seemed heated. So basically, after so much eavesdropping, the guy forgot to bring his luggage and decided to take it. But that police forced him to go with him to his office because the luggage seemed suspicious. I suddenly remember that time when an old man telling me to be standing near my luggages in front of the convenience store. I understand now. Don't ever leave your bag or luggage or anything alone, because people will be suspicious of it. Europe is having terrorist crisis, so it's understandable if they get suspicious over little thing like that. Prevention is better.  

Oh, and we took photos in front of the I Amsterdam huge sign in front of the airport, and there were no people there so I was happy! This is it, and then I flied back to my country and I've never been missing the sun warmth as much as that day!