Having a trip to Thailand with the group from IBM Major of Binus University was one of my best experience. This was my first trip to Thailand and also went abroad with my friends and lecturers. It was fun indeed. The trip was fun from the first day until the last day. It was like what I was expected for the trip because it is not literally a “trip” but also study tour for the IBM major and included as a P2A (Passage to ASEAN) program with Rangsit University.

The trip was begun on September 11th, 2017 when we were gathered together at Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 5 am. Nothing holds us when we were at the airport, thanks to the lecturers who had prepared the documents and gave us information about any prohibition and what documents should we prepare, especially for those who will be going abroad for the first time.

We arrived at Don Mueang International Airport Bangkok approximately at 11 am and was picked up by Mrs. Nin Doi and authorities from Rangsit University. Everything went according to plan. We also had changed our mobile sim card with Thai’s mobile carrier so that we can contact our relatives in Indonesia and update in our social media ~ typical of millennials ~. It took about 1 hour from the airport to Rangsit University and the student housing. It was very hot in Rangsit. All of us were sweaty and take a quick clean up when we arrived at the student housing, then we went to Rangsit University’s cafeteria for having a lunch.

At first, we were quite difficult to choose the food because of the Thai’s Sanskrit handwriting and we can’t read it. At last, we just bought what the other’s bought and a cold original Thai tea. After we had lunch, we move to the food processing lab to learn how to make Thai’s food. We were guided with one of the lecturers from Rangsit in how to cook Thai’s food. We cooked Banana in Coconut Milk dessert and Thai Chicken Curry. The ingredients had been prepared when we arrived.

We were laughing all the way when the cooking lesson was running. It was fun! Either because we never cook together with friends or it’s a new experience for all of us to cook a foreign food together. Surprisingly, the result was not disappointing! It tasted good and delicious. At the end, we enjoyed the meal together and cleaned up the food processing lab.

Then we back to the housing and took some rest. At night, we had a free time. Some of us even went to Bangkok. But my friends and I only stayed and explored around Rangsit. A lot of delicious street food spread around Rangsit University and it all cheap! But suddenly it was raining, so we just can explore half of the street food and we just stayed in a place, hangout and had a street food dinner.

On the 2nd day, we started our day with breakfast at the student’s cafeteria. Then we proceed to take a picture together in front of Rangsit University as memories. We were invited to do a lecturing session at Rangsit University with one of the lecturers and greet some students there. The sharing session was more about what is Thailand, ease of doing business, history, and some general things in Thailand. Some of us also had the opportunity to speak in front of the class, do some discussion and so on.

It was interesting finding out that Thailand and Indonesia had a lot of common. From its people, country, regulations, and much more. Just language that separates us together. If the language was the same, Thai people and Indonesian can’t be differentiated with bare eyes. Yeah, our face even almost the same.

Quite funny and enjoyable. We made some friends with students from Rangsit. Taking pictures together and shared our social media together. They were nice to us and fortunately, one of them was an exchange student also from Taiwan. So, after the lecturing session, we went to Asiatique Riverfront with them. We enjoyed our time in Asiatique.

There was also a lot of Thai’s street food in Asiatique. We shared our table and food together with the students from Rangsit. They even brought us some snacks. The foods were enjoyable, the beverages were also good. My favorite was the watermelon juice, that they put it inside the fruit. We hadn’t had dinner, only streetfoods, but we were full enough and almost can’t make It walk to the bus.

Some of us bought merchandises, took pictures, and do a lot of stuff. At around 8 pm, we headed back to Rangsit. Some of us took some rest because they were too tired. But my friends and I were continuing our journey around Rangsit to hunt some food and find something interesting around there. Then, we took some rest.

Time flies and the 3rd day had just started. It was the day when we explored Bangkok, started from its museum until its shopping center. Our first destination was Suan Pakkad Palace in Bangkok. It was the museum of Thai’s history and the discovery of ancient pottery by accident. The museum was cool, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to took photos inside of the museum, allowed only at the garden. The place showed the tranquility of Thailand culture, the traditional style of Thai’s houses.

The second place we visit on our 3rd day was Jim Thompson Museum. It was a museum to remember the service of an American ex-soldier, who fell in love with Thai’s culture and stayed in Thai until the rest of his life. The museum itself was once the house of Jim Thompson itself. It also showed us the tranquility and the old Thailand’s culture. Thai’s authorities made the Jim Thompson’s house as a museum because of his great service to conserve the culture of Thailand.

After we had done with the museum, we moved to the shopping center of Bangkok. Walked around 1km and it takes like 20 minutes from the museum to the shopping center, by passing the railway of Bangkok. As we know, Indonesian love shopping. So, most of us spent the rest of our day, from day until night around the shopping center. They bought almost everything they saw on that day. We went to MBK, Siam Paragon, Siam Discovery, Siam Centre, Siam Square, and Platinum. What a lot of places we had visited! All of the places had same in common, which was shopping paradise.

Money well spent on our 3rd day. Wallet became lighter than before. After nothing else that we could buy, we headed back to the housing. Spent the rest of our days hanging around Rangsit again. Satisfy ourselves with the street foods that we couldn’t find in Indonesia, with all those cheap prices. Some of us felt sad that this was our 3rd and last day, and the 4th day we will be back to Indonesia. They just already love Thailand.

Finally, our 4th day and also the day that we checked out from the housing and prepare to go to the airport. One more thing to do before going back to Indonesia is shopping again. We went to the platinum market and satisfy ourselves one more time. This was the moment I bought a lot of stuff because, on the previous day, I almost didn’t buy anything. So, I spent my money on this place, and fortunately, the place was good enough.

We were finished with shopping and arrived at the airport at around 4 pm. Don Mueang Airport was the last place we visited in Thailand. It was quite a bit late for the flight because of the traffic condition around Bangkok. We rushed a little bit and we made it before the flight closed. The plane took off around 5 pm and felt satisfied with all of the 4 days in Thailand

The journey and trip to Thailand were finished when we arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Intl. Airport. We were split up and went to our home safely with all of those experiences! The trip was very good for me and I hope I can join on the next occasion. Thanks to all of those Binus’ IBM lecturers who have made this program into reality.