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| 26 December 2004, Phuket |
In 2004, I was still 8 years old. And I had my
Christmas celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand. It was a
Christmas holiday, and it was very fun! I went to both countries with my
beloved parents. Kuala Lumpur was clean but there was some part of Malaysia was
very polluted. I stayed for five nights in Nikko Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
And this hotel was located opposite the Ampang Park MRT Station. So I could
easily go to the other place by using the MRT. It was nearly same as Subway in
Jakarta, but MRT was much faster than Subway and we bought the ticket from the
ticket machine. Many countries had MRT. This hotel was very exclusive and it
belongs to Japanese company. It had five stars rate. I have been stayed in this
hotel for about five until six times. Almost every year in my life, I spend my
holiday in Malaysia and Singapore, or I only transited in this both
countries.
I visited many
places in Malaysia, such as the PETRONAS Twin Tower, Sunway Lagoon and Berjaya
Square. Besides this PETRONAS building, there was a shopping mall called KLCC
and this building was very huge. At the top floor there was a Science Center
and National Geography. I loved to go there. We could see the bones of
dinosaurs and learn about many things at that place. That place taught me many
things about these species in this whole world. And there was one of the popular
bookstores called Kinokuniya. I spent almost three hours to look around this
bookstore. Many interested books and the cute stationary, too. Kuala Lumpur was
a splendored country, but sometimes Malaysia folded Indonesian sculpture.
Muslim was the majority religion in this country.
After I spent my
time in Kuala Lumpur, I went to Thailand by plane from Malaysia. I arrived at
Phuket, Thailand on 25th December 2004. I stayed at Kata Beach
Hotel. That was a lovely hotel and opposite the beach. In front of my room was
swimming pool. So I could directly jump and swim in the pool. That night, I
decided to go to many shops in downtown and of course with my parents. But it
was very crowded and I cancelled to go there, because many people spent their
money for shopping in this cheap country. So, I planned to come back
again the next day on 26th December 2004 and in the afternoon I
wanted to go to the beach that opposite my hotel. The beach was very beautiful
and crowded of children who scream out loud. And we could watch the sunset from
this beach.
The next day, maybe
at 10 am in the morning, I had finished my breakfast. After finished my
breakfast, I went to the main street shops that on 25th December
2004 I had been cancelled. I forgot to bring my hats and my dad came back to the room in order to take my hat. While my mom and I were waiting my dad, there were many peoples who stayed in the same hotel as me backed from
the beach and they were injured. My mom and I were so wondering. And many people had scratches on
their bodies and lots of blood on the floor. Many people were missing and
bleeding. One old British uncle warned me no to go out from the hotel since his wife was lost during in the Pathong Beach. From that time, I just realized that there was a Tsunami. Very
dangerous phenomena, that very scared me. Because it made many people die and
loss. In the same time, my dad directly went to our room to take our key car.
Before that, my dad told me and my mom that he wouldn’t take so long. But the
fact, he was very long in the room. Our hotel reception has warned us, that we
mustn’t in our room.
My mom and I started
to ensues, why my dad hadn’t come back yet, and we tried to call him. But we
didn’t know that his cell phone was in his bag pack that we brought. So, we
only could wait. Ten minutes later, my dad came back and he brought the key
car. So we directly went into the car, and ran away to the higher place. There
was a big shopping mall, but the food wasn’t delicious. It was Thai food and so
spicy. I didn’t like to eat curry, it wasn’t delicious. But I thanked to God, I
could get the second chance for my life. How lucky am I, could run away from
the Tsunami.
At 6 pm, I went back to my
hotel. I was very afraid, because I still have 3 nights to stay in this hotel. Luckily the location of Kata Beach Hotel wasn’t opposite the beach directly. The Holiday Inn hotel was located opposite the Pathong Beach which actually my parents already booked to stay there. However, we only got 1 night only because Holiday Inn was fully booked. My parents tried to book Holiday Inn via many travels, online booking; however, it was still fully booked and no way more. Then my dad decides to book Kata Beach Hotel which is located behind the Holiday Inn. Thanks to God about this. Actually God gave us the sign. If I stayed there, I would be disappeared
for only few minutes’ cause of Tsunami. After 3 days passed, I came back to
Kuala Lumpur. I stayed in Nikko Hotel again for two nights, and then finally
came back to Surabaya safely. And until now I still alive, because of the kindness
from God!
Please,
don’t waste your time and chance, because we didn’t know how long we could live
in this earth.
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