Tips and Tricks

Actually, there is no problem to enter the catedral of Saint Peter in Vatican. Except to go up to the cupola, everything is free. You can go inside easily, just wait for queueing. But not during the holy days, like Easter (Pasqua). I have a very priceless experience to enter the catedral in that occusion. It was March 22, 2008 when we (I and 4 other indonesians) wanted to join Easter-eve mass. From the news it was mentioned that the mass will be started at 21.00 and the gate will be open at 19.30. As this is a special, the people already prepare, wait, in front of the gate from 17.30. Why people do lie that? it is because when you are able to enter first, you can chose the best seat which usually: (1) near to the altar and (2) near to the main coridor where the pope will walk enter the church or giving his bless.
During 2 hours wait for the gate open, it was like disaster. People push each other (but not hard push). Bu suddently you will forget about this, because the situation actually very nice. People shouting to great pope, or singing catholic songs, or natiaonal songs of country origin. Interesting, very interesting.
And when gate was open? You can imagine, people rush .. run as fast as possible to enter. Bust for sure, after the gate, you have still an inspection to check your properties free from dangerous things, such as knive, bom and so on. Woow, I have to run too as if you walk, people behind you will crush you, ha ha .. Don't pretend to be cool :-P by slow walking.

Anyway, remember that you have an ticket which allow you to join the mass but also there is a chance for you who don't have the ticket to enter as again many people rushing, running. In this case hopefully, they did not see you, just run!!

Train in Italy is very cheap compared to other trains in other Europe countries. It is not surprising that train is usually used for the travel or trip. In Italy, almost every city has something special to see which will be a big mistake not to visit it.

Using a single ticket, actually you will be able to visit many cities. For example, last time, I went to Bologna from Torino. During the way, I passed the city of Parma and Piacenza. I bought the ticket, direct standard 2nd class ticket, from Torino to Bologna that price was 16.10 euro (at that time). In the ticket, it was written 'vale 24h da convalida' means that it is valid 24 hour since we validate this ticket in the stamp machine (yellow box machine that will print the date of validation). So, during my trip, I droped in Parma, and going around for few hours and back to station continuing my trip to Bologna using the same ticket.
I was successful to do the same when I visited Milano. But for Torino-Milano ticket, the valid range is shorter only 6 hour. I dropped in Novara for 2 hours and continue to Milano using the next train.
Using this way, you can save a litle than buy multiple tickets, for example I bought ticket for direct Torino-Genova with 8.20 euro and when I buy Torino-Alessandria and Alessandria-Genova it costs 9.10 euro.

It is common for us, the traveller, to think about how to stay a country with correct and legal visa. As Thailand is a very beautiful county with nice people there, sometimes we want to stay longer. So, this tip could be useful for you.
For foreign people, usually, they will get 30 days visa for free. You don't require to process a Thai visa from your original country. But for sure, please check the website of Thai immigration first. If you get 30 days visa it means that you can stay in Thai for 30 days only.
Going around, shopping, travelling .. bla bla .. och! my visa is almost finish, how to extend it? I'm not finish my adventure here? don't worry!, there are two ways to entend it, first by formal legal way: you go to immigration office and ask for the extension. Absolutely, you have to pay for it. Last time I went there and asked how much that I have to pay. Expensive! 100 to 150 baht per day !!! So, I suggest to use the 2nd legal way, go to other countries near Thailand. There are two countries that usually travellers go, first is Lao and second is Cambodia. For this purpose, actually you can use many travel agencies in Thai that offer this service or even you can go by yourself. I have plenty of experinces with 4 times of visa renewal.

For the first renewal, I went to Lao by myself. So, I applied visa to Lao embassy which was around 200 baht (actually depend on how long that you able to wait until the visa finish. Faster is more expensive). I used economic train to go Lao from Bangkok station Don Muang (in front of Don Muang airport) which was very cheap. It took almost 10 hours before you arrived in Nong Khai (Thailand area near the border). After this, you can decide wheter you want to go using bus to Lao or again by youseft. If you want to go by bus, you can ask 'tuc tuc' driver (usually they wait the passanger in front of the station) to go to the bus station. There is air condition public bus service from Nong Khai to Vientine (capital city of Lao). If not, ask the driver to go directly to the border, called as friendship bridge. Both are same, at the border gate you have to get down from your bus to process your visa. You can make an arrival visa and enter Lao in very short time. After all 'bearucrazy' is finish, you can get in again to your bus or you can go by mini bus that usually offer to enter Lao with cheaper price (only for crossing the bridge). Between Lao and Thai, they are separated by a bridge called as Friendship bridge built by Australian. After entering Lao, you can do whatever you want. or even you can directly back to Thai by processing new visa on arrival ^^. I think it is a good idea to see how silent Lao is. Near bordergate of Lao, there is a bus station which you can wait the bus go back to Thailand (Nong Khai) or continue your journey to Vientine. So, another 30 days visa with very cheap price.

The second destination way is Cambodia. The way how to do is really similar. Go to border and ask for the visa. Different from Lao, the border areas that you can visit are quite alot. Usually it is depend on the travell agency that you choose. Most commont, they will go to Poi Pet. But, all are almost same that it takes around one day to go and back again to Bangkok.

As comparison:
when you ask extension for 30 days in immigration office, you will spend around 3000 baht. But by the travellers way, you can only spent max 500 baht (economic way by economic train, terrible mini bus, tuc tuc', and so on .. ha ha ha) and around 1000 baht using the economic traveller agency (including small mini van car which is quite confortable) also around 1500-2000 baht using exclusive confortable bus by excellent expensive travel agency. So, many ways to Roma and also many ways to extend our visa in Thailand.
So, happy travelling in Thai.

1. Bus tour dimulai dari gwanghwamun. Jadi kowe naek subway terus turun di gwanghwamun sta. (광화문역). Abis itu keluar di gate 6 (inget!)...
2. Bus dimulai pukul 9.00 pageee. Jangan kepagian .. rugi!! kecuali kalo dikau mo ngebersiin bis nya dulu .. terus jangan kesiangan, waktu keliling berkurang. Jadi kalo kupikir pikir, perjalanan subway akan memakan waktu 30-40 minit, jadi yach .. kira kira 8.30 lah berangkat nya ..
3. Nah, begitu keluar dari gate 6, cari tiang bertuliskan 'seoul city tour' seperti gambar di bawah ini:

Nah entar ada orang yang kelihatannya juga mo ikutan. Mungkin kamu bisa langung beli tiketnya ato mungkin di dalem bis, tergantung. Nah, karena ada banyak tipe tour, kamu pilih yang downtown tour adzaa (lebih beragam). Untuk routenya, garis besarnya seperti tertera di bawah ini:

Gwanghwamun(gate) - Deoksugung(Palace) - Lotte Hotel - Namdaemun Market - Seoul Station - War Memorial of Koreal - U.S.Army Yongsan Base Itaewon - Itaewon - Crown Hotel - Meyong-dong - Namsangol Tranditional Korean Village - Sofitel Ambassador Hotel - National Theater Namsan Seoul Tower - Hyatt Hotel - Tower Hotel - Shilla Hotel - Dongdaemun Market - Daehangno - Gyeongbokgung Palace - Police Museum - Sejong Cultural Center

Jalur ini nggak lengkap, ntar di dalem bis kamu dibagiin peta lengkapnya. Kalo emang mo yang laen, ada tour palace (cuma palace ajah), worldcup tour (tour nggak jelas), night tour (tour kurang kerjaan, dingin !!), sama cheonggechon tour (tour ngeliat cheonggechon).
Harga tiketnya terakhir setauku sech 10 rebu won, untuk 1 day tiket, jadi bebas turun dimana ajah terus naek dimana ajah juga. Ingat, jam terakhir bis adalah jam 5 sore. Untuk last place, terserah, kamu nggak harus kembali lagi ke gwanghwamun. Tapi ingat cari tempat yang terjangkau subway. Jangan pilih pemberhentian terakhir di seoul tower !! kecuali kalo mo jalan kaki turunnya ha ha ha .. ada sech bus, tapi lebih puyeng lagee.

4. Jangan keliru dengan bis yang laen, liat gambar ini:

apa lageee yach .. eng eng ..