Explore Kochi

Fighting Anxiety at Cochin International Airport

18 May 2023travelingpersecond

A concern came with the alertness of the Air Asia AK 39 cabin crew who were busy checking all passengers as a sign that the plane would soon be landed on the Cochin International Airport runway.

Air Asia’s six wheels even hit the ground before one o’clock in the morning, while my head was still full of questions.

“Will there be a passenger waiting room at the airport after the immigration counter?”

“If there is no such facility, is it true that I have to wait outside the airport building until the sun rises in Kerala?”

“Or do I have to carry out Plan B where I will sleep while sitting in a restaurant outside the airport terminal building?”….Yes, that was my final plan if there wasn’t a waiting room at the airport after completing immigration matters.

Never mind, I’ve prepared myself for all possibilities….

The beautiful Indian flight attendant smiled while signaling that it was safe for passengers to leave the cabin. I stepped along the aisle of the cabin confidently.

Took a Look at the Arrival Hall

Walking through the non-glass aerobridge made me unable to enjoy the situation around the apron. Because usually I would stand on the side of the aerobridge and take some pictures of the unloading activity around the plane. But I was still lucky because I was directed through the arrival hall corridor with glass walls, I thought the windows were wide enough and allowed me to enjoy the airport view facing the runway.

Cochin International Airport Terminal 3 starting corridor.

The duty-Free area before the immigration counter.

Came on, took a peek at the toilet….It was clean…

I stared at the eight-filled arrival card that the flight attendant gave me a moment before landing while continuing to rush along the floor without a carpet until I arrived at the immigration counter.

“Stupid….”, I cursed myself that apparently had lost the only pen to fill out the arrival card. At the tables where foreign passengers filled out the sheets, there wasn’t even a pen that could be used.

As a result, I had to go around borrowing pens from passengers who had finished filling out the arrival cards. Without hesitation, several passengers seemed to ignore me and chose to refuse on the grounds of being in a hurry.

But an unexpected incident came….The male passenger who sat next to me on the whole flight came over….

“For you….Just keep it”, with an Indian accent, he smiled.

“Thank you, Sir…”, I said

“Happy traveling….”, he smiled and walked away leaving me to immediately join the group of worshipers from the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple who seemed to be pushing towards the immigration desk.

Table?

Yups, this is the most unique immigration counter I’ve ever encountered.

At Cochin International Airport, the immigration counter is not in the form of standing counters, but a counter that is set very similar to an interview table. Every foreigner will be seated in front of the immigration officer and interrogated with several questions. It’s tense, but for me, the excitement side stands out more.

I took out my passport, eVisa, and Hotel Booking Confirmation while waiting for a European woman to be interrogated at the immigration desk. After that, I was asked to sit down and the officers began to interrogate me.

Two attendants stood by to question me at the counter, one sitting facing the laptop and one standing.

As soon as I handed in the documents, an officer sitting in front of a laptop immediately started looking for information about me in their immigration database.

Immigration officer: “Mr. Donny Suryanto? If yes, you’ve visited India once, haven’t you?”

Me: “Yes, Sir. New Delhi and Agra. Beautiful cities in your country”.

Immigration Officer: “How long will you visit Kochi?”

Me: “Two days”.

Immigration officer: “Oh, just two days. Why?”

Me: “This is just a transit trip to get a cheap flight to Dubai, Sir. Cause I’m a backpacker, Sir”

Immigration officer: “Clever…No matter for a very short vacation. Happy traveling, Mr. Donny”

Me: “Thank you, Sir”.

I very quickly and easily went through the interrogation stages at the Cochin International Airport immigration counter. Now I hurry and swing through customs and easily arrived at the exit door.

I was so happy when in front there was a small row of seats.

“Yeaaa….I’ll wait for the morning in that row of chairs”, my worries have vanished.

This was the waiting chair.

It was on my right-hand side that was where I exchange Dollars.

But before actually sitting down, I started hunting for Rupees for purposes while exploring Kochi. I approached the foreign currency exchange counter owned by Thomas Cook Change Currency.

Me: “How much is the minimum Dollar which can be exchanged here, Sir?”

Counter clerk: “100 Dollars, Sir”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry, I just need to change a few dollars into Rupees”

Counter clerk: “No problem, Sir”

I left the counter to go to another counter that can serve exchanges under 100 US Dollars. Finally I was able to exchange 5 US Dollars and 5 Malaysian Ringgits to get 320 Rupees at the Weizmann Forex Money Exchange. That much rupees would even be left over for my two day adventure in Kochi. Very cheap right?…..

Meanwhile, for communication access, I decided to use an Airtel 4G SIM card. Because I bought it after exchanging US Dollars, I bought the SIM card with a 3GB quota using a 5 US Dollar bill.

“It takes four hours to activate your card”, said the seller to me as soon as I left the telecommunications counter.

Although in the end, I would never be able to activate the SIM card that I bought during my adventure exploring Kochi….Damn.

Several Rupees were in hand and communication access was in hand, now I could sit in a row of empty seats at the last end of the arrival hall. India was known for its cold air in January, so I feel grateful to be able to wait for the morning to come inside the airport.

It was still half past three in the morning when I sat on one of the benches…..

For more than five hours of waiting time, I could only witness the discipline of a soldier guarding the entrance gate to the area inside the airport. The soldier was never tired of combining sitting and standing movements for hours to check the traffic of airport staff, airline ground staff, and other officers when going in and out of the area inside the airport building.

Or witness the typical ritual when some guests pickers place their palms on the feet of the person being picked up as a form of respect. The rest I could never completely close my eyes in that waiting chair.

And so on, until exactly eight in the morning, I decided to leave the waiting room to go to the Royal Wings Hotel which was located 1.3 kilometers in the west of airport.

As usual, before I left the airport area, I took the time to explore all sides outside the airport building. Here were some spots in Cochin International Airport that I could show to you.

Cloak Room to the west of the Terminal 3 exit door.

If there were no waiting chairs in the airport building, I planned to wait at the Chili Restaurant which was open 24 hours.

The elegance of Cochin International Airport located in the Aerotropolis Nedumbassery.

Solar panels ground which was the main source of energy for Cochin International Airport.

Did you want to know the Departure Hall of Cochin International Airport?…I would show you later….Be patient.

Came on, explore!….

What’s in Kochi?….

Failed and Succeeded: The Story of India’s eVisa Hunt

11 May 2023travelingpersecond

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I have experienced that applying for an eVisa was easier and the chances of being accepted were greater than applying for a Regular Visa. It was enough to attach the required documents and pay at the online payment gate, the e-Visa would be issued according to the planned time of arrival in the country.

At least I had made eVisa Taiwan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman. Everything went smoothly and the eVisa was easy for me to get.

Well, this time I will share a little story about how I made India’s e-Visa three times.

India’s eVisa is the second eVisa that I’ve ever pursued after the first eVisa that I’ve taken care of, i.e. eVisa Taiwan.

At that time….End of 2017….

The mental challenge that was so heavy after getting a Jet Airways flight ticket towards the capital of India, made my quest for an Indian e-Visa less enthusiastic. Getting an Indian eVisa was indeed very easy. I only needed to complete the data on the e-form and attached documents in the form of a photo of myself and a scan of the passport biodata sheet requested by the official India eVisa website. Then I only needed to wait some time for the eVisa to be issued. But the lack of enthusiasm in dealing with the e-Visa lied in the feeling of anxiety about visiting that Gandhi’s Country.

The eVisa validity period to entering India was short, which was around four months, making me had to apply for this eVisa close to the departure date.

I myself applied for this eVisa twenty days before departure and the eVisa was approved the day after submission after paying 50 US dollars at the payment gate. The application address was as follows: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/

This was my first story of hunting for an Indian eVisa.

The next day the eVisa application had GRANTED status.

Check it out!…. Any entry point in India that could use this eVisa.

Tracking eVisa status on the application page.

Second Experience

Whereas my next experience in applying for an Indian eVisa occurred on November 8, 2018.

At that time, India’s eVisa was made free by the Indian government on June 18, 2018. The idea itself was conveyed by Nerendra Modi during a meeting of the Indian Diaspora in Jakarta.

Where was my destination at that time?….

Mumbai….Yups, I planned to get out of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport heading to the city center during a transit of more than 13 hours. At that time Jet Airways would take me from Dhaka to Colombo and transit in Mumbai.

Maybe due to a change in policy from a paid eVisa to a free eVisa, there had been a change of address on the India eVisa page. I submitted the eVisa application myself, exactly two months before departure.

Because the Web URL that I entered was wrong, the decision to accept or not my eVisa application never reached my email. The URL I went to at that time was https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/

Do I then plan to reapply?

No….Because at the same time, there was a change in Jet Airways flight from Dhaka to Mumbai. The change in flight schedule didn’t allow me to get out of the airport, let alone head to the city center. Because the change in flight schedule apart from shortening the transit time also made 80% of my transit time fall at night. Hence, it would be impossible for me to explore Mumbai at night….Too risky.

In the end, I decided, I wouldn’t continue the continuation of this eVisa application because basically, I didn’t need it anymore. But my curiosity was prolonged, finally, I tried to find the correct Indian e-Visa application page address. And I found it, here is the URL in question: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/eVisa/

Even though this page was wrong, the appearance of the e-form turned out to be exactly the same as the e-form on the correct page.

The page for checking the status of eVisa applications was also the same.

Third Experience

The third submission for the India eVisa was when I intended to explore the Middle East Region and decided to take entry to Dubai from Kochi.

The decision to jumping off to the Middle East from Kochi was of course closely related to the budget conditions I had. This condition was strengthened by the availability of low-cost Srilankan Airlines flights from Kochi to Dubai with temporary transit in Colombo. Of course, I chose to jump from Kochi also based on a strong desire to return to nostalgia with the rich culture of India.

The next opportunity occurred at the end of 2019. I applied for India eVisa to explore Kochi.

I processed this application by visiting the eVisa India page twice.

On December 4, I filled out the e-form partially due to busy work. Partially filling out the e-form during the day, I had to complete it in the afternoon until finally at four o’clock in the afternoon I was able to submit the e-Visa application.

This was the advantage of applying for an India eVisa where we could fill out the e-form several times (not fill in once). Usually, at the opportunity to fill out the first e-form, we would be given an Application ID No. which was entry access to our submission data if we wanted to edit or complete data.

On the third occasion of making this India eVisa, I submitted my eVisa application on December 4, 2019, and eVisa got GRANTED status on December 8, 2019.

Email sending that filling in the partial filling of my eVisa application was stored.

Notice that my e-Visa submission e-form was successful and waiting to be processed.

So, it was easy to make an Indian eVisa….

Come on, the pandemic was over, let’s go to India.

Second Chance to India: Air Asia AK 39 from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Kochi (COK)

3 May 202311 May 2023travelingpersecond

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Air Asia flight route AK 39 (source: flightaware).

Going to India always has a thrill in a side of my heart. The provocation of irresponsible information sometimes succeeds in making the guts tremble.

Gusts of news ranging from security factors, culinary hygiene, scam variations, and other gripping things began to cloud my mind that afternoon.

Therefore, before leaving for India, for five days I warmed my guts in Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur, hoping that by leaving them I would be able to carry courage. But that afternoon it seemed as if I was still building up the courage from zero again.

In the continuation of my adventure, India would be the prelude to my main destination, i.e. the Middle East. Why was that?…. The only reason was that India was always giving many chances to get cheap tickets to the main tourist city in the Arabian Peninsula, i.e. Dubai. In addition to tickets, India also provided a variety of starting points to jump into that city.

As for my adventure history, after New Delhi and Agra two years earlier, this time I chose another point of departure, i.e. Kochi, an exotic tourist destination in southwest India.

—-****—-

I enjoyed the soft texture of white rice at Quizinn by RASA after 24 hours of not tasting this idol’s food. The white rice at that time also represented the last Ringgit I had, starting the next day I was using Rupees.

Five minutes before the Air Asia Ak 39 check-in desk opened, I finished eating white rice with the last piece of fried egg.

As I stated above, instead of getting excited, my chest was beating fast…” Oh India, please make peace with my adventure this time”, I calmed my heart.

Rising from my seat in a corner of the food court on the 2M floor, I carried my favorite blue backpack. Stepping up to the Departure Hall on the 3rd floor.

“It turned out that the queue was long….”, my confidence to become the first queue fell.

The contortions of the queue, which was dominated by Indians, kept me in the bloated queue. After all, I remained calm, there was still a long way to the flight, still four hours away. I started taking out the zipper bag to prepare documents, i.e. passports, hotel booking confirmations in India, tickets to and from India, and free Indian e-Visa sheets.

“Do you have a Visa?”, the check-in desk staff firmly asked me.

“This is Miss”, I handed over all the documents I had prepared.

“Was Indonesia to India enough with e-Visa, Sir?” That female officer asked her senior colleague.

That senior staff confirmed and that female officer finally printed the boarding pass for me.

The first stage was over, I rushed to the International Departure Gate which was heavily guarded by several Aviation Security. In the front queue, there weren’t a few prospective passengers who were being held back due to carrying too much cabin baggage. In addition to Aviation Security, several Air Asia airline ground staff closely monitored passengers who cheated by carrying excess cabin baggage.

For me?….. It was easy, I pass through the gate without checking. Even with the inspection, I would still pass, because I had weighed the entire load of my backpack before heading to the check-in desk….Easy, only 6.5 kilograms.

“Where is the direction to gate L14?”, I asked myself.

I continued along the long corridors until I descended an escalator which at the bottom was already blocking several columns of the screening gate.

As usual, I always took off my shoes when I pass through the screening gate, it was all because I would feel lazy if I had to repeat the screening process when my shoes rang the screening door.

I easily pass it….

Now I only needed to continue through the remaining corridors to reach gate L14.

One of the corridors in the International Departure Hall is KLIA2.

Those are the directions to the Air Asia AK 39 departure gate.

A little after seven in the evening, I arrived at the gate in question.

“Hhmmmhhhh….An hour and a half to boarding”, I sat on a chair outside the waiting room which was still tightly closed.

I decided to perform the prayer and filled up drink bottles at the free water station. And in the remaining time, I just sit waiting until the waiting room door opens an hour before the flight.

Luckily while waiting, my boredom was dampened by the cute behavior of a little Indian toddler whose behavior was so adorable.

—-****—-

Waiting in the waiting room, I was again stunned by a large group of Hindu congregation. From the all-black uniform worn, I could identify the congregation as coming from the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, located in the State of Kerala, India.

The peculiarity of the Indian Hindu congregation was that they do not use footwear. Some Hindus in India believed that not using footwear was a form of respect for the Gods.

Dressed in black and Lungi*1) was also the religious appearance of the group. I had to sit mingled in the waiting room with their group.

While the view in the glass window was a perfectly parked Airbus A320 Twin Jet aircraft, dominantly white with a blue-red color combination and bearing the tourism promotion jargon “Sarawak More to Discover”.

Waiting patiently for it to end…

Boarding calls for Air Asia flight AK 39 filled the airport ceiling.

I immediately got up and prepared my passport and boarding pass to pass the final inspection of prospective passengers before entering the cabin. Ahhh….I couldn’t wait.

At half past nine I started boarding…..

Passing the aerobridge to the aircraft cabin.

Cabin situation while hunting for a seat.

Look at those Indian citizens…..Do you want to go to India or not?

Entering the cabin of the small-body aircraft, I looked for seat number 11E. On the next 3 hours and 40 minutes of flight, I would sit in the middle column, making it difficult for me to capture beautiful portraits of the earth.

When the boarding process was over, in my row there was only me and one of the Hindu congregation. Therefore, I decided to move to an aisle seat to get relief from the 3,000 km flight.

—-****—-

To my surprise, when I opened the Travel 360 inflight magazine, I found a self-portrait of a travel influencer that seemed familiar to me. I was very familiar with his surname….Groves.

I made sure it was a beautiful traveler from Aussie whom I had known a year earlier in Samosir, Eloise Groves. He once told a story under the Naisogop waterfall that he had a brother named Jackson Groves who was a travel influencer. Seeing the similarity in the facial expressions of the figure in the inflight magazine I was reading with the figure that often appears on Eloise’s Facebook page, I’m 100% sure it was her big brother.

And it was true, later I would get confirmation from Eloise that it was her sibling after sending a short message through the Facebook messenger application when I arrived in India.

Trying to close my eyes after flipping through Travel 360, I tried to sleep. But I didn’t sleep. That was how I was, never completely fell asleep every time I sat on the plane.

That was Jackson Groves in Air Asia’s Inflight magazine.

Arrive at Terminal 3 Cochin International Airport.

Finally, the awaited time has arrived….

At one o’clock in the morning, Air Asia AK 39 landed at Cochin International Airport, a magnificent airport in the State of Kerala in southwest India.

Thank God….

Now I was even further away from home.

Kochi which was nearly 9,000 km from Jakarta.

Let’s explore….What was in Kochi?

To get flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Kochi, you can search for them on 12go Asia Asia with the following link: https://12go.asia/?z=3283832

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Description of the word:

Lungi*1) = A long piece of cloth that is wrapped around the waist and is a typical Indian dress.