Travel Diary | Sheila On 7 "Tunggu Aku Di Pekanbaru"

Hi readers!

I have been missing for four years since 2020, but I have returned to the blogging world with many travel stories. Macam acah-acah pulak kan? 😂 

Here is another travel story of mine that I would like to engrave here in my blog. So, my friend and I decided to do something crazy: buy a ticket and go to a concert overseas. So, from the end of August to early September this year (2024), we went to Pekanbaru, Indonesia, for Sheila on 7 "Tunggu Aku Di Pekanbaru." The battle for the concert ticket was intense in Jakarta, but we could easily get it at Pekanbaru. We discovered it by chance after losing a spot at Jakarta's that my friend stumbled upon that we could actually get one in Pekanbaru (which was previously only available for the locals), and we did it! To be honest, at first, I did listen to a lot of Sheila on 7 songs, because back when I was a high school kiddo, I listened to a lot of Indonesia's songs, but I am not a fan, it is my friend who is a big fan of Sheila on 7. So, she got two tickets so that I could accompany her to tick off one of her bucket lists. But I think somehow, after the concert, I became a fan of Sheila On 7. 😊

 

So, our trip to Pekanbaru was short, it was only for 4D3N. Mainly for this concert and to spend some days exploring Pekanbaru-Padang. We took the morning flight at 9.30am by Batik Air and arrived at Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport, Pekanbaru around 10.30am. After that, we went straight to the hotel, but since the hotel check-in time was at 2PM, we left our luggage in the hotel lobby and went to the nearest mall (Mal SKA) to stroll around. We planned to pick up our rented motorcycle but since the motorcycle owner went to Friday prayer, we went to the mall instead. After picking up the motorcycle, we went back to the hotel and performed solat before deciding to stroll around the city.

  

The left photo above is the view in front of our hotel. Very near to Indomart. Mind you there are a lot of interesting interesting snacks there in Indomart. This convenience store is like 7-Eleven in Malaysia. The right side photo is the view at the front of the mall where we went, Mal SKA.

With riding a motorcycle as our main transport in Pekanbaru, we decided to go to the concert location to review the route and buy some merchandise. The concert was held at Kaharudin Nasution Stadium. It was around a 25-minute ride to the concert venue from our hotel.

 

At first, I was going to let my friend buy some merchandise, but it turned out that I bought some also and convinced my friend to spend some money there as well. I am not going to die alone you know? 💁After a series of discussions, we decided to buy a foldable recycle bag with the Sheila On 7 logo on it, It was the best purchase and I did not regret buying it as a memory and also the functionality of the bag.

 

Of course, I had to take at least 1 photo of the entrance gate's banner, and lucky I took a photo here before the concert day because during concert day it was totally packed with people and my photo would be crowded with people. Btw, my friend said that I looked like Dilan wearing that kind of helmet for a motorcycle. well, if you know you know, the cringe tagline from Dilan 1990 movie "Jangan rindu, berat. Kau nggak akan kuat, biar aku saja." HAHAHA, so freaking cringe 👀

 

Before dinner, we went to Masjid Raya An-Nur Riau Province to perform solat Maghrib. This mosque is so huge and it had to walk a lot just to search for a woman section to pray. The toilet near the woman section was closed for maintenance so I had to walk some more to find another toilet.

The next day reached. A bad thing happened to us. I bought a travel iron, but unfortunately, the travel iron was broken and beyond repair. Asked the hotel receptionist for the iron but she informed us the iron was not available because currently in use. So, I wore my clothes with all the wrinkles for the whole day. Even had to adjust my tudung to make the hideous wrinkles less visible. We went for breakfast at Warung Kopi Hangtuah near the hotel at 8.19am.

 

At the restaurant, I ordered Roti Canai with Kari Kambing and you know what, I was surprised by the amount of Kambing they provided in my Kari Kambing. It was only one small part of it and not bigger than the size of Malaysia Ringgit 10 sen 😭 I felt like I was getting scammed by the restaurant. The food was okay. We were planning to go to Asia Heritage but since it is still closed we went to Doeman HS Provincial Library of Riau. We walked around the library just to jalan2 inside there and browsed some books to kill some time. After spending around 1 hour in the library we went to Asia Heritage.

 

There were not many people during our time exploring Asia Heritage. Most probably because it was still early and Pekanbaru is not that famous as a tourist area in Indonesia. Most people will choose to go to Padang for a holiday. There were only a few locals and us in Asia Heritage.

 

Inside Asia Heritage, it was quite huge and so many places were nice for photos. A lot of areas inside there were Instagrammable. So, obviously, there were a lot of photos taken during my visit to Asia Heritage. Since this holiday was planned for the sake of the concert, after that we decided to go for lunch and went back to the hotel to pray and take a rest before the concert. Here comes the exciting part, the concert! Yeay! We went there around 5.30PM.

 

It was my first time going to a concert in a standing area (seated not available for this concert). Had to stand for 3 hours straight taking a toll on my body. It was tiring even though I already wore my most comfortable shoes. But the concert was enjoyable and fun so it was okay. 

Now, I am a fan of Sheila On 7. Their first album was released in 1999 and at that time I was 4 years old. So, I think my mom played the most part of me knowing a lot of Sheila On 7 songs. It was because she used to listen to Sheila On 7 songs a lot when I was a child. After the concert, I experienced how the locals drive/ride to go through traffic jams. I can tell you, it was hellish and I was so shocked by it. Hahaha, It was a nice experience, we even met a lot of Malaysians at the concert. Some even bought Malaysia's flag. At this moment, you can just assume that we were celebrating Malaysia's Independence Day at Sheila On 7's concert. 😅

Day 3. Since Pekanbaru is not a tourist area, there were fewer places we could explore. So, we decided on a 6-hour road trip to Padang by car. We booked a driver and went to Kota Tinggi - Padang. For me, a 6-hour road trip doesn't feel that long because there were a lot of places we went.

 

Our first destinations during the road trip were Kelok Sembilan, Harau, Sumatera Barat. It was breezy at the bridge and the view also looked good. We took a few photos here and went to Air Terjun Lembah Harau.

 

I was literally drenched by trying to take a photo near the waterfall. But it was worth it because the photo turns out really nice.

 

After that, we went to this mountain, I can't remember the name of it but there were a lot of stairs. I thought if we would go to the mountain by car, so no need to hike to reach the top, just like during my trip to Medan at Bukit Senyum. Little that we know that the stairs were like stairways to heaven. I was gasping for breath just to reach the top. Hahaha, and again, the view is worth losing my breath while climbing the stairs.

After that, we went down and went to this Surau near the small village in the mountain for Zuhur and Asar prayer. Went to the toilet to take Wudhu and the water feels like cold water coming down straight from Coway/Cuckoo. It was freezing. All the fatigue I felt before was refreshed with the freezing water.

 

We went for an early dinner at the cafe with the mountain view. The view was really great and the food also tasted good. Happy tummy, happy view, happy me. We reached Padang around 7.30PM but we decided to search for a perfume shop to buy some perfume as a souvenir. Mind you we actually already bought some at Pekanbaru. But since the perfume was cheap and smelled good, and if it was empty later in the future, I had to cross the sea again to buy some more of it. So, I told my friend we should get as many as we want. So, we did it. We reached our hotel around 9.30PM. After check-in, my friend and I walked around the hotel and duduk2 tepi jalan to get the night view of Padang City.

 

We decided to get some breakfast at the hotel. I let my friend try Teh Talua because I tried it before during my trip to Medan and it tasted good. The drink's name was scary, just who in the world ever thought to mix egg with tea. But it really turns out great. Our flight was at 11.40am so after breakfast, we took Gojek and went to visit Masjid Raya Syekh Ahmad Khatib Al Minangkabawi Sumatera Barat.

 

I told my friend, so this place was the origin for any of our friends who are from Negeri Sembilan. Almost everyone in Padang can speak Bahasa Minang, which is a totally different language from our loghat Nogori in Malaysia. But the intonation is almost the same. After that, we checked out and went to Minangkabau International Airport. We reached Malaysia at 2.40PM. I definitely going back to Padang for an actual trip there later in the future because during this trip to Padang, it felt like only a pitstop.

So, that's the end of my story about Sheila On 7's concert with a mixture of travelling here and there. Since this trip is my first DIY trip, I actually do the budgeting in detail. So, I am going to share with all of you the cost breakdown for this trip (excluding the cost of merchandise).

Thank you for reading till the end. There will be a lot more travel stories of mine. Stay tuned!👌

-Nana