Eat, Art, Travel (and sleep)

"Spirited Away: Chihiro & Kohaku" Check out the painting process on my youtube channel by clicking the link bellow :

Chiang Rai is the northern part of Thailand and one of the best place to visit during your travel in Thailand. It takes approximately 1 hour 10 minutes flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. The best month to visit Chiang Rai is during the winter time between November to January. For some of you I believe that the winter there is not really winter than what you think winter is. I’d say it is cool during the season and way better than the weather in Bangkok. Well despite of the weather, there are so many places in Chiang Rai that are worth to visit! This time, I will try to list some places that I think is the most important place to visit during your travel in Chiang Rai, Thailand! :)

White Temple

One of the most visited place in Chiang Rai, I think when people mention about Chiang Rai, the first thing that pops up out of their minds is White temple. This temple is considered as a new temple that have unique concept in terms of the design and the color. This is the prettiest temple that I have ever been visited. It’s white colors stands out under the sun light and all the little glasses spreads all over the walls makes the temple looks so shiny and glittery. This temple is rebuilded in the late 20th century onward by a local artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, that has dedicated his talent and financial to the temple as he wants it to be the center of learning and meditation and for people to gain benefit from Buddhist teachings.

For some of you who loves contemporary arts, or any kind of art installations, this is the perfect place to explore. It’s architecture full of symbols of life which have a lot of meanings mostly are in Buddhism perspectives. They also have a museum of Chalermchai Kositpipat Artworks. There you can find such paintings, high printing techniques and some kind of sculptures. Sadly, I can’t take pictures inside the museum because they won’t allow you to. When you go visit the temple during the day, I would recommend you to wear sun glasses, sometimes it looks so bright that hurts your eyes. Hehe..

Black House

For me, I consider this as an unusual place to visit (in a good way haha). i also like this place because I personally can feel the wild taste of the artist who owns this place. “Baan Dam” that’s what they call this place in Thai, or known as Black House. This place was made by a local Thai artist Thawan Duchanee who developed a style of an artwork representing the darkness in humanity. You will mostly find the color of black and red, and some other dark colors, bulls, bones, animals skin, and other kind of stuffs as the decoration in the house.

Khun Korn Waterfall

Love to see waterfall? Come visit Khun Korn Waterfall. They have a great parking space on the entrance of the jungle. Luckily, when I was there, not many tourists are in sight haha. so, to get to the waterfall you need to walk in the jungle for about 1.4 kilometers. It’s easy because there is already path that leads you to the waterfall. Once you get to the waterfall, all the energy that you put into efforts and all the sweats, tracking up through the jungle will be paid off, haha.

Hill Tribe Villages

Here you can meet native tribes who lives in the north of Thailand. I think this place is worth to visit if you really want to see native tribes with their unique lifestyles that you could have never imagine before. The Akha tribes, Long neck, Karen, Lisu, Palong, Lahu are all living in different culture, distinct colorful dress and different languages. They are living in a small hut made up from bamboo without electricity which people nowadays can’t never imagine to live in one. Most of the people in the tribes are animism, however some of them have converted into Buddhism and Christianity.

Singha Park

A relaxing tour in a big park of Singha Corporation, pay 50 THB to get into a tour bus and go around the park with a tour guide or drive your own car to go to all over the place in the park. A perfect place for a family day trip where you can also feed a giraffe and zebra which was my favorite part and place to be in the park, haha.

Tea Plantation

Choui Fong Tea Plantation, it’s a big factory of tea in Chiang Rai. The perfect time to get there is during sunset. The air is so chill and the place is perfectly green, air is so fresh. You can also get various kind of tea in the tea shop available in the factory.

Golden Triangle

Yes! Get to the border! Haha, this place called golden triangle because of the history of opium trade that happened a long time ago, and this is where three countries (Thailand, Myanmar, Laos) meet each other from it’s edge and separated by the Mekong river. The view were so excited! Theres also opium musem around there..

Mekong River view, from Thailand

F.Y.I

You can organize your tripe by booking a tour package which usually includes some great places on their package, you can find this mostly by just asking the receptionist on your hotel or hostels ;)

You can also rent a Songtaew, a mini truck that will usually costs you around 1200 THB and the driver will take you to places that you want and take you back to your hostel, I very recommend this really nice Songtaew driver which will guide you to some of the places that I mentioned and he will wait until you feel satisfied and will take you back to hostel, here is his phone number (Thai number) 0810292699

(ask the hostel receptionist to call this guy, I don’t know how to say his name, he wrote in in Thai, I’m sorry)

*I also want to credit my friends, Brianna Staples and Zhang Lixin for taking some of the pictures

You must have been wondering how there can be such island in the middle of a city right ? Koh Kret was actually part of a land since the year 1722 where people start to cut some part off to create a small canal to by pass the Chao Praya river to travel to Bangkok faster because people used to travel with boat in the river during the old times. As time goes by, people tend to create a larger canal several times that the small canal became a really large canal that totally separate the island from the main land. Many people living in the island are refuge to the Mon tribes who dominated central Thailand between the 6th and 10th centuries and have retained a distinct identity in their version of Buddhism and, particularly at Koh Kret, their pottery.

This island is in the middle of Chao Praya River in Nonthaburi District, some 17km north of central Bangkok. Most people said that Koh Kret is an island version of Chatuchak Market. There are a lot of people living the island to have their own stall, even in their houses to run their own business because Koh Kret is one of the place where tourist in Bangkok are most likely to visit.

We went there in the morning driving with a van from Thammasat University, Rangsit Center and arrived in a Nonthaburi pier near the island. The BJM staffs have organized all the things such as transportation during the fieldtrip. We took a tourist boat to go around the island and visit some interesting places in the islands.

The first thing to visit was the market. We arrived early that we were so lucky because there are not many people in the market. Usually if it’s weekend the market will be crouded by tourist either local and international.

As you can see in the picture, we are kind of struggling taking picture in the middle of the walk way in the market. I know its not a perfect place to take group photo, we are blocking the walk way for the moment, but we made it! There are a lot of good souvenir and stuffs that are cheap, you can also find foods here and there are also lot of sweet stalls.

We also visited some shop in the edge of the river where I found this kind of textile painting called “Batik”.

I found it interesting because we also have this kind of textile painting back in my country, Indonesia. We also call it Batik, with the same methods on how we paint the textiles.

The most memorable things during the field trip is when we arrived in a pottery place where we got to learn how to do pottery. Since this is my first time doing pottery I was so excited to go to the place after we had lunch in a restaurant by the river. Koh Kret is also known as an island where craftsmen are famous of their unique and artistic design of pottery. So, if you are interested in pottery and want to know how to make it, Koh Kret is one of the perfect destination while you are in Thailand.

OTOP Village

“OTOP” stands for “One Tambon One Product” was an initiative by former prime minister Taksin Shinawatra, to invigorate the rural economy, in which he encouraged people from the villages called Tambons to form co-operatives, producing the same one product. In this village we actually have the chance to visit one pottery place where we also get the chance to learn on how to make one.

How To Get To Koh Kret

Here is some way on how you can go to Koh Kret from Bangkok. Koh Kret is in Nonthaburi, about 12km north of central Bangkok.

1. By Bus

To get there by bus, take bus 33 from Sanam Luang, bus 166 from the Victory Monument

2. By Taxi

Getting a taxi to take you to Pak Kret, before boarding the cross-river ferry (2B, 5am to 9pm) that leaves from Wat Sanam Neua.

3. By Express Boat

Take the express boat from the Chao Phraya Express Boat’s ‘green flag’ express that runs from/to Pak Kret to Saphan Taksin (Tha Sathon or Central Pier) on weekdays every 20 minutes from 6.10am to 8.10am, and in the opposite direction every 20 minutes from 4.05pm to 6.05pm (32B).

Hello! 

This week I will talk about things that you should prepare before coming to study in Thailand. Well it’s actually based on my opinion and experience for studying in the land of smile as I’m writing this while I’m still here studying as an exchange student for one semester in Thammasat University Thailand. You might have some other opinions about this but, this is what I have for you to think about and some of you might agree with me ;) . 

Getting the opportunity to study abroad makes me feel like I am the luckiest student as only few students will get this opportunity. As this also makes me feel like I’m carrying a big responsibility for my self, my university, and my country because the first reason coming to Thailand is for studying. Yes it is the first priority to study and work hard to get a good score but it is not wrong to have fun and enjoy Thailand as what you like.

But! Before all the things happens, you need to be prepared for some stuff so you will be ready to survive and enjoy your time in Thailand and be less worried ;) so take a look at these 7 things that you need to prepare before studying in Thailand.

1. Your Mental

The very first important thing that I think you need to have before coming to every country especially when you are going to study and if this is your first time living abroad. Missing home ? that’s normal, be ready to live away from your home as this is also a good thing to train your self to be more independent and to be responsible for your own life.

Going to miss home ? Missing it already ? :D

I know maybe some of you might experience the homesickness or even expecting it at the beginning of time when you arrived, but I got some tips to get rid of the homesickness.

a. Before coming to the country (in this case Thailand) do a lot of research about Thailand that will makes you feel excited more and more. This way you will be excited that you can not really wait anymore to come to Thailand and you will even forget about your home, haha.

b. Once you arrived and when you feel that you are missing home, don’t take it seriously. Do something, make yourself busy with stuff and keep in mind that you are here for studying and sure you will be going back home after you finish studying, so make the best out of everything while you are here!

c. Be around people that you think you are comfortable with, I’m not saying to have few friends but you can talk with some friends that you think that they can understand you and you think that you are comfortable to talk about stuff with. Don’t be over dramatic! Not all of your friends can take it the way you want it to be.

Do a lot of research about the culture in the country, the do and don’t. When you live in another country like Thailand, sure they have a different culture compared to your own culture, be Respectful! This way also will reduce the culture shock that you will be experiencing during your stay in the country.

2. At least learn basic Thai

Learn some basic Thai language like introducing your self, numbers, directions, how to order food in restaurants. You don’t have to pay a lot of money to go to the Thai class to learn the language, well if you do want to have a privete lessons you can, but why don’t try to learn it from the internet yourself first? :) there are a lot of websites, blogs, videos online where you can learn the basic Thai Language from and it’s free. If you love watching movie or listening to musics, try watching the Thai movie or listen to Thai musics and you can also learn from there.

3. Know the place where you live in

Again, do a research about the place where you are going to live in. what is the transportation available around the place, the public facilities such as hospitals, restaurants, is it close to your university where you are going to study, are you going to live with roommates or by your self, stuff like that would also help you to be prepared even before coming to Thailand. This is not like a deep research and something that you have to think really hard about, but at least you can have some image about the place that you are going to live in and you can tell yourself about stuff that you might be needing during your stay in Thai.

4. Make a lot of friends

You can do this even before coming to Thailand! If you know anyone who is Thai or a friend who know someone from Thailand, or at least someone that knows about Thailand, you can ask them some stuff that you might want to know before coming to Thailand. Yes I’m so lucky that the university I am studying in Thailand have a buddy program for all the exchange student studying there where you will be introduced to one Thai student in the university and you can ask them stuff about the university and Thailand. Having a lot of friends is very important, so you will not feel lonely and you can have a lot of network from people around the world.

5. Know the Food!

For me, I already get used to the food in Thailand ;) it is not very far different with the foods from my home country. Thailand have various kind of foods, mostly taste spicy and sour for me but you can still ask for a food that not to spicy or even not spicy at all. Be smart on choosing the food, if you think it’s to much for your stomach, if you think you can not take it because they use a lot of different spices that you never get used to, then order something else that is more fit in to your stomach as there are a lot of choices. Don’t waste your time eating your home country food! You will go back to your country anyway and believe me, for some of us, it might be hard to find the Thai food that we are already get used to when we were living in Thailand once you go back to your home country.

photo : my all time favorite Pad Thai

6. Pack only needed stuff!

Why? But it is not a travel or a short term for staying in Thailand. Pack only the stuff that you will be needing here, in Thailand you can find a lot of cheap stuff, and you can bring it back home as there are a lot of night market everywhere such as Chatuchak night market in Bangkok.

7. Have fun & don’t forget to study!

Hey, is this the perfect timing to tell you guys about ghosts? I know Halloween have passed couple days ago, but i want to introduce you all to the ghosts that are known well in Indonesia, yes they are Indonesian native ghosts, lol. Believe it or not, some people said that they have spotted or encounter the paranormal experience in their life. My self have not yet spot one or seen any kind of ghosts and hopefully I wont see any in the future. Well as far, I have only hearing voice and the little winds whispering on my ear. Even though I have not spot any of these ghosts, but I still believe in the spirit and other supernatural things in life. As a country consisting of different ethnic and cultures, people in Indonesia have produced  a lot of understanding and beliefs which also a factor of why do they have a lot of different kind of ghosts in each place. Lets take a look on how each ghosts are like and their story :

1. Pocong

This is the one ghost that I fear the most, even though I never seen the ghost, because it looks like a real dead body. Pocong are known among muslims in Indonesia because it form the dead body covered in white cloth (shread) where a dead person of a muslim in Indonesia will be covered by the white cloth before they are buried. Even though this kind of ghost came from the beliefs of muslims in Indonesia, other people with different beliefs also believe in Pocong and some said have spotted one.

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According to traditional beliefs, the soul of a dead person will stay on the earth for 40 days after the death. When the ties aren't released after 40 days, the body is said to jump out from the grave to warn people that the soul need the bonds to be released. After the ties are released, the soul will leave the earth and never show up anymore. Because of the tie under the feet, the ghost can't walk. This causes the pocong to hop. There are also signs of when you are going to meet the pocong or when the pocong are going to haunt you. The signs are the weird strong feeling like when you feel somebody are watching you when you are alone, the next sign is that you will hear weird voices like someone laughing, crying or stepping, sometimes knocking on the wall or anywhere each every 3 times, 7 times or 9 times. Next sign is that you will smell a strong scent, sometimes it’s a good strong scent but still odd or a bad scent like a scent of the dead, next is moving objects without someone doing anything into the objects, and the last you can see if you have pets or dogs anywhere around you acting strangely. Scary right ?

2. Kuntilanak

Kuntilanak are known as a women that are pregnant and died during or before giving birth. Generally, kuntilanak known as a pretty woman dressed in a long white dress with her long black hair and love to reside on the big tree.

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Some people said that kuntilanak can also turn into a pretty woman walking alone in the dark. Based on the beliefs on the people in Java, kuntilanak will not haunt people when they have a nail, knife and scissors with them. I actually have a story about this one that happens to me when I was on a vacation to a place near mountain in Bali. It was when I was in a family trip to a place that are nice and cozy, we rent a place near the mountain where it is far away from other villages, it was nice because it is also located near the lake even though it looks kind of haunted but I enjoyed it until I choose a room for me to sleep which was on the second floor. The room was really nice, they don’t have air conditioner because it is always cold during the day and even colder during nighttime. As I was enjoying the room and wondering around enjoying the view from upstair, I found a little box on a desk next to the bed. It looks old and very attractive that I was really curious to open it. Yes, I decided to open the box and I know I will see something odd in it. but then I actually found the rustic long black nail wrapped with hairs. I was kind of surprised and been asking my self why does the person have this kind of thing left alone in the room. Then I remember about the story of the nail to prevent people from kuntilanak haunting them. I was freaked out because it could be possible that the villa was once haunted by kuntilanak so that the person have that nail wrapped with some hairs and keep it in the weird box. Oh yes, i still sleep in the room for 2 nights, but nothing happens, lol. i guess i was just lucky ?

3. Genderuwo

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Is a myth from Java, known as a genie that forming as a human half monkey with a really big portion of body and head, their skins are reddish black, its body is covered with hairs. They are mostly hang around a big and wet rocks, old and empty buildings, big trees or every corner that are very humid and dark. Genderuwo it self came from the beliefs of Hindus and Buddhist in Indonesia as a big creature called Gandharva.

4. Wewe Gombel

The ghost Wewe Gombel or Nenek Gombel (Nenek means grandma) is ghost from Javanese myths. They are known as a ghost that loves to kidnap little kids, but they won’t hurt them. The kids that are kidnapped are usually kids that are being abandoned or neglected by their parents. Wewe Gombel will usually haunt the parents of the kidnapped kids as the revenge of what the parents done to their children, once the parents realize of their own mistake for neglecting their children, Wewe Gombel will give the children back to their parents. Nice job Wewe Gombel ! lol

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The myths of Wewe Gombel are used in  the old times to scare the children so that they will not wander around during the night time, because at that time, there are wild beast or wild animals that are probably wandering around in the dark inside the village.

5. Tuyul

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In the Javanese myths, tuyul is a ghost in the form of a dwarf with bald head. Some said that they have silver skin color, and their voice is like chuckling. Tuyul mostly used in black magic to help people being reach by using them to steal money from other people. Some people believe that tuyul is a ghost of a baby that are dead when they are just born or before they were even born because of abortion. This is why tuyul acting like a little kids that loves to play around like what some people that have spotted tuyul said. People in Indonesia believe that if you want to fail tuyul from stealing money in your house you can put “yuyu” in a bowl (it is a baby crab that are still alive) in every corner of the house, because they love playing with them.

6. Leak

Leak in the Balinese mythology is a wicked witch, “Le” Witch “ak” Wicked. Leak can only be seen during the night by the “hunter” of leak. During the day, they will look like a normal person, while in the night time they will wander around graveyard to find human organs that are used to create some kind of magic potions. The potion will able the Leak to change their form into lions, monkeys, pigs or “Rangda” (Form of the Leak in Balinese believe). 

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SELAMAT MAKAN !

haha that means Bon Apetit! in Indonesian

Hey, it’s been a long time since i updated my blog, i know i am being so random with my blog post jumping from one topic to another, but this is my personal interest and food is one of them, i still hope that you enjoy reading it though, haha.

Okay, so this time i will talk about one food in Indonesia that you can find mostly in all over the place in Indonesia. So, this food is what the majority in Indonesia used to eat. Since we are part of the ASEAN country, we embrace the rice ;)

The dish called ‘Nasi Campur’, literally ‘Nasi’ means Rice while ‘Campur’ means mixed, so usually you get to choose various kind of traditional dishes and it will be served with the rice. Different place, different kind of traditional dishes, add the rice, there you have the ‘Nasi Campur’.

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Since i have been living in two different places in Indonesia, i know this stereotype of ‘Nasi Campur’ between these two places i have been living in. The choose of various traditional dishes, the flavor, are they using soup or not, which is more spicy, and stuff like that. Yes, i have to mention that i have been living in Jakarta and Bali and was going back and forth during my study because my dad used to work in these two places. I have been experiencing a lot of culture shock, one of them is the foods until i really get used to both kinds of foods now.. i know right ? having a culture shock in your own country ? haha

This might be a little out of topics, but experiencing and living in a different culture is fun, you can learn a lot of stuff and a lot of new things to try.

One thing that is really specify it as a traditional dish is from the packaging of the ‘Nasi Campur’. Usually, if you don’t want to take the Nasi Campur home, they will wrap the ‘Nasi Campur’ with banana leafs but mostly they use food paper and add banana leafs inside to wrap the dish.

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Promise me when you go to Indonesia, this is a must to try Nasi Campur, there surely will be a good chance that it will turns out into one of your favorite dish. I know you might think that rice is kind of plain and boring, lol. BUT! with the choose of various kinds of traditional dishes, it will live it up, it will turn the rice into a perfect dish that you might like.

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so basically, you can choose between various kinds of vegetables, fried dishes, boiled, steamed, grilled, etc and add kinds of ‘sambal’ (chili) if you like spicy, and yes, talking about this makes me hungry..

Lets see what are the top traditional dishes in my own perspective as Indonesian that usually put into the ‘Nasi Campur’ dish :

1. Tempe

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It is a soybean cake, usually it is fried until it changes color into brown, you can mostly find this in the traditional dishes options, and it is the most wanted and a must to have in the dish of ‘Nasi Campur’ even though it is up to your own choose, this is one of the  well known traditional food in Indonesia. Sometimes, tempe served with fried peanuts, it could be spicy or sweets and the tempe in this usually chopped into little sticks.

2. Sambal

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Sambal means chili, if you like spicy food, it is a must to have sambal in your Nasi Campur Dish, or if you just want to try it, you can put it separately from the dish and try a little dip with some of your dish to add a little spiciness to the flavor.

3. Sayur

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Sayur means vegetables. There are various types of vegetables, but the mostly recommended veggies are the sauté vegetables, because it doesn’t have to many soups in it so it won’t mess with your rice and the other dishes in your plate, haha

4. Satay

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It is a meat skewers, mostly you will find chicken skewers. But in Bali, the most well known skewers is the traditional Balinese fish skewers. It’s a little bit spicy while the chicken skewers that you will normally find is sweets because of the sweet sauce.

5. Ayam Goreng

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Ayam means chicken while goring means fried. Actually you can choose between various type of meats, fried, steamed, grilled, all are still delicious, but mostly you will easily find the Ayam Goreng everywhere in the food stall of Nasi Campur.

6. Kerupuk

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It is deep fried crackers made from starch and other ingredients that serve as flavouring. Mostly are a little bit salty and it’s savory. It is one of my favorite dish, sometimes I eat it as a snack. I can not even resist when hearing the ‘cracking sound’ when people eat it, it is so tempting and makes me wants to also eat it.

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Be prepared! There are a lot of weird things going to happen on October 2015, besides the blood moon that people have been talking about.. It’s Zombie! It’s... The WALKING DEAD SEASON 6!! haha

How are you doing people?! Does anyone love watching horror movies? does anyone love to watch movie series? (Movie series? eh, sometimes, if it’s a horror movie series, i does) lol, Does anyone know or want to know how to survive on zombie apocalypse? Curious enough and still have more questions about zombie? How about watching The Walking Dead Series, that might have the answers to your questions.

Okay! This week i will talk about my whole time favorite movie series, The Walking Dead. I love this movie, even if i have to watch the series from the very beginning until the last season which is season 5 over and over again, i will not get bored that easy.

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What is interesting about The Walking Dead?

For me, it gives you an imaginary of how we could survive in the middle of zombie apocalypse. What also interesting in The Walking Dead Season 6 is that the first episode of the premiere will have the duration of 90 mins and will have more than 650 “walkers” (zombies) in it. It is the most number of zombies that they have ever include in an episode since it was first released back in 2010.

It is interesting on knowing how the future would be, as if, haha. I know some of us didn’t believe about zombies, but who knows?! well, it is possible though when a person dead because of a virus and the virus can still interact with the deceased dead body and make them walk as what it makes them another “creature“. Oh well, lets just hope for the best on what it would be in the future.

Michonne, She’s one of my favorite character!

I think she is cool and she also good in using those samurais, all the blades is her soul, like she was born to kill zombies, i mean, just look at the video down here on how she go rampage on all the zombies around her, it’s like she have the highest possibility to survive more than the other character does, and she’s also smart.

YES! Be around her, and you are safe from zombies, but just be careful not to be to close while she swings her samurai.

TRAILER RELEASED!

Well, This year Comic Con released a great news for all the fans of The Walking Dead movie series. The event was held in San Diego on 10th of July where AMC released the trailer to the newest season of The Walking Dead. They also inform that the premiere will be released on 11th of October. Lets not wait for long and let me show you the trailer of The Walking Dead Season 6 :

Excited?! me too! There will be more zombies, more actions, new character and old character showing up again, new story of these people trying to survive from the zombie apocalypse.

As we can see in the trailer, it seemed that people inside the barricades of the place called Alexandria are not trusting Rick anymore, even some of them thinks that he is dangerous. No, i don’t think so, since the beginning i know Rick is just trying to survive himself and his own family then people gathered as in a group with him also trying to survive from the zombie apocalypse. As, time goes by, those people in the group starting to trust Rick as the leader where he always make good and wise decision where everyone in the group could respect every single decision until they made it to the last so called place, Alexandria. 

We can also see that Alexandria is under attack by the zombies, and what Rick trying to do is to protect the place and have more people to work with him. But, not all of them are showing the support. It seems that he need to be more strict and maybe a little bit more harsh to these people? haha. Oh well, we could also tell that the zombies made it inside the barricades and Alexandria will no more be the safest place for the survivors anymore. People are escaping, while some are hiding. I can see Daryl is also kidnapped, maybe he got separated with the others? what will be happening to him? what will be happening to Rick? what will be happening to the people of Alexandria and the rest of the group? i just can’t wait for the premiere to come out!