Mozilla L10n Hackathon Bangkok (Part 1)

Last month, I was invited to attend Mozilla L10n hackathon in Bangkok. It was a two days event that bring together Mozilla l10n contributors from across south east asia, plus Bangladesh.

I was so thrilled when I get the invitation because hell yeah, my passport will finally get its first stamp. Haha. But not only that actually. I was so thrilled because it’s gonna be my first opportunity to meet mozillian from across south east Asia. And it was an honor for me to get invited because the invitation was limited only for the core contributors.

So, here is the story..

Pre-event (28 August)

I barely had a chance to pack from the night before due to my graduation event last 27 August. But I thank god that my flight to Jakarta is not too early so I can pack my stuff in the morning. But then it turn out that my flight to Jakarta was delayed so I had a quite marathon in CGK to catch my next flight to Bangkok. It was an exhausting afternoon. Moreover with my backpack which I bring along into the cabin.

Last selfie with sister who accompany me to the airport But then I arrived at the gate and found out that my flight to Bangkok was also delayed. I sighed but now relieved because at least I had a chance to catch my breath after the marathon. Long story short, I arrived at the Svarnabhumi Airport (BKK) at around 4:30PM. I immediately searched for the Basement B to take the Airport Link City line to Phaya Thai as written in the event wiki. So from Phaya Thai, I have to shift to MRT and take the route to the Bearing Station.

I get off at Ekkamai station. But the funny thing is, I left my MRT ticket when I enter the station in Phaya Thai. So I get confused because now I can’t discharged from Ekkamai station. It was my very first overseas trip (also my first time took the MRT) and I was alone. So I basically don’t know if I should take the card again after I enter the station. But it’s funny because before take the MRT, I took the Airport Link City line which basically has the same system.

So I searched for the station officer and ask him what should I do. But he wasn’t understand English so he take me over to another officer. I retell my story to him and he asked “Ticket lost?”. I finally nodded and he ask me to buy a new ticket. I bought the ticket again for 42 baht and I laugh myself out loud after I discharged from the station to remember how ridiculous it was. I finally arrived at the hotel at around 6PM but didn’t have any intention to explore Bangkok anymore that night since my leg and spine was so weary after a long marathon in the airport.

Day 1 (29 August)

I finally had a chance to meet my fellow l10n contributor from Indonesia, om Benny who departed separately from Surabaya. Too bad that another l10n contributor from Indonesia, om Romi can’t join us in this event. But anyway, I met another Mozillian from Malaysia, Myanmar, and Laos when we had breakfast in the hotel. We then heading to the hackathon venue together. The hackathon was held in PAH Space, which is part of HUBBA co-working space. And here comes Arky who welcome us in PAH SpacePoy from HUBBA give a welcome note for us. And finally Jeff was started the event at around 10AM. He started with Mozilla’s mission and organization changes from Whistler Work Week. And this is Theo who explain us about road maps, schedules and priorities for upcoming localization work. After the lunch, we started again with free time to work on various projects. I finally approaching om Benny who was more senior in the l10n project. He teach me some tools that I haven’t try before. Then we decided to work on a project together that afternoon. Malaysia team working on their projects. Bangladesh team. Guys from Thailand and Vietnam.

Afternoon session ended on 5PM. We went back to hotel and promised to meet at the restaurant for dinner at 7PM. We ate sea food for the dinner that day. I feel like I finally can eat properly because I finally had a chance to eat spicy food. Haha.

Day 2 (30 August) to be continue..

Images credit goes to Moz PH community and my personal collection.