Our one whole day in Surabaya found us walking a big figure eight from the Kayon Flower Market up to the Ampel Mosque and back - 10 miles or so. People were friendly in this very active city, the sites worth seeing, there were several unexpected marvels, and we did not wilt in our first full day out in the tropical sun. Not to mention some splendid colonial architecture. ;-)
Sun-Ling says she'll always remember the one-legged man with a crutch selling newspapers just a few hundred meters from our hotel who greeted us at 7:30 AM with a big smile and a cheerful hello.
We arced around Volcano Ijen for the first hour of the journey.
Our train at Banyuwangi Station.
Eksecutif (Executive) Class
In the hills.
At some points dwellings were right next to the tracks.
Threshing rice.
Planting rice.
Perfect movie for a train trip.
A shopping mall near our hotel has no shortage of familiar names.
A morning mobile market near our hotel.
There are bike lanes on the main roads but we saw just a handful of cyclists using them.
Hotel Majapahit - circa 1910 to 1936 - with a both deco and nouveau stylings.
Cheng Ho Mosque - The only mosque in the city with Chinese architectural elements.
The very impressive Dutch Colonial Post Office circa 1890's (my best guess).
We were pleasantly surprised (a marvel) to see this water refill station where we got our 1 Liter nalgene bottle refilled for 500 rupiah (about 4 cents). Tap water is not drinkable so we prefer to fill up instead of buying plastic water bottles just to throw them away when empty.
We try a mochaccino from a small stand. Kinda the Indonesian version of Taiwanese bubble tea. It was quite good.
Typical transport in Chinatown.
The Chinatown market.
Chinatown runs right into the Arab Quarter with its shops, covered souk, and mosque.
Ampel Mosque.
The famous Sampoerna cigarette manufacturing empire appears to have been founded by the Lin family judging from the stained glass window next to the front door.
Colonial House built in 1880 where East meets West.
More colonial architecture.
Vegetarian dinner - Longtong Cap Gomek
What is the "perfect movie for a train trip"? I'm clueless based on the captured image.
ReplyDeleteI hope the movie didn't come with sound! Otherwise looks like a really nice train trip. Also looks like you're eating well.
ReplyDelete@Crash, the movie was http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/, sufficient enough clue?
ReplyDelete@Kathy, we are eating excessively well. John didn't even post our hotel breakfasts. The buffets range 50-100+ vessels of various food, drink, and condiments. It's too decadent for me. We are taking an option without breakfast in Yogya.
ReplyDeleteSnowpiercer, never heard of it. But a train movie on a train is perfect!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about drinking water issue as we prepare for Mexico city. I read that the government is promoting hard to drink safe tap water. Two years ago we lived on bottled water in Yucatan.
ReplyDeleteWQ, I don't have my travel journal with me, but SL and I both remember that we drank the tap water most places in Mexico including DF. We do always ask about the water but we don't ask "can we drink the tap water?"; we ask "do you drink the tap water?. Hope that helps. Here in Indonesia, most hotels have electric kettles in the room, so we boil the tap water then fill up our 1L nalgene bottles with it, letting it cool overnight. Also, some hotels have "water coolers" for refills. We don't want to leave a trail of empty plastic water bottles all over SE Asia.
ReplyDelete