Two Days in Solo

Although many tourists visit Solo (Surakarta) as a day trip from Yogyakarta, we kept ourselves very busy for two full days including attending an evening performance. Not to mention that our hotel had a tremendous (and lavish) breakfast buffet and a great pool.

Day One we had back-to-back perfect included-in-the-admission guided tours; first at the Batik Museum and then at the Puro Mangkunegaran Palace. We shopped. We swam. We ate a tasty dinner at a backpacker joint. We attended an evening Javanese performance of gamelan music and theater.

Sun-Ling specially enjoyed the Javanese performance not only for the music and theater but also for the fact that it was well attended by locals of all ages, us being the only foreigners.

Day Two: We joined the locals for their Sunday morning "car free" walk, bike, run, skate. We
visited the Keraton Kasunanan (the other palace). We shopped and shopped. We got our hair cut at the mall. We swam.

Tempeh and rice at Warung Baru.


Serabi, a Solo specialty.


The historic Hotel Central needs a paint job.


In contrast, the nearby McDonald's looks pretty spiffy.


Puro Mangkunegaran Palace where we also listened to a bit of the gamelan orchestra practice.


Some video of the Gamelan Orchestra here.

No shoes, er sandals, in the palace.


Quiet back street.


Typical main street intersection.


Pedicabs near the North Square.


We stopped by the night market just as it was getting underway; bought a few snacks.




One of main drags is car free every Sunday morning from 6 to 9. Well attended.








The second palace, Keraton Kasunanan, had a clock tower, shady grounds and an impressive collection of horse carriages in its museum.








The hotel pool.


Got our hair cut at this mall.


Not much of a beer selection at the Carrefour. Guess it's because Indonesia is predominantly Muslim.

Bonus Train to Solo

Buying our tickets just two days before a Friday departure we had to choose between the most expensive Eksecutif seats on an train whose timings did not quite suit us OR less comfortable seats on an Ekonomi train with perfect timing but an arrival in Solo (Surakarta) at an alternate station. Both trains had AC. So we took the Ekonomi and received two bonuses: we made some new friends on the train and got to ride Solo's new Bus Rapid Transit line - named Batik Solo Trans - from Purwosari Station to city center.

The configuration of the seats on the train put us face to face with a quiet young Indonesian couple traveling from Surabaya (their home) to Bandung, some 12 hours away where his job is. He is 26 and she is 23. They don't have any children but plan to start soon are certain they will have exactly three. He works for a business that sells bathroom floor mats. Sun-Ling chatted with them quite a bit although their English was limited. Helps to have an English-Indonesian dictionary on your tablet.

As our "compartment" was tight, I moved across the aisle next to Yussef, a Muslim from Surabaya who learned his very good English while working as a "migrant worker" in Saudi Arabia as bus driver for a multinational company. He is 31 years old and has a daughter by his first wife (divorced) and a son by his second wife. Although currently unemployed, he has "ambitions". Maybe he will work abroad again in Dubai or Bahrain. He also has ambitions for a better Indonesia. On his bucket list: to touch snow. Yussef is a good guy I wish him well.

Sun-Ling had found the Batik Solo Trans bus line info online and it worked to perfection. A covered walkway led right from the station exit to the covered elevated bus stop. And before we had a chance to study the route map a bus pulled up. After the other passengers got on, we were standing at the edge of platform looking at the conductor with the familiar feeling one gets in a foreign country when you need to interact with someone and it seems that there is not enough common language. However when I said "Do you go to the Novotel", emphasis on Novotel, both the conductor and the driver exclaimed "Novotel yes!" with smiles of relief so we squeezed on the bus also smiling with relief.

The flat fare was 4,500 rupiah each, about 35 cents. After 2 kms the conductor pointed to us and said Novotel and we got off at the next stop. Smiles all around even from our fellow passengers on the small-for-BRT bus where we had frightened and partially squashed a young child with our humongous backpacks. Not kidding. [Note that we actually stayed at the Ibis next to the Novotel.]

Surabaya

The 9:00 AM train from Banyuwangi to Surabaya, Indonesia's 2nd largest city with a population of just over 3 million, pulled out on time, and we had a pleasant trip across eastern Java winding our way around the massive volcanoes and enjoying the always changing scenes: rice fields, corn fields, villages crammed right up to the tracks, coffee plantations, and more mosques than one could count.

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

UPDATED: On To Java

Some updates:

In the last post I inadvertently left out this photo of Sun-Ling and her new friend who looks like she is right out of a Tang Dynasty painting.



And some of our email subscription readers could not view the embedded video of Sun-Ling describing the interesting fruit which we now is a salak; so please click on this link to see it.