Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009

December was my longest holiday this year. Out of 20 working days (public holidays not included), I only worked like less than 8 days. I took my leave from 9-19 Dec. Back to Bali just to work for another 3 days (22-24 Dec) and got back to Jakarta again on 24th afternoon. Collective leave for Christmas and New Year from 26 until 2nd January was too good to be spent in Bali as Bali was totally crowded with tourists from Christmas until New Year.

For my first leave from 9-19 Dec, had to go back to Jakarta because of my cousin’s wedding and had to be best man for him. But after the wedding, me and my relatives went for a tour de Java on chartered bus. The route taken was Bekasi – Tasikmalaya – Magelang (Borobudur) – Yogyakarta – Solo (Surakarta) – Mount Bromo – Malang – Surabaya – Tuban – Semarang – Cirebon – Bekasi in just 5 days and the only day we all slept in a hotel was in Surabaya…totally ass-torturing trip O.o
But it was worth the journey…

At Tasikmalaya, we stopped by to have lunch with our relatives there, some shopped for Kelom Geulis (traditional Tasikmalaya’s ladies slippers made of Mahogany) and rest for a while until night time before continuing to Borobudur.
We arrived at Borobudur around 6-7am and have to say it is the best time to visit Borobudur as there wasn’t much visitors around, the air is still fresh, and the fog surrounding the mountains in a far can be seen clearly. Unfortunately, there are still some part of the temple is still in restoration due to major earth quakes some time ago and most of the Budha’s statue’s heads are gone which I suspect being stolen and sold for money. And for breakfast, the food stall nearby provided quite extensive range of Javanese food, from Gudeg, Soto, Gado-Gado, Nasi Liwet, and much more in a very reasonable price.

Borobudur front Borobudur front

clouds over Borobudur Borobudur park

inside Borobudur statues with missing heads

At Yogyakarta, we visited the Cart Museum, where the carts was still well-preserved back from the Dutch colonial days. As for lunch, we visited Gadri Resto, to explain it short, it is a classic Javanese restaurant located in Yogyakarta’s Sultan’s relative’s house, which is also a classic Javanese royal house and is still being used by the owner (Prince Joyokusumo). I have to say there’s nothing special about the food but the atmosphere made the food worth to try and it was not too pricey. There was special Javanese dance performance as well for some Japanese tourist that came that day, probably available by request in advance as it wasn’t performed daily but there are video footage regarding the house and the owner available to be seen while waiting for your food being cooked and prepared.

gadri resto java beer gadri resto meals

In Solo, again we take a rest and bath at a relative’s house. Did not spend much time here as we arrived there in the afternoon and was chasing to get the sun rise at Bromo. As I grew up here many years ago, the must-try food here are Nasi Liwet (boiled rice with coconut milk) and Wedang Ronde (Glutinous stick rice Balls in Ginger water, where the glutinous balls usually have mashed peanut stuffing) and there’s also delicious Lamb Satay here in Solo where we had dinner at before moving on to Bromo (I forget the street name, but it should be around Pasar Nongko area), if you’re looking for sate ayam ponorogo (Ponorogo chicken satay), my recommendation is the one exactly in front of my old house in Jl. Balapan (near Balapan Train Station) it is still sellling until now since I was a baby!! You can tell where my first satay came from
(Reference to the Javanese food mentioned above: JAVANESE & INDONESIAN FOOD

When we arrived at Mount Bromo it was around 5a.m and too bad that it was a cloudy day and it was late for sun rise!! The minibus driver (need to take the minibus to really reach Mount Bromo) said that we should got there around 3a.m if we wanted to see the sunrise. But we were lucky enough it wasn’t raining that morning and the soil was wet enough to keep the sands from flying around. Not much to tell here because the view and scenery speaks for it self.

Done at Bromo and we had lunch on Malang, didn’t spend much time here except for lunch at a soto restaurant while using the toilet and charged our cell phones

The final stop before going back to Bekasi was Surabaya, the capital of East Java, and the only place where we had decent rest & sleep ON BED not ON SEAT! Lots of great food in the city but too bad we only spent one night here. And again relatives are useful, they showed us a great kwetiau (flat rice noodle) house and sweet & egg martabak with various toppings and flavour.

surabaya from above surabaya from above surabaya from above

Our trip back to Bekasi (West Java) from Surabaya was a quick and almost non stop except for lunch, dinner, and bought some snacks along the way.

We did stop at Tuban for lunch and to stop by at a Buddhist Temple called “Kwan Sing Bio” not far from the beach where many fisherman’s boats anchored along the shore. The temple was pretty huge and lots of ornaments & statues.

kwan sing bio buddhist temple dragon statues

lion statues Main building

wall sculpture (left) description of wall sculpture (left)

wall sculpture (right) - the eight gods names of the 8 gods

Three Kingdoms’ character statues (there are also other statues I don’t know who and too lazy to upload them (another 5 statues)) Ma Chao statue Pang Tong statue Zhuge Liang statue

One thing worth notice for food lovers is to stop in Cirebon, there’s this food called Nasi Jamblang Hj. Sumarni near the harbour. What makes it special is that the rice is wrapped in Teak leaf and various dishes can be chosen to eat with the rice. The place was not huge but very crowded.

nasi jamblang

There’s also a Buddhist Temple nearby named “Vihara Dewi Welas Asih (klenteng Tay Kak Sie).” Only take few pictures here, the “main” god being worshiped here is Kwan Im, that’s why the name is Vihara Dewi Welas Asih (Temple of the merciful goddess) because she is merciful from what the elders and stories told.

Kwan Im statue on altar gods on altar

Cirebon was the last stop before going straight back home. It was a great trip although after arrived home for like 2 or 3 days, my ass still pretty much aching due to sitting too long in a bus
Will I do it all over again? Sure…..next time in not so very near future and on a different island hopefully.

A little bit late but better late than never to say : “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!”

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