Hello..Hello...Hello..
Our final destination for Indonesia cum Pulau Jawa backpack. Since we've got the afternoon train from Jogja, I managed to get the hotel next to Surabaya Gubeng Station, Hotel Sahid. Like I mentioned earlier, we burst our budget this time, but what the heck! It's our final destination anyway... Trip from Jogja to Surabaya took us 5 hours. Views are quite the same but I still enjoyed it. Train Argo Wilis provided us with makan tengahari, I thought I could order some bakso but then they have closed the last order at 4.00pm..But I must tell you this, The Pink Guava Juice inside the train is AWESOME.
Enough with all the food, we arrived in Surabaya Gubeng at 7.00pm and it was dark, like always, we've been "attacked again" by taxi and becak. At that moment I was nervous, I hoped my instinct was right, I was trying hard to find the right exit to the hotel. We even came out at the wrong exit. Gosh!!! Once again, being attacked by them.. Sampaikan one of them merungut, "teksinya nggak mau, becak pun nggak mau". We didn't mean not to take them but I knew the hotel must be somewhere around. Yes! I was right, not even 5mins walk from the "right" exit.
Check-in, had our meal from the room service, Faizal took some panadol and zzzzzzzzzzz. He started to feel unwell. Maybe because of the weather keep on changing. Actually sebelum sampai sini Faizal agak skeptikal about this place, tak banyak research atau blog dari Malaysia yang cerita mengenai Surabaya. Tapi kami redah je...
The next day after breakfast (it was Sunday by the way), we took a cab to go to Masjid Ampel. It took about 1/2hour from the hotel. For those who have heard about wali songo, would have known about Sunan Ampel. Sunan Ampel adalah salah seorang wali yang bertanggungjawab membawa Islam ke tanah Jawa. Jika di perhatikan betul-betul di luar kawasan masjid ini tak ubah seperti kawasan pedagang-pedagang Arab. Sesak dengan orang ramai samada untuk mengunjungi makam Sunan Ampel serta beberapa ulama lain. Sehingga ke hari ini, rasanya rutin mengunjungi makam beliau masih relevan di kalangan penduduk setempat mahupun seluruh Indonesia.
Tidak dikenakan sebarang bayaran tetapi jika sekiranya ada niat untuk bersedekah amatlah dialu-alukan. Sebenarnya di dalam kawasan makam tidak dibenarkan mengambil gambar tapi kami tak perasankan notis tu, apalagi "ter"ambil a few shot. For girls, it is proper for you to cover your head before enter this mosque.
Selepas itu, we took a cab again to go to Jambatan Merah, percaya atau tidak tak ramai orang Indonesia yang tahu pasal jambatan merah ni. Mungkin mitosnya yang pelbagai. Samalah macam kita kat Malaysia, kadang2 sejarah negara sendiri pun kita kurang arif. Jambatan Merah dikatakan berpunca pertarungan ikan yu(suro) dan buaya(boyo), sehingga terperciknya darah. Kejadian ini juga terbitnya nama Surabaya, tapi untuk orang tempatan Suroboyo. Tak jauh dari Jambatan Merah, di Jalan Kembang Jepun ada Chinatown tapi dikenali sebagai Kya-Kya, tetapi menurut pemandu teksi yang sudi menemani kami mengatakan tempat tu dah berpindah. Cuma di waktu malam, Kya-Kya hanya tempat berkaraoke.
After that, we headed to Tugu Pahlawan yang mana terdapatnya patung Soekarno dan Suharto semasa proklamasi kemerdekaan di Surabaya.... Tak lama selepas itu, kami menuju ke kebun binatang Surabaya atau kalau kat Malaysia dikira zoo la.. Kami tak masuk ke dalam sebab kesuntukan masa cuma sempat bergambar kat monumen ni. Tak lengkap rasanya kalau tak tengok monumen ni. Ini dikirakan landmark untuk Surabaya. Pertarungan diantara Suro dan Boyo. Nasib baik bapak yang memandu kami tu baik, beliau sabar dengan karenah dan jadual tempat-tempat yang kami nak lawati. Kami hanya bayar 100,000rp termasuk tip dan perjalanan selama lebih kurang 4jam... Terima kasih pak!
Disebabkan kami hanya ada tak sampai 2 hari penuh di sini, kami bergerak ala-ala Amazing Race. Sebelum berakhirnya lawatan kami secara berpandu, kami sempat melalui hotel Majapahit Oriental, di sini ada juga sejarahnya, di mana bendera Indonesia dikibarkan selepas bendera Belanda diturunkan atau lebih dikenali sebagai "Flag Incident". Hotel ini juga antara yang terawal di sini. On the way to our last destination, we pass by the Kerapan Sapi Monument. Kerapan Sapi ni lebih popular di Pulau Madura. Jika anda ingin ke sana, boleh menaiki feri di Tanjung Perak di sekitar Surabaya, memakan masa 45 minit sahaja.
Sebelum pulang ke hotel, kami menghabiskan masa di Plaza Tunjungan, merupakan shopping mall yang terbesar di sini. Mana taknya, 5 buah mall bergabung jadi satu. Shopping best kat sini, harga not too bad for branded stuff, tapi paling kami suka sekali T-shirt indie design tempatan. Converse shoes murah since we are Converse fan, jadi gila kejap... Dan yang paling syok sekali, ambil kesempatan buat refleksologi kat sini... Makan pun best! Sedap! Murah!
Kira-kira pukul 8.00 malam we went to back to the hotel. But the next morning after breakfast... while waiting for checking out, sempat ke Museum Kapal Selam yang hanya 5 minit dari hotel kami, malah boleh nampak pun dari bilik. Memandang Faizal and I never been into the submarine, we acted like a kid. Semua benda tengok dan belek-belek... Masuk murah je..10,000rp... Selepas tu, memandangkan kami ni ada sikit duit extra, we bought some brownies and chocolate made in bandung for our family and friends. Packed our back, sharp 11.30am we checked out. Took a cab (80,000rp) and off to Juanda Airport.
After almost 12 days in Pulau Jawa, Faizal and I really had a GREATTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!! time. Alhamdullilah everything was in place and time, nothing bad had happened to us. We hope we will do it again.... may be different part of Indonesia, one of the countries that we never get bored...
You guys wanna know how much we spent? Maybe it might help those who have plan to do the same thing. We spent RM1500 per person including flight ticket, train ticket, accomodation, transportation and food...
*For shopping you guys have to figure it out yourself... Semoga Ketemu lagi di lain waktu...
