Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta (Part 1)

Travel period: May 27 - 30, 2010

Location: Semarang, Magelang, Yogyakarta

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One day after finishing a photo shoot with Dita and Aulia, we came up with an idea of travelling to Dita's hometown in Magelang, Central Java. After adjusting our schedules we finally agreed to travel from May 27 - 30, 2010 and decided to stop by first in its neighboring city, Semarang. But the initial plan changed soon after we arrived in Magelang. Realising that Yogyakarta situated near Magelang, Aulia and I asked (insisted? :-") Dita to take us to Yogyakarta also. >:)

Route: Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta-Magelang

Itinerary:

• May 27: Jakarta-Semarang by bus
• May 28: Semarang tour (Girinatha temple, Cathedral Church, Lawang Sewu, Spesial Sambal restaurant, Great Mosque of  Central Java, Tay Kak Sie temple)
• May 29: Magelang -> Yogyakarta (Taman Sari) -> Magelang
• May 30: Magelang (Tidar Hill, Kyai Langgeng Park).... and coming back home to Jakarta

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We intended to take a train to Semarang as it's faster and cheaper than bus. Unfortunately, the tickets already sold out (never again travelling on holiday season!). There was no other choice but bus (no need to mention airplane as it's unfriendly to our pockets), and  lucky us there were only 3 tickets left! See, it was our destiny to take bus! And for Aulia, you did a very good job hunting for those tickets, girl! 

At Lebak Bulus bus station, on beautiful Thursday, May 27 2010, we began our journey. This is one of the largest bus stations in Jakarta located in South Jakarta servicing inner-city and inter-provincial routes. Be careful with the ticket scalpers! They're everywhere at the station and very aggressive to grab your attention. One of them even yelled at us "MONYET!" (=monkey, a common mild swear word in Indonesian) just because we didn't respond him at all. That made me wanna punch him in the face! >:/ b-( 

Our bus, Ramayana, was full but comfortable enough. The driver was very professional and didn't speed up like others. They also gave each passenger a box of snacks and a glass of mineral water. As always whenever I'm on the bus, no matter how long it takes, I always keep awake. But my travel mates are sleepyheads, whenever and wherever they can close their eyes, they will fall asleep right away. After being on the bus for 10 hours more or less, we finally arrived in our first destination city, Semarang! Yay! <:-P

I-) (read: sleepyhead) queens' happy faces just got off the bus

Semarang is the capital of the province of Central Java. Semarang Atas (higher ground) and Semarang Bawah (lower ground) makes it very unique geographically. If you happen to pass by at night, Semarang Atas night lights will make you amazed. They're beautifully twinkling like fireflies seen from far! @-) If you're into history and architecture, you have to include this city in your must-visit list as they've got a lot of  heritage buildings.

Get back to our trip, we stopped by a friend's house, Nia, to take a rest for a while before exploring the city. We had a very nice first impression of the local people by the hospitality that her family showed us (terimakasih, Nia dan keluarga! >:D<).
Another new friend, Biyan, came over and joined us.  And then we picked up another friend, Restian (he's so good at photography).

With a rental car we travelled around the city all day long visiting an old building, Lawang Sewu, and some houses of worship such as a Hindu temple named Pura Girinatha, Gereja Katedral (cathedral church), Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah (Great Mosque of Central Java), and Klenteng Tay Kak Sie (Tay Kak Sie confucian temple). Apparently I was surrounded by "narcissistic" young Javanese people (although Aulia is not a Javanese, but I'm always amazed at her great capability to switch her accent easily following the ethnicity of the person she's dealing with... ROCK ON, GIRL!!  ) Yeah, we spent that day taking tons of pictures! Thanks to Restian we had cool pictures... Thanks a bunch, brada! :> 

taken from Girinatha temple... how beautiful!

beautiful girls with beautiful temple ;)) (photo by Restian)

there is always time to pray (photo by Restian)

Buddha statue under a Banyan tree at a Tay Kak Sie 

Tay Kak Sie

inside Tay Kak Sie

Aulia at Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah

keep smiling although they're being so mean to me :)>-     

We spent a little longer at Lawang Sewu. Lawang Sewu or literally means "a thousand doors" is a remarkable three-storey heritage building located in the heart of downtown Semarang built by the Dutch colonial government. The name of  Lawang Sewu refers to the number of doors there. Our guide said that the doors were less than 1000, but he wasn't quite sure about the door leaves. According to him, with such  tropical climate, the Dutch wanted to make sure that everyone in the building would feel comfortable by setting up a good air circulation, hence they built it with so many doors and windows. Make sense! Actually, almost all old buildings I've been to in the old towns in main cities in Indonesia have a lot of doors and windows, so it's a very typical construction of the Dutch colonial rule. 

Lawang Sewu

picture of Lawang Sewu inside the building

the right side

some parts are being renovated

the hallway

The building itself has a long history. Initially it was built as the headquarter of  the Dutch railway company in Indonesia. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in 1942 - 1945, they converted an underground of the building into a dungeon and massacred Indonesian prisoners there. In the period of Soeharto's reign (second president of Indonesia), his rich family was interested to buy it to turn it into a hotel.

It's undeniably beautiful but unfortunately not very well-maintained. Musty... dust was everywhere... and we could even smell bat droppings! Old and empty, people often associate it with horror. For me, yes, it's already spooky during the day, let alone at night?!:-SS 

But you might want to test your adrenaline by taking Lawang Sewu Night Tour. My two girl friends who took that tour lately said that there was no light at all, let me repeat: no light at all in the such big old building! Brave enough? (~~)

complete formation striking a pose at Lawang Sewu

our humble poses (photo by Restian)

Done with Lawang Sewu we had to deal with our rumbling stomaches. I thanked God that my crazy new friends took us to a highly recommended restaurant for spicy food lovers, Spesial Sambal. 
This is the best place where you can find heaps of different types of sambal (chili paste), such as Sambal Ijo (chili paste made of green chili), Sambal Teri (anchovy chili paste), Sambal Jamur Merang (mushroom chili paste), Sambal Terasi (shrimp chili paste) etc. Be careful with it, when you order the spiciest one, they will make it very spicy, I mean it's utterly spicy! #:-S
If you don't like spicy food, no need to worry because you can still order other food.

desperate faces waiting for the foods :-w

Hooray! We're full but the super spicy food almost killed us!

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I hate it how fast time flies when we're having fun. The multireligious Semarang is such an interesting place to explore more, but we had to get on with our journey to Magelang before it was getting darker. It may be enough going around Semarang within one day, stopping by at some places, but exploring it? You definitely have to spare more time! :)

Biyan and Nia drove us to Magelang and we arrived 2 hours later... 

To be continued to Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta (Part 2)