Surabaya

It was a Business Trip to Surabaya, so I didn’t got a chance to visit the greatest Bromo/Semeru Mountain-the highlight of Surabaya. In addition, I didn’t prepare myself the hiking attire (thick clothes) and I should stay for another 2-3 extra days if I really want to go. And… of course, I shouldn’t travel there alone.

like a painting..... pict was taken (curik) from Y-daz 

Taking the 1^st flight from KLIA2, I arrived Surabaya Juanda Terminal 2 (International Airport) after 2½ hours fly. And I was ‘standby’ at that new Airport as early as from 830am up to 630pm. what a loooong day! I was actually been assigned to handle (most of the time is waiting) & greets all the VIPs of Commerce Banking came from the various countries including Malaysia, Indonesia (from Jakarta), Thailand and Cambodia.

FYI, the airport is practising a“Silent Airport” – no announcement made. All passengers must be alert with their own flight’s departure time. Well.. I've to complaint about another thing - the sharing praying room (unisex) is kinda awkward, uncomfortable & unacceptable especially for ladies to take a ‘wudhuk’ and to pray at the same row or ‘saf’ with the guys. 

Please allocate one small room for the ladies to pray…

Talking about praying, I need to fast-adapt their local praying time which is about 2hours earlier than M’sia praying time. Based on last June praying time; Subuh 4:23am, Zuhur 11:30am, Asar 2:50pm, Maghrib 5:20pm and Isya' 6:30pm. See the time different? In Surabaya, 90% are Muslim; I can see plenty of mosques there. And I saw the biggest and the most beautiful mosque in Surabaya at the highway-side on my way back to the airport on my last day.

The main objectives of the trip; of course for meeting and networking. After the half-day seminar at Sheraton Hotel, we spent another half-day to visits the Terminal Petikemas Surabaya which is located at Port of Tanjung Perak (they said this is the biggest port in Indonesia). After the short briefing, by using our own coach, we entered the site (with the services of a local staff guiding and explaining) to see the big container, cargo, giant vessels etc (similar like Port Klang) - plus we can view (from far) the Suramadu Bridge, it's 5.4km long makes it the longest bridge in Indonesia connects Surabaya and Madura Island - there is where the bridge got its name, the combination of SURAbaya and MADUra). By the way, there’s a mosque next to the Port’s HQ office.

On the next day, for another half-day leisure time we visited the Grand City Mall & Convex (it’s a new mall - opens in 2011) for the Manufacturing Fair 2014 at the Exhibition Hall. Grand City Mall is having a seasonal exhibition; during my visits they are having more than 5 displays. As for myself, I enjoyed the window shopping, photo taking and I love the Executive Mushola – a VIP praying room. As well as the mall’s lavatory, they assign one cleaner for each toilet to take a really of great care. Seriously, M’sia also should’ve done this

Due to the tight schedule, we are unable to make another business visit to the Industrial Park (to any of these places : Rungkut/Ngoro/Maspion/Margo Mulyo). But we’ve done some short tour to the Cheng Ho Chinese Mosque, Submarine Monument and House of Sempoerna. At the Cheng Ho Mosque or Masjid Muhammad Cheng Ho, I can see it has been renovated compared with the one I saw in the internet. Guided by a local Chinese Muslim, he also allows Non-Muslim visitors to enter the mosque without hesitates. In front of the mosque now they have built a basketball court with roof (they called it as canopy) in order to accommodate more ‘Jemaah’ especially during the Friday Prayer or other special events. They said the Admiral Cheng Ho converted to Islam when he entering the Kingdom of Majapahit. That was a long time ago (1405-1433). 

The Pasopati Submarine Museum at Kalimas River is somehow interesting! Paid for IDR8,000 only for the entrance ticket, we are given a chance to enter the submarine. It’s totally awesome to see all the tools, machines, engines, torpedo tubes, the challenging small round-shaped door connects each room, the sleeping+dining area, commander’s room etc. wow!. 

I’m gonna re-watch U-571 movie after this

The cigarette museum & gallery at House of Sempoerna is free of charge. Open from 9am to 10pm daily. But the cigarette rolling factory is only operated until 4pm (weekdays) and 11am (weekend). I went there twice but I missed both chance to see the live hand-rolling demonstration by those female workers (yeap, all workers are female). The idea is to see how fast and efficient those ladies roll and do the whole process from the beginning till box packaging - everything is by using their bare hands. My boss went there last June 2010, and he managed to see up-close of the hand-rolling process. But from what I heard, Sempoerna now has been bought by Philips Morris, and they has set new rules & regulation – which I don’t like – 

no more up-close hand-rolling demonstration in the gallery -.-“

Buffet dinner at a café (House of Sempoerna’s restaurant) from 110K-165K Rupiah per person (available for advance group booking only) with the choices of Asian or Indonesian or Western Cuisine with a selection of appetizer, soup, 5 main courses, dessert and beverages. The Bintang Beer @ 40K per bottle. My Siamese female guest told me that they loves that Indonesian local beer cause the taste is lighter compared with Thai Chang Beer. The various type of Sempoerna cigarette also available to purchase at a café; and I bought 4 different Dji Sam Soe (total 84.5K Rupiah) for my boss and Mr Boyfie. I’m not sure whether they like it or not

Surabaya gets their name from the myth of Sura (Shark) against Baya (Crocodile). Guess who has winning in the end? hmm they said the fight result was even - same goes to the local people as they claimed they are fair and even. The 1st statue in Surabaya (now they have a lot of statues) is the white color of fighting Shark and Crocodile right in-front of the no-longer-famous Kebun Binatang (Zoo). I also found another similar statue at Tanjung Perak Port but it's in black.

Luckily I booked for the late evening flight (6:25pm) back to KL, thus I took the opportunities to explore Surabaya with one of the local guides. I managed to cover most attractions in my check-list including

ü the Heroes Monument 1945 (entrance fee 5K Rupiah). Feel their fighting spirits against colonizer during war at the underground gallery;

ü pass-by the Jembatan Merah Plaza and thru' the Jembatan Merah or Red Bridge 1945 ; access to

ü Kembang Jepun Chinatown (Kya-Kya – in Tionghoa means Jalan-Jalan) i saw the oldest temple there at the small alley;

ü Sunan Ampel Mosque is the oldest and most crowded mosque in Surabaya. Sunan Ampel (or Raden Rakhmat 1401-1481) was one of the famous Wali Songo (9) - influential in spreading Islam in Java. And the grave of that Sunan Ampel and the followers are at the west area of the mosque. I don’t know why we can step on those graves. The long street market or Arab Quarter are mostly selling Middle East products like dates (kurma), jubah, tasbih, perfumes etc. As for the group, the bus will park a bit far from the entrance. 

Please be careful with the motorbike while crossing the road
**Red Bridge, Chinatown & Sunan Ampel are close to each other**
***and i've dropped-by HoS again otw back to town from Sunan Ampel***

ü Shopping at Mirota Art Market for souvenirs and Batik printing materials. I’ve spent IDR517.5K in total. Perghhhh!!!

ü Light shopping at Ole-Ole Khas Surabaya for kerepeks. I’ve spent another IDR115.5K at this shop. Free box packaging services. I didn’t buy any of Kek Lapis Surabaya there cause I was planning to buy them at the main shop. Unfortunately *langkah kiri* the Kek Lapis shop is closed for renovation… to bad

ü Lunch at Sederhana – Padang Food Restaurant

Surabaya has tooooo many shopping mall, might be more than 50 malls; excluding the small shopping places such as Jembatan merah Plaza (famous for the kain ela/telekung) ; Pusat Grosir ; Kapas Krampung Plaza ; Darmo Trade Centre ; Royal Squar ; Ciputra World ; Flower Market ; ITC Mega Grosir etc

I was stayed at Tunjungan Plaza Hotel @ RM215/room/night with breakfast (based on Executive Twin rate cause other lower room category already full that period); located at Tunjungan Plaza Shopping Mall (including Sogo), next to Sheraton Hotel (also fullybooked) and not far from JW Marriott or Majapahit Hotel. Majapahit Hotel is the 1^st hotel in Surabaya (built before world war) known as Hotel Oranje and after that Hotel Yamato; Majapahit is the best place for garden wedding *sgt cantik*. 2km away is Bumi Surabaya Hotel; formerly Hyatt Regency Hotel. looking for a cheaper hotel? you can try nearby Amaris Hotel or Hotel 88 or Bisanta Hotel or Ibis Surabaya City centre (Jln Basuki Rahmat). Or, Ibis Surabaya Rajawali Hotel nearby Jembatan Merah Plaza.
Tunjungan plaza is an old hotel (not as old as Majapahit) but the hotel didn't do any renovation ever since. the room smells 'old' and i saw cockroaches dancing on my table during breakfast. luckily i've done eating. hmmm

As for meals, besides having dinner at House of Sempoerna, we had the best served seafood set dinner at Layar Seafood (Manyar outlet – 30mins away). It suitable for a small or big group, and their services are quite fast for the advance reservation. The price for set menu is from 100K per person with 8 main dishes. As for the private function, we can book the 1^st floor of the restaurant – for me it can fit up to 50-100 person (cause it has 2 separate areas). The small Bintang Beer is around 40K rupiah per bottle, and they also have the bigger bottle – but I forgot the price.

You may also try at other restaurants such as Kahyangan Resto (served set menu from 100K per person for 7 main dishes), buffet dinner at Sarkies Restaurant (Majapahit Hotel) – Silver set menu from 270K rupiah per person or Emerald Emerald set menu from 360K rupiah per person OR buffet meals at Bumi Surabaya Hotel – from 150K per person with mix menu of 3 restaurants (Indonesia, Western Oriental & Japanese Cuisines). Both Jenggala Seafood (nearby Layar) & XO Suki (Chinese food) is from 100K Rupiah per person.

I was looking for the local massage during my ample time. However the famous Cosmo Spa next to Sheraton is for male guests only. Then, I’d wasted my IDR200,000 for an hour body massage at Tunjungan Plaza Hotel, nearby hotel’s swimming pool.

Seriously, NOT recommended!.

In future, if I have more budgets, I should try the traditional massage at Sheraton Hotel ^^

other info :-
the Surabaya Heritage Track for me it is similar like Hop-On Hop-Off is free-of-charge. i'm not sure about the routing or their pit-stop, but i saw one at the House of Sempoerna

Golf courses in Surabaya; namely Finna, Graha, Bukit Darmo, Ciputra & Taman Dayu.

I heard about other nearby places such as Malang, Batu, Tuban, Porong but I don’t know where and what do they offer

Trowulan archaeology site is 2hrs drive from the city centre. Price range is from IDR400-600K++ (min 2 person, the more the merrier cheaper)

I bought a local simcard at 100K rupiah – Loopers. With 500Mb internet and they provide me the BB pin no. does anyone know what is Ponsel??

Last June 2nd, we heard about the Volcano Eruption in Bali that also affects Australia. Alhamdulillah, Surabaya was safe to go.
Less than 2hrs drive from Surabaya, there's a Miracle Mosque (Masjid Ajaib) in Malang area also known as Masjid Tiban / Turen. the mosque is called "Miracle" cause that huge building wasn't built by any human, and it was happen in 1 single night. 

Thanks to Admiral Cheng Ho & Sunan Ampel for spreading Islam

 more pictures & more videos to be uploaded soon =) stay tuned

Ferry to Bali from Surabaya are available** Bali & darwin are close by