chefmaison

We checked into the colonial style Majapahit hotel in the centre of Surabaya. A hotel built in 1910 as the Oranje hotel, by the Iranian Sarkies brothers who also built The Raffles and The Strand in the late 1800. We had afternoon tea at The Strand in Rangoon almost ten years ago in 2014. The hotel changed names during the Second World War when the Japanese forces took over the hotel and re-named it Hotel Yamato. After independence in 1945 the hotel was named Hotel Merdeka or hotel of Independence. When the Sarkies returned to manage the hotel in 1946 they named it L.MS. Hotel in memory of Lucas Martin Sarkies, the founder. Since 1969 the hotel is named Majapahit after the kingdom. It is now part of the Accor group as a boutique hotel. We had booked a standard room but got an upgrade to a suite, that boasts an extra living area with a sofa and a desk. 

We made a walk around the hotel and then crossed the street to visit the second largest mall of Surabaya, Tunjungun Plaza, at the other side of the street and had some Thai food there for dinner at Santhai on the 5th floor of the Sogo mall. Pretty good, but rather pricey.

The next morning I went to swim 40 laps in the wonderful 25 m long swimming pool of the hotel. I was the only female swimmer, the rest were all Indonesian men, who I guess were not staying at the hotel but could use the swimming pool. My husband used the gym, but found it too hot since the aircon did not work and you have to book the sauna and the whirlpool in advance so they can heat the sauna in time. We then went for breakfast, which was really fantastic. A very large buffet with a broad range of Western and Asian breakfast dishes. 

After breakfast we walked towards the old town, made a stop in the Kriya gallery, a great place to buy an original souvenir, batik textiles and contemporary style clothing with batik and ikat prints. We continued until we reached the canal, and stepped into one of the photography shops to buy some lens and sensor cleaner. Since we were close to the old town we decided to continue. Between the large streets you find green alleys and a bit further on we stumbled upon Tugu Palhawan or the The Monument of The Heroes, that commemorates the heroes that fought for Independence on November 10, 1945. The monument is a large upside down nail symbolizing the sharpness of spirit of the fighters who fought the allied forces. There is also a large statue of Soekarno and Hatta placed against the ruins of a colonial building, and some reliefs on either side telling the story of colonization and the fight for independence. There is a large garden with statues of the heroes and a little museum. 

We returned with a Grab car to the hotel to freshen up and around 3 PM took a Grab car to Jembatan Merah, a bridge that used to ethnically divide the city. On one side the Europeans lived and on the other side the Arabs, Chinese and Javanese. Crossing the bridge you come into a totally different part of the city, with a whole different atmosphere. You first see the red gate that is the entrance to the Chinese quarter with its red lanterns adorning the street. We turned left into Panggung street, that leads into the Arab quarter where you walk straight onto the fish market. There is a covered part on one side, the Pabeang market, which we did not enter since our shoes were not adapted to the mud and water coming from the melting ice to keep the fish cold and fresh. The sellers wear rubber boots for a reason. The fish sellers stand on both sides of the narrow street with every kind of fish, shellfish, prawns and octopus. The old buildings on both sides are painted in bright colors. At the end we walked into Sasak street where they sell korans, dates, spices… At the end of the street you can walk into the Arab souk like market leading towards the ancient Ampel mosque or the Great Mosque. In the market they sell textiles, praying beads, spices, dates, perfume and much more. When you turn to the right you come into another part of the market. At the end we turned right again and walked towards the canal via the very quiet Jalan Kalimas Udik II, where suddenly all the hustle and bustle of the city and its traffic disappears. We then walked past the river on Jalan Kalimas Tumur, where we passed the Syabandhar tower built during the Dutch occupation and used to be a watch tower over the port. The many old warehouses stand testimony to the old port and merchant activities here during the Dutch colonial period. We walked back to Jembatan Merah, crossed the bridge again and called a Grab car back to the hotel. We crossed the street and had dinner in Wizzmie, a cheap and very popular halal eatery for spicy fried noodles and rice bowls, which can be combined with sushi plates, dim sum, chicken wings or spring rolls. We then had an ice cream at the Gelateria, where our ice-cream costed more than our dinner ( 76000 and 63000) which means we had a dirt cheap but tasty dinner. 

During breakfast the next morning we noticed there was no traffic on the normally very busy road in front of the hotel. Every Sunday Surabaya has a traffic free day, not a whole day but a traffic free moment from 6 to 9 AM. Surabayans come to the streets on their bikes, walk, run and the children play football and games in the middle of the street. Unfortunately at 9 AM the busy traffic takes over again. Jakarta also has traffic free days in parts of the city. But they shouldn’t call it traffic free days, since it is only lasts a few hours in the morning. After breakfast we decided to visit the mangroves of Surabaya. We were desperate for some nature and quiet. The mangroves are about 30 minutes away by car. There are two places you can visit. The Mangrove Wonorejo Rungkut or Wonorejo Ekowisata Mangrove, in English Wonorejo ecotourism mangroves and the more recently openend Wisata Mangrove Gununganyar and Kebun Raya Mangrove. We decided on the second one since the reviews about Wonorejo Rungkut mangroves were not very positive. Many said it smelled really bad and was rather polluted. The driver dropped us of at the parking area. From the parking area we walked to the first part which is the Kevin Raya Mangrove where we walked the rather short boardwalk in just a few minutes. There isn’t much diversity in plants in the mangrove, but there is a nursery where they grow several species. We met lots of people who came here with loads of food to have a picnic. There is also a small visitors’ center but the information boards are only in Indonesian. It suddenly started to rain very hard so we stayed in the visitors centre until it was over. We then continued in the direction of Gununganyar mangrove, and a bit further we saw quite some small white herons and some other bird species on the water. We wanted to continue to the pier, but the rain had unleashed the mosquitos and I was suddenly eaten by them. The place is disappointing, very superficial and not very well managed . We decided to return to the hotel and called a Grab car. If you go, do take mosquito repellent, because they were really ferocious after the rain. 

In the afternoon we used the pool, and my husband used the gym that this time was airconditioned and the whirlpool. The sauna for men was broken, and the whirlpool for women was broken as well. There is a steambath but it was not working too well. 

We went out for dinner and had it at the Malaysian – Singaporean diner Bubu Oriental. I had a typical Malaysian drink, lime with sour plum juice. We had some noodles and some dim sum. It was not bad but the meal at Wizzmie was better and cheaper.