Post #152 22 October 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our visit to Jepara, 21 - 22 August 2017.

Jepara is a town about 100 km north-east of Semarang, famous as a wood-carving and furniture centre.

We hired a car & driver for the trip from Semarang to Jepara, and spent two nights at the D'Season Hotel on a beach about 7 kilometers north of Jepara.

Jepara is a town about 100 km north-east of Semarang.  It is famous in Indonesia as a centre of wood products, particularly teak.  There is a daily ferry from Jepara to the Karimunjava Islands, which are becoming a popular tourist destination.

We hired a car & driver; it took about 3 hours to get to Jepara from Semarang.  As everywhere in Java, there was a lot of traffic.  Our driver was very good, slow & steady, lots of near misses, but that's how they drive here. I used to drive during our postings in Jakarta, but can't imagine driving here again, too stressful.  Remarkably, we only saw one accident during our 6 weeks in Indonesia - a girl riding a motor bike fell down when another bike hit her.  The traffic seems crazy to a visitor, but there seem to be relatively few accidents.

The road to Jepara goes through Demak, so we stopped to look at Mesjid Agung, believed to be the first Mosque in Indonesia (1466).

One of the huge drums in the mosque at Demak.

The front entrance of the Hotel D'Season where we stayed in Jepara; on the coast about 7 km from the town.

View from our room: of the swimming pool and across the beach to the ocean.  Actually, the beach wasn't much and people swam in the pool rather than the sea. 

Boats for hire to take tourists to small islands not far off the coast, particularly Palau Panjang which is said to have nice beaches.

Pantai Bandengan, a better beach about a kilometer from our hotel.  Gentle sloping beach, small waves, safe.  Busy on weekends, but quiet during the week.

Mr (Pak) Catur and his family.  He studied agriculture at University, but then got into furniture making (it's in the DNA of Jepara people!).  He has three workshops - see photos below - and a large staff.  Catur has been supplying mainly to Japan which is a good sign as the Japanese are picky.  Seemed like a real nice guy, lovely wife and two delightful daughters.

Outside their home.

Pak Catur has built this little annex behind his house

Pak Catur showing me around one of his workshops.

Pak Catur has three workshops - this one is the largest.  Driving around Jepara one sees many, many small furniture showrooms. Presumably the workshops are out back.  Most of the furniture on display is Javanese style, made for the local market, but there is also a long tradition of making Western-style furniture for export.

The workshops are "grass-roots" and look random but the workers are craftsmen, each piece is made individually, and Catur insists on top quality products.

The metal fabricating workshop. 

Jepara was the hometown of Kartini (1879 - 1903), a writer, feminist and progressive thinker.  We visited the Museum which celebrates her short life.  Kartini was the daughter of the Regent (Bupati) of Jepara and excelled at school. She campaigned for women's rights and against colonialism, and became an Indonesian icon. She died giving birth at the age of 24. April 21 is Kartini Day and a national holiday.

A large statue of Kartini is at the center of this round-about.

We were passing the local stadium and stopped to watch the soccer team training.  Jepara plays in Indonesia's the Second Division.  We were told that the team has a large following - apparently the stadium is often full for home games (seating capacity about 30,000). The team has a young Brazilian captain/coach (dressed in green, above) and we had a chat with him in Portuguese.  Before coming to Jepara he played for a First Division team in the Indonesian League, and has married an Indonesian girl.

The 'Pink Mosque' in Jepara - unusually ornate.  Some of the local architecture was interesting.

An over-loaded truck - a familiar sight in Indonesia.

Beautiful flowering bush at the Yam Yam Restaurant near the Ocean View Hotel in Jepara.  We had lunch there and got talking to another couple, Francoise and his Indonesian wife Sasa. They recommended the fish-on-a-skewer, which was delicious. Francoise, 71, has lived in Jepara for over 20 years (apparently there are quite a few foreigners here, all related to wood products).  They have a factory which makes furniture for the French and Belgian markets (we happened to drive past their factory later, and it looked substantial).  They have a 10 year old daughter who attends the International School in Semarang.

An aquarium (disappointing) is housed inside a huge turtle, at Kartini Beach.

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From Jepara we drove back to Semarang and the next day took a train to Jakarta, The Big Durian.  That is the subject of my next post.

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The last Holden car rolled off the production line on Friday - the end of car manufacturing in Australia and the end of an era.

The Wallabies 23 finally beat the All Blacks 18 (3 tries to 2) last night at Lang Park in Brisbane. Our first win in more than two years - a long time between drinks - the All Blacks are fantastic and dominate international rugby.  Jen & Tom took the boys along; a crowd of 45,000 watched the game, in intermittent rain.


Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Sunday, 22 October 2017

Post #151 21 October 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our stay in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, on 19 & 20 August 2017.

Semarang is on the north coast of Java.  It is a city of over 2 - 3 million, and the political, commercial & industrial centre of Central Java. It has a large harbour and is a major shipping port.

This is the area where Islam arrived in the 15th century, and spread throughout Java.

Semarang is the capital of the Province of Central Java. Jogja has the status of a Special Municipality as recognition of the support provided by the Sultan during the War of Independence (1945-9).

Another view of Central Java showing the location of Borobudur Temple, Solo, and Salatiga in relation to Semarang on the north coast.

A slum area in Semarang was given a "rainbow" make-over, and has become a tourist attraction,

This impressive building in Semarang was the headquarters of Dutch Railways before Independence. It is called Lawang Sewu ("Thousand doors").  Dutch engineers did an amazing job building an extensive network of railroads (of course using Indonesian labour), mainly to facilitate the movement of agricultural products to ports. 

Another view of Lawang Sewu.  It was occupied by Japanese military during WW2, with interrogation cells in the basement.

Inside Lew Sewa.  The building has been nicely renovated and is now a major tourist attraction.  It had so many doors and windows to facilitate air-flow (Semarang can be steamy).

Beautiful stained glass windows, and marble staircase.

An old steam engine in the grounds of Lawang Sewu - great for kids.

We got a taxi to drive us around Semarang Harbour - lots of wooden-hulled schooners (pinisi) which still ply these waters.

The parking lot outside KFC.  We were amazed at the number of motor bikes everywhere we went.  Given the traffic conditions in Indonesia, and the lack of good public transport, motor bikes are a good, and relatively inexpensive, way of getting around.

Another attraction is the huge Sam Poo Temple dedicated to Admiral Zheng He who visited Java several times, the first in 1405.  He was a Chinese Moslem, and seems to be revered in Semarang where he is called Sam Poo (we also saw a temple and museum dedicated to him in Malacca, Malaysia). We were surprised to see many local Indonesians visiting this temple in Semarang.

A large statue of Admiral Zheng He (1371 - 1433).  A fascinating story. He grew up as a Moslem in Yunnan, was captured at the age of 10, castrated and became a eunuch in the Ming Court; gained the Yongle Emperor's trust; he led seven great voyages through South-East Asia, the Middle East and down the coast of Africa.   

The main pavilion in the Sam Poo Temple is classically Chinese with pagoda-style roofs, huge drums and hanging lanterns. 

Vera in front of the main Pavilion.

Some of the fine stone carving showing the visit to Semarang of Zheng He.

Some Javanese folk dances were performed for visitors to the Temple.

Another interesting area of Semarang is the "Outstadt" (Old City). Blenduk Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1753; has a huge cupola.

The caretaker showed us around the church (for a fee, which we noticed he pocketed). 

The unusual wooden pulpit in the Church. It also featured a large organ. 

On the other side of the Square from Blenduk Church is the Spiegel Building, an old general store now fully renovated and now a popular restaurant. 

Inside the Speigel Restaurant.  We had gelato ice cream - delicious.  

Just up the street from the Spiegel is the Semarang Gallery, an art gallery housed in a renovated old Dutch warehouse.

Some of the modern art on display in the Semarang Gallery.

About 500 m from the Spiegl, on another street, was an impressive Catholic church.

A view of the inside of the Catholic Church. Good condition.

We had dinner one night in the Holliday Restaurant, reputed to serve the best Chinese food in Semarang; it was certainly delicious and not expensive (about $25 for two of us).

Outside the main entrance of the Holliday Restaurant.

We stayed near an area called Simpang Lima (Five Roads). It was lively at night with lots of small restaurants and family entertainment. People could hire trishaws which were decorated and lit up.

There were also little motorised cars for kids.

The supervised area where kids drove their small motorised cars.

A brass band provided entertainment.  All in all, there was a good atmosphere with lots of people, including families, walking around.

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We had two nights in Semarang, and then drove to Jepara - the subject of my next post.

While in Semarang we tried to visit the factory of Jamu Nyonya Meeneer, a famous "Jamu" (traditional herbal medicine drink) company.  But, alas, the factory gates were closed and a sign proclaimed the company's bankruptcy.  Women street vendors carrying large sacks on their backs full of bottles of jamu used to be a common sight, but no more.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Saturday, 21 October 2017

Post #150 20 October 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our visit to Surakarta  (better known by its traditional name Solo) and Salatiga.

We stayed in Salatiga for 2 nights, 17 & 18 August 2017.

We hired a car & driver and drove from Jogja to Surakarta (aka Solo), had several hours there, and then drove on to Salatiga.  Two nights in Salatiga, and then on to Semarang, on Java's north coast.  After looking around Semarang for a  couple of days, we drove to Jepara.

Some people contend that Solo is the "real" heart of Javanese culture.  It is certainly much less developed and more grass-roots than Jogja.  We only spent about 3 hours there, so couldn't judge.

One of the main streets in Solo - lined by huge trees.

We visited the Istana Mangkunegara which is reported to be in better condition than the Kraton Surakarta (dates from 1745, but badly damaged by fire in 1985).  The Istana was built in 1757 and is the home of Solo's second family. At the centre of the Istana is the Pendopo (Pavilion), and behind the Pendopo are the Royal Residences, part of which have been converted into a museum.

  We were fortunate to be at the Istana on a Wednesday morning when they have gamelan & dance practice.  Three men were practicing, very skilful (later joined by some women). It was all very casual, with about a dozen tourists sitting on the floor watching the practice.

The gamelan orchestra.

Later these women joined the three men to practice traditional Javanese dances; one of them brought her young daughter along.

Vera with our guide who showed us around the Istana.  She was a student at a Teacher's Training College, knowledgeable with good English.

Central Java is famous for its batik.  These days most batik is machine-made, but the highly-prized (and expensive) cloth is hand-painted. This rack containing different patterns of batik was in the museum of the Istana (all hand-painted of course).

We spent about 3 hours in Solo and then drove on to Salatiga, about 100km north-west of Solo.  We stayed at the nice Grand Wahid Hotel, which had great views of Mount Merbabu (see photo).  There is something very special - almost mystical - about volcanoes.  A string of volcanoes form the spine of Java, stunning.  Salatiga is about 1,000 metres above sea level, so has a very pleasant climate. The Australian Government used to send staff to Salatiga for language training at the Christian University, but in recent years they have gone to Jogja instead.

The Grand Wahid Hotel didn't have a 4th floor - it went straight from 3 to 5 as shown in this elevator.  We assume that the owner of this hotel is a Chinese-Indonesian, as "4" is a bad number in Chinese culture.  We saw this in some other hotels too. Another interesting thing about this hotel was that it only had one non-smoking floor (the vast majority of Indonesian men are heavy smokers).

The nice pool at the Grand Wahid Hotel.  The water was quite cool, as Salatiga has a high elevation.  On this trip we made a point of staying in hotels with pools, and tried to swim every day.  The Grand Wahid Hotel had a recreational club (pool, gym & sauna) which people living in Salatiga could join.

The extensive garden next to the swimming pool had many statues, as well as a large aviary with many birds.

We saw a couple of large (and old) turtles in the garden, which delighted kids.

Vera's friends in Jogja introduced us to a couple in Salatiga, Pak Eddie and his wife. who kindly showed us around. One night they took us to this local restaurant - simple but delicious food. European soccer is popular in Indonesia, and Pak Eddie was a keen supporter of AS Milan.  

Walking around Salatiga we came across a children's parade. 17 August is Indonesia's National Day, there were lots of posters and banners.  We thought there might be a big parade, but we didn't see anything.   At night we saw a gathering of public servants near a government building (speeches, followed by band/dancing) and this small kid's parade.

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Our next stop was Semarang, the capital of Central Java, about 100km due north of Salatiga.  I'll do a separate post on that visit.

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I'm slowly catching up my blog, but it's taking longer than I expected.  I'm trying to finalise our 2016-7 tax returns, which have taken priority this week.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Friday, 20 October 2017