Surabaya '14

Today I have returned from a short holiday trip to Surabaya. Surabaya is not a big tourist destination. The few days that I was there, there are not many tourists. Majority of them are Indonesians from other parts of their country. There were only a couple of mainland Chinese and even fewer westerners. 

As usual, I enjoyed myself thoroughly in Surabaya for the few days there. I have engaged a local guide from Malang, who provided very good service and transport. I will definitely sought him out when I visit Indonesia again. Got his name card. He can do tours in other parts of Indonesia as well. Along the way, I chatted with him and found out that he is an Indonesian, and had actually worked in the Netherlands for about 5 years in a restaurant before returning to his country to be with his family.

Some interesting things on my trip...

At Majapahit, a "major" tourist site, turns out that we are the only Chinese tourists, and there is a western couple, tourists I believe. The rest are Indonesian visitors. There are school children on an excursion trip there as well. While I was at this particular site, this school girl approached us and asked to take a photo with us. 

Now, what should be my reaction to this situation? Having been to a fair number of countries, and having encountered or witnessed scams myself, I naturally became cautious. I was afraid that after taking our photos, she may charge us a lot of money for the photo. I have read about this scam in other countries in Europe. 

Turns out, she merely wanted to take a photo with us. After her friend take the photo, she thanked us and left to wonder about. And I of course was very relief, and actually felt a little guilty about suspecting her to be a scammer. The girl was in school uniform, probably in junior high school (secondary school), and likely part of the excursion group that I mentioned earlier. I guess the reason why she wanted the photo is probably not many foreigners come to her hometown in Surabaya... to them we are the "exhibits". This is what happens when we go to less touristy place. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of her. Hope that she studies hard and turns out well:)

Another important thing. If any reader has not come to Surabaya before, and wanted to come, here is something to know. At the departure airport, you need to show your flight itinerary to security before they let you into the check in counter. You can enter the airport, but you need to go through them to get to the check in counters. You can show them either in print out form or digital form. 

For me, I showed them using my iphone. I have saved a copy in it. I saw a person in front of me using his ipad. I have personally experienced this a few times in other countries, so I always make it a point to have a print out of my itinerary. This trip, however, was arranged somewhat last minute, so I did not have the chance to print it, so I thought of saving it in my iphone, just in case. Turns out, it proves handy. I don't know what will happen if I cannot show them. Never happen yet, and hopefully never will.

Just to add on, there is a departure tax of 200,000 rupiah per person to be paid at the check in counter in Surabaya, so need to have some spare cash around.

Okay, I guess that's it. Time to enjoy the photos...

The gateway to Majapahit kingdom

The queen's bath, as I understand from the guide

Quite a big area for bathing

Another photo of the bath, with school children

Nice landscaping done at this tourist spot, but sadly very few foreign tourists here. I think the Surabaya government really need to do more advertisements to attract tourists to come

A temple

Museum

The symbol of Surabaya. A shark and a crocodile

Submarine monument. Made in 1952, used, then retired and put on display here

The inside of the submarine. Yes, we can go in. Luckily they installed air cons inside, so it's not too stuffy. But nothing much to see, unless you are a submarine fan.

The river through Surabaya city

Another reason that I like to travel is that I like to ride on planes. The clouds look so different when you look out from the plane, compared to when you look at them on the ground. I always enjoyed all my plane rides, though some may be rather bumpy. I am no longer afraid of turbulence, or the so called roller coaster rides. Probably after gaining a lot of experiences. This returning flight is actually one of the smoothest flights I have been on.

The SQ flight came to Surabaya late, and departed even later, total about 1 hour late. This picture from the plane reminds me that my holiday is over. All good things must come to an end:)

Whenever I take a flight, I just try to get a window seat, especially a daytime flight. I always like to look out the window and see the clouds. It gives me a sense of peacefulness. As the Chinese saying goes, 烦恼到九霄云外. Sometimes, when it is cloudless, I can see the ground below. So far I have taken many different models of the plane, mainly airbus and boeing models. I have also taken the atr72 propeller plane.

Surabaya is merely 2 hours flight time away from Singapore, after a satisfying meal and a movie (not yet finished), it is time to land. It is a short flight. The shortest I have taken is about 40 minutes, is a domestic flight in South Korea. The longest is on Finnair, from Singapore to Helsinki, 12 hours straight.