Strolling Around : Semarang

Hello again, people!

Holiday is finally here yeay. I have been spending free time since few last days of December but I still got to work on this and that so it's not literally freed me. I was spending time with my highschool friends last week and some of them got to back to their (college) town for now. And so I decided to go for a short trip few days ago to Semarang. I rarely stop by this city so I think it would be fun to wander around it. My friend Asti have been knowing Semarang since school so yes she was my tour guide for 2 days.

My morning trip to Semarang (departed from Solo at 05.30 AM) was actually my first time spending 2 hours and a half on a train alone. All I'm doing was fell asleep in quarter of the way, looking outside of the window and getting over excited seeing all corn field along the way.

Me and Asti actually have planned to visit some place in a day but suddenly it was raining heavily so we've got to cut off some places out of the list. Here's some place I've visited on my first day in Semarang;

1) Tanjung Emas Port

First place  we've visited was this port. We're both were really craving for taking pictures around colorful containers but unfortunately not everyone can go inside the container ports. If you really wants to go inside, the guards and people from TPKS (Terminal Peti Kemas Semarang) office told us that we have to bring official letter that explain what we're going to do inside the port under the license of our agency / institute. And that wouldn't be a one day process because we have to wait for TPKS office confirmation first. Since we already got there, we walk around the container ports area and took some pictures.

This one is taken on my way out of the port and reminds me of Moonrise Kingdom movie.
This pic is edited photo I've posted in my instagram account @avirosas.

2) Kota Lama

This area is one of the famous place most people would've known in Semarang (Kota Lama means Old Town). I've walked around this area last April and this time I only got to stop by the famous church called Gereja Blenduk. There are a lot of creative doodles on the walls in some alleys, some of them already changed since my last time there, and there are also an old fashioned traditional market on the other side of the old town. It was drizzling and almost 4 PM while we still want to visit one more place, have to stop by a bookstore, and got to catch the train to Asti's home at 5.30 PM. Here are some picture that we took there and I'm happy to found a person to take our picture cause we're accidentally wearing same monochrome-themed outfit that day.

Monochrome all the way!

3) Johar Traditional Market

No we're not looking for Semarang snacks or craft, we're heading to a place Asti called 'thief market' it's like a thrift shop but inside a traditional market. There are a lot of stalls selling bags and clothes. And I just knew that Asti is very good bidder, she got me an IDR 10.000 travel pack and got herself a nice sweater for only IDR 15.000. FYI, we're both have thing with old secondhand stuff, so we're really into this hunting session. We forgot to take the picture of both the bag and the sweater I promise you an instagram post of those things.

Oh ya, I forgot to tell you I was riding motorcycle to stroll around the city, we borrowed it from Asti's friend who live in Semarang. And because of we're not sure we can get to the station on time, we decided to take bus and I finally know how does it feel to be Asti every time she travels alone from Solo to her hometown. It was a long and tiring way, I have to say. But since we haven't meet each other in three weeks we're not running out of topic for 1.5 hours.

The next day, I didn't get enough time to visit my aunty who lives near by Asti's place in the morning, because it was noon already we decided to drive a motorcycle back to Semarang. We're planning to did some snacking time but suddenly I remember I have never visit Sam Poo Kong, a famous Chinese temple in Semarang and the second day of #exploresemarang trip is begin.

4) Sam Poo Kong

You can read about Sam Poo Kong through the hyperlink above. This temple is actually a worship place but tourist can get inside by buying a ticket cost IDR 3000 each person (this is a domestic price, if you're a foreign tourist, you should pay IDR 10.000 each person). But there are some areas that the tourist can't get into because that's a clear area for the worship. It was all cloudy along my way to Semarang but eventually when I get inside the temple the sun is coming out and yes it's hella hot and I'm wearing a thick knitted sweater, I'm all sweaty but since this is my first time I was so excited to take many pictures until I remember that I forgot to recharge the camera battery the night before. It shuts off. But here's some snaps for you guys.

Pretty lanterns.

A lot of people here in Semarang dropped by and just hanging around with friends in family in Sam Poo Kong.

You can rent Chinese traditional clothes and got photographed by Sam Poo Kong photographer by paying IDR 80.000.
Pst you can get a lot closer to the forbidden-for-tourist temple area.

Me with the new bag I've found in Johar market the day before.

This is the statue of Admiral Zheng He (Javanese pronounce it Cheng Ho).
The one who build small temple before it's called Sam Poo Kong.

5) Tryin out Tahu Gimbal

This dish is actually all around the corner, you'd be seeing it everywhere in Semarang. Me and Asti luckily found one Tahu Gimbal huckster that also have Es Campur Durian. But little did we know that this one is the one with expensive price compared with others. It costs almost IDR 30.000 for the food & beverage each person. I think Tahu  Gimbal in general only costs only IDR 10.000 to 15.000. But it does taste really good, and easily make your hungry tummy full again. Es Campur Durian that we ordered also taste really good (Thank God it's Durian season so we have good durians everywhere). I couldn't capture the beverage cause the dead camera apparently can be used again but it only can take one picture.

If you ordered Tahu Gimbal, you'll get shrimp bakwan, fried tofu, sunny side up, raw cabbage, bean sprouts (tauge) and rice cake (lontong) all covered under peanut sauce in a plate.

Yumminess

6) Thrift Shop in Tembalang

Told ya we have thing about old secondhand stuff. Here you can see a lot of old fashioned clothes. Most of them are still in good condition. You can easily found old school jackets, flannel shirts, nice outer, dresses and a lot more. We're fangirling over old clothes. And Finally we got one jumper, a velvet shirt and a hoodie shirt, 3 pieces of clothes cost IDR 45.000, yes it's IDR 15.000 / piece. We forgot to take our treasure pic so maybe we'd upload an outfit picture on instagram later.

By the end of that night, my short #exploresemarang trip ends. Before we back to Weleri, where Asti and her family live, we dropped by Pandanaran street, you can find Semarang's foods that you could bring home here. I was looking for Wingko Babat Cap Kereta Api but the store is already closed when we got there, it's not in Pandanaran street, it's located near Kota Lama, if you're planning to go to Semarang and wants to buy Wingko Babat, I recommend you to buy this brand, the other is good too but this one is the best. There's actually a lot more to explore in Semarang and its surrounding areas, next time then!

How did you spend your holiday? Write it down on your blog or place your comment below :)

Xx,

Avi.