Purpose
of the trip.
On 23rd until 26th
of April we are bachelor of Hospitality and Tourist Management students went to
Surabaya and Kota Malang Indonesia under Attraction Management subject which
the activity in this subject is include to do International Trip with our
lecturer AP Arfah Binti Kassim. Our main purpose to go Surabaya was to compare
with our previous domestic trip was held on 15th until 16th
of April 2017 in Malacca, Malaysia.
Where
is location of Surabaya?
It is located in Jawa Timur (East
Java), Surabaya is also capital city of East Java and the second largest city
in Indonesia after Jakarta. The city had a population over 2.8 million,
approximately 6 million as metropolitan, and an 'extended metropolitan area',
with more than 9 million inhabitants in several cities and approximately 50
districts spread over non-contiguous urban areas including Gresik, Sidoarjo,
Mojokerto and Pasuruan regencies, and locally known as Gerbangkertosusila. The
metropolitan area (Surabaya, Gresik and Sidarjo) as Greater Surabaya (Zona
Surabaya Raya) with a population of 6,484,206 (2010), making Surabaya now the
third largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, after Greater Jakarta and Greater
Bandung.
The
history named of Surabaya.
The name of Surabaya is from shark and
crocodile which Sura means ‘Shark’ while Boya or Baya is means ‘Crocodile’. It
has monument of shark and crocodile at the middle of Surabaya City to attract
tourist to take picture of the piece. The place is not too crowd with people
and it is centralized to compare with Malacca that is not systematically
organized for the tourists. There are several of comparisons I will share based
on my experiences in Surabaya and Kota Malang.
Day 1
Half of us were reached to the airport
by bus from MSU and some of us go by themselves. We were needed to be at KLIA
at 10am to check-in and loaded our baggage or luggage. The flight number was
XT327 and our departure was at 1.15pm (Malaysia time) and estimate to arrive at
3.00pm in Juanda International Airport. Inside the flight, they were providing
us a lunch which was Uncle Chin’s Chicken Rice. After more than 2 hours in
flight, we were finally touchdown the Surabaya and meet & greet our tour
guide, Pak Jais.
Pak Jais is our tour guide from the
first day until our last day; he has very strong attribution to get our
attention to listen to his stories and some facts of Surabaya, it is because he
has been in this industry for quite long time. He entertained us with his jokes
along the way from Surabaya to Malang until we were all getting tired to listen
to his jokes to compared with our domestic trip to Malacca, we were all boring
with the fresh tour guide which they are still students and they are still in
learning process to gain new experience to be a tour guide. There is one of my
comparisons for tour guiding skill between senior tour guides and also junior
or students tour guide.
Before we went to Kota Malang, we were
actually gone to having our first dinner in Surabaya; the restaurant is
Sederhana if I am not mistaken. The foods are Padang authentic cuisine and to
be honest I could not eat the dishes, maybe it was not for my taste but I tried
for 3-4 spoons. During that time I already missed Malaysian cuisine even though
just a few hours I left Malaysia. Maybe I still cannot adapt the taste at first
but after a while I slowly can adapt Indonesian cuisine, even it takes time.
We were left Surabaya and headed to
Kota Malang, It took almost 3 hours to reached to our hotel. Here is the short story of Kota Malang.
Malang is the second largest city in East Java. It has a history date back to
the Singhasari. The city population at the 2010 Census was 820,243. The metro
area was home to 2,795,209 inhabitants spread on 2 cities and 22 districts (21
in Malang Regency and 1 in Pasuruan Regency). During the period of Dutch
colonization, it was a popular destination for European residents. The city is
well known for its mild climate. People in East Java sometimes call it
"Paris of East Java." In 2013, Malang was spared many of the effects
of the Asian financial crisis, and since that time it has been marked by steady
economic and population growth.
In Kota Malang, we were staying at De'
Boutique Hotel, it is 3-star hotel and the location is nearby shop to buy some
foods. To compare with hotel in Malacca, there is no 24 hours shop open for us.
It make us easier to find foods to eat something in Malang because there is not
only 24 hours shop open, but there are many stalls sell street food such as
fried rice like in Malaysia. We walked about 50 meter from our hotel and the
temperature during night was incredible amazing and mild. But I only bought
instant noodle and drink instead of heavy food because I quite shock with the
price, now I know that RM1 = RP3000. Amazingly I only spent RM4.00 for foods.
Unlike in Malacca, every food is a bit pricy, it quite hard to find food with
below RM5.
The hotel it was super nice and
comfortable; I was sleep alone because my roommate was not able to join the
trip due to her health condition. My room located at 2nd floor, in
front of my room is the smoking area, so I can see others smoke or chi-chat
with their friends from my room. I cannot describe what I feel in Malang, it
indescribable. I could not sleep at that night because I was exciting with the
view and panorama from the hotel. I still remember I sat at the smoking area to
watch the sunrise at 5.15am and waiting for the others to have breakfast. I
cannot see the sunrise in Malacca because the view from our room is only
buildings.
Day 2
Next morning, our first activity was
visiting Panti Asuhan Anak-Anak Yatim Almunawaroh and doing some community
service. Before we check-out the hotel, we had breakfast at 6.00am and it feel
like 8am in Malaysia. We left the hotel around 8am and headed to Panti Asuhan.
Along the way to Panti Asuhan, Pak Jais gave a short of brief about the Batu
area.
Batu,
Malang
He tried to interpreted all the place
and share the info of the place. Kota Batu is a small city which is surrounding
with mountains. The primary attraction for Kota Batu is mountains such as Bromo
Mountain. There is another attraction or famous place that is their school that
is said made by ghosts, ‘Pesantren Mohamaddiyah’. We reached to Batu around 9.00am
Indonesia time. We had to walk from the main road to get the Panti Asuhan, but
the view to get there was really beautiful, the ground is so green and skies
are very clear, I have not seen the beautiful scenery for quite a long time in
Malaysia. It relief my stress because it away from modernized area. We were
approached by owner of the Panti Asuhan. We have been told that the Panti
Asuhan is for male only. Their age is around 10 to 18 years old.
Apple
farm
After community service activity, we
had lunch with the orphanages before leaving to Apple Farm. Visit apple farm is
a must when you are in Malang. It is a new experience to picked apple from the
tree itself. The farmers and workers are very friendly. They are welcoming us
at the entrance of the farm. They are also shares about the types of apples and
it new things for us to learn about it. We can eat as much as we want to, but
if we want to bring to back, we have to pay about RM10.00. During our visit,
there was another group from pre-school. From there, what I can see is the host
explained about the farm different way or different interpretation to the kids
for their suitability or appropriate for their age to understand more about the
farm. That one is a good example how the host give an explanation to them.
Outside the farm, they are selling
souvenir such as crisp apple & apple juice. I bought 10 packages of crisp
apple with RP100,000 and they gave a free package. Then we were back to our
bus, but then one motorcycle follows us to the bus and sell crisp apple next to
our bus and he sells it cheaper than before. It is different situation in
Malacca. In Malacca, firstly an uncle sell ice-cream RM1.00 only, but then when
there so many people, he increase the price up to RM2.00.
Museum
Angkut and Movie Star Studio
This museum is located at Kota Batu,
East Java. The concept inside of museum is like Universal Studio. Angkut means
‘transportation’ in English; generally it is museum of transportation with over
300 of transportation collections from trishaws to airplanes. My first
impression museum angkut was boring because from my point of view it has no
attractive to attract me to come there. We have to walked from parking to entrance
it took about 10 minute; it was quite far from the entrance. I already tired by
walking and it was a hot day and made me felt I do not want to enter the
museum. After passing the long journey to get the entrance, we had to go
through to pass their food court and souvenir shops. They have Pasar Apung it
is called as Batu Pasar Apung, it is like Float Market in Bangkok, Thailand.
Tourist can try to ride the raft along the market to buy souvenir at Pasar
Apung or Float Market. That is how they try to attract the visitors. The second
thing is the queue management at the ticketing area. They are using parallel
line to multiple servers, so the visitors do not have to waste their time to
wait for their ticket; it is really systematic to compare with The Malacca
Sultanate Palace which they are using single line server and the only way to in
and out.
To enter the museum, they have to
check inside of our bags, because we are not allowed to bring foods even water
and in additional they are not allowed us to bring other camera except for
phone camera. If we want to bring other camera such as DSLR we have to pay
additional fee for that. When we entered the museum, all I can see classic
cars, the real size of cars over there. Second floor is more to traditional
transportation such as trishaw and cow car that most of the countries in Asia
used as their transportation. Outside of the second floor is air transportation
such as jet, helicopter and so on. There is quite hot because there have no
roof, but the panorama from there is really amazing and they were also
entertained us with their performance. When I go back inside to find way out
from there, I thought I already found the exit way because it look like end
way, but I was so wrong. I have to passed another zone which is it was like
Japanese concept with the Japan flag, cars, motors and some information of the
Japan. And then, we keep walking and thought the same thing like before, but it
was wrong again. I have to passed France zone, they are decorated the zone with
Eiffel Tower. Nearby the Eiffel Tower there is also have café for us to buy
food or drink. And the price is affordable and reasonable. We have to passed
England zone which is they are decorated with Buckingham Palace with double
decker bus and beautiful garden outside of the palace. The museum is really big
and we have to walk about an hour to find the exit way. Compared with Sultanate
Palace, we can go in and out whenever we want; we do not have to passing the
entire zones like museum Angkut. Museum Angkut is worth to spend our money to
gain a new experience, learn new history and at the same time it is really
attractive for every ages.
The best thing inside of the museum is
they are not about the transportation only, but they are also having
information of the history for every zone. The signage is quite good because
they are put several languages and for the toilet signage it have next toilet
distance, for example we are in zone A, so next toilet located at zone B 150 meter
away from zone A and to compare with Sultanate Palace, they are providing only
1 signage at outside.
Brawijaya, Batu, Malang (souvenir shop)
Next, we were gone to Brawi Jaya to
buy souvenir, we only have 30 minute to spend to buy souvenir before dinner.
After shopping, we went to having our dinner. It was located nearby from Museum
Angkut. That was the last stop before we headed back to Surabaya. That day was
so productive for us, from morning until night we were full of activities and
we were all tired. When were arrived in Surabaya, it was raining and at the Neo
Hotel Surabaya one of our friend had muscle cramp, we were so shocked during
that time. Luckily, he is fine. But the next day he could not be able to join
us for visiting Universitas Airlangga (Unair) for our part of activity in
Surabaya.
Day 3
Visiting
local University of Airlangga, Surabaya
We were needed to be at University at
9.00am so we left the hotel at 8.00am. We arrived at faculty or the office to
listen to their speech before we go to their university to perform our culture.
We arrived at university around 10.00am, the first activity was speech from the
both deans of Unair and MSU. Next, they are performing their traditional dance,
it was called Tarian Remo. Tarian Remo I think it is Java traditional dance.
Then we were proceeding with our traditional dance performance. After the dance
performance, we were allowed to go approach students over there. We made new
friends, share our story in the university. Take a look their works, it was a
memorable moments for me, we were also exchange our social media to keep in a
good relationship between both countries. They were also providing us lunch; I
have been told that lunch was Nasi Kotak or Rice Box in English. Finally, I can
adapt the taste of Indonesian cuisine. We were leaving Unair and gone to
Suramadu Bridge.
Suramadu
Bridge
Suramadu is actually combination with
Surabaya and Madura. This bridge actually connection between Surabaya that
located at Bangkalan (Java Island) to Madura (Madura Island), which is why it
named Suramadu. Suramadu Bridge actually the longest bridge in Indonesia. It
was opened on June 2009 and the distance is 5.4km across the Madura Strait.
ITC
Surabaya, largest souvenir shop
ITC Surabaya is a largest souvenir
shop in Surabaya. Everything is cheap but certain things are quite expensive
maybe because of the quality of the items itself. Pak Jais gave us 2 hours to spend at ITC but
I think it is still not enough to go around, there are so many shop lots sell.
To compare with souvenir shops in Malacca, it is pricy and the price is not
really reasonable for tourist. After 2 hours, we left ITC and headed to Sunan
Ampel.
Sunan
Ampel
Mosque & Tomb of Sunan Ampel, the
oldest mosque in Surabaya built by Raden Rahmatullah one of the Walisongo
member in 1421. To get inside of the mosque, we have to pass market, it quite
smelly, crowded with local tourists and international tourist. I am not
recommending family to bring their kids to visit the Sunan Ampel for their own safety.
We were only can enter to the tomb 10 minute after azan Maghrib. We have to
wait at outside of the tomb and we saw were the local visitors sat outside of
the tomb during Maghrib’s prayer instead of they go for pray inside the mosque.
I do not get what actually they were doing. Finally, we entered to the tomb
area just for 2-3 minute before Pak Jais asked us to leave the place and back
to our bus. At the bus, there were a lot of sellers selling their items. They
were even getting into our bus to force and push us to buy the things. But what
we only do was ignore the seller and let them go by themselves. It was another
experience for me when I was in Surabaya.
After Sunan Ampel, we headed to having
our dinner that located nearby our hotel. It is famous a restaurant in Surabaya
because the wall full with articles from pieces of newspaper about the
restaurant. After we were having our last dinner in Surabaya, we go back to our
hotel for rest. Before we entered the hotel, Pak Jais told us that next day we
will have changes of the itinerary because everyone were tired so he gave to us
2 hours extra before checkout of the hotel. They tried to entertained
themselves by pranked the others. They made a call to another room and
pretending like they are ‘manager’ of the hotel and asked them to change and
share room with others. Some of them were thought it was real, so they were
starting to pack their stuffs to go to another room as the ‘manager’ requested.
While in Malacca, we have no time to play around like in Surabaya because our
itinerary too packed for trip in Malacca.
Day4
Muzium Kretek at
House of Sampoerna
This is our last day in Surabaya, we
check-out at 10.00am before headed to cigarette factory for our last attraction
visit. This is actually historical building that built in 1962 and this is
stately Dutch Colonial style building. The cigarette factory also known as
House of Sampoerna and now preserved as a historical site by their government.
Mr. Brian is our tour guide at House of Sampoerna; he explains every each of
the history of Sampoerna. From the beginning which is a bamboo stall where the
story begun, until how Sampoerna running the cigarette business with his
family. Mr. Brian also shows us types of tobacco that used in the cigarette
until how the process of cigarette has been made. He brought us to 2nd
floor but we are not allowed to take any picture of the factory. From there we
can see the hundreds of worker hand-rolling of the cigarette or they called it
‘kretek’. From there we were be able to understand the history of that factory to compare with Flor De La Mar,
the tour guide just explain at one place rather than bring us walk around just
like what Mr. Brian did. It is a good example interpretation as a tour guide.
When we asked him anything, we can give us an answer.
That is my several comparisons between
Malacca and Surabaya. My opinion is, even though Surabaya is one of the tourism
destinations, but they are still maintaining the historic environment, their
heritage building without painting colorful like in Malacca to attract tourist
and maintaining their culture, Java cultural, their tradition. While in
Malacca, there are slowly modernize the historic state as I have mentioned on
my previous report. Malacca should take Surabaya as the example how to maintain
the historic yet successful developed as tourism destination. Their
hospitality, the local people, they are welcoming us until I feel like I do not
want to leave the place. We are slowly adapting their beautiful culture, their
soft language, their politeness. That is Wonderful Indonesia.
