Port 01 Surabaya, Indonesia

Greetings!

On the morning of March 11th, 2024, we slowly glide through miles of harbor to reach our berth at the Surabaya Cruise Terminal.

In the distance we see a huge statue of a soldier standing at attention!

We arrive at a port with a nice cruise terminal…

…where we are greeted by Indonesians in beautiful local attire!

Today is a holiday for the Hindu people. Nyepi – New Year’s Day and the Day of Silence, but this is only observed in Bali. In Surabaya the holiday means the streets will be crowded!

We learn about an Indonesian custom – the people visit the graves of their ancestors in the cemetery today, and then fast tomorrow. Most families have a family tomb.

Our tour bus heads out to take us to a Chinese Temple and the 4-Headed Buddha.  On the way we see a few beautiful, and not-so-beautiful, places I’ll show you! We begin with a very ornate building in the middle of a long row of boring businesses and apartment buildings.

This is followed by a incongruous shanty town along the railroad!

And then a stunning mosque! All of the helmets at the bottom are the motorcyclists on the other side of the street.

To get to the Chinese Temple and Buddha, we enter a wanna-be Disneyland called Ken Park!

I’m certain there are many license violations here!

We see a Cinderella Castle peeking over the trees!

And then a few more almost-certain license violations!

I’m not sure where this came from, but it was strange seeing a “sea” of dragons here!

We finally reach the location of the Chinese Temple. We are told this is located by the beach. Beach? We haven’t seen any water!

The main gate to the temple looks a lot like the Balinese temple gates we saw a few days ago.

But we enter through the open gate on the left, and are greeted by characters we would never expect to see at a Temple…

Right?

Finally, we reach the Chinese Temple! It is a beautiful, solid structure.

Within the Temple are ten shrines to various deities and people they honor. Stations 1, 2, and 3 are individual stations, and 4, 5, and 6 share one room while 7, 8, and 9 share another room. Tall candles light the rooms, and incense is burning everywhere!

 

 

Behind the Temple is a courtyard facing the South China Sea. Here the Temple is guarded by a pair of huge dragons!

 

 

We move on to the Four-face Buddha. We learn that prayers are said to each face three times as follows:

• First Buddha faces east – this is for those with strong intentions like a desire to win a political office

• Second face is South – this is for those who need to reject bad fortune

• Third face West – this is to ask for good fortune

• Fourth face North – this is to ask for respect and success

Ganesh is next to the Buddha. This is proof that religions co-exist here, Buddhist and Hindu, side-by-side.

 

Our next stop is Hotel Majapahit, built in 1910. This is our lunch venue and hotel tour. It is reported that Charlie Chaplin stayed here once for three days in Room 49. The challenge now is to find Room 49!

On our way to Hotel Majapahit we see these four guys! Semar, Gareng, Petruk, and Begong represent the “panakawan” clown servants of a hero. In most references Bagong is described as the pot-bellied overweight clown, but clearly here Semar fits that description best! But Semar is usually cast as the guardian spirit deity with the other three as companions.

We cross the Golden River a few times! Each time it has a wonderful array of items suspended on lines across the River.

We finally arrive at the Hotel Majapahit.

After a pleasant buffet lunch we are taken on a tour of the hotel. The hotel was originally the Oranje Hotel. Much of the original structure remains, and open areas have been filled in with additional rooms.

The breezeways are clean and colorful!

The courtyards are beautiful and cool.

And we see the new and the old thrown together – the highrise buildings towering over the two-story 1910 Oranje/Mahapajit Hotel!

No, I never find Room 49. I discover Room 50, and working around I see Room 51, 53, and 45. There is a section under renovation – I suspect 49 is hidden back there…

We next vist the Hero’s Monument. When Surabaya heard the US bombed Japan in August, 1945, the people turned against and stripped the occupying Japanese forces of their weapons. Surabaya declared its independence on Aug 15, 1945.

This statue depicts the President and Vice President declaring Surabaya’s independence!

Behind the statue a lone cat watches the flag and monument! (OK, this isn’t important or relevant, but I like the picture!)

The Hero’s Monument is a tall pencil of a tower stands tall in the middle of the plaza. This is dedicated to everyone who participated in the path to independence from Japanese rule!

At the other end of the plaza is this statue of Surabayan youth being shot. At the base of the statue is the list of mass graves of the 30,000 young people who gave their lives in 1945 for freedom.

Our tour guide, Han, gave us a summary of today’s tour! In short, he said:

• He, a Muslim guide, taking us to a Chinese temple, and Ganesh next to the Four-Faced Buddha shows the Surabayans are tolerant of multiple religions living in harmony
• The Oranje Hotel, now the Majapahit Hotel shows the extreme capitalism that exists
• The Hero’s Monument shows the heart of the Surabayans in needing and fighting for their independence

With this I finally bring our first port of call post to a close. Whew!

I apologize to everyone for how long this has taken! I have been plagued by technical difficulties – from getting images off my camera and onto the laptop, and then getting the photos uploaded to the blog website. Wifi has been horrible on this ship! I pray that I can do better as we go forward. I’m way behind!

Next port of call – Muara, Brunei!