historic charmer in semarang
a good friend of mine, swan asked me to have a short vacation in semarang. well well well.. great idea! so we went to semarang from jogja by day trans, a sort of car travel. it cost only 50,000 per person and the best possible way because the train route from jogja-semarang has closed in may 2012. it took 4 hours to reach semarang. we left jogja at 10 am and arrived in semarang around 1 pm.
ugly outside, appealing inside. soon i fell in love with the old antique chinese-colonial interior.
toko oen sold original taste cakes and cookies. a taste that would remind you of your childhood. we ordered manyyy... small size girls with big appetite... crocket, resoles, loenpia, chicken steak, bitterballen, and a must kudu harus absolute try.. the ice cream!!! as a media victim, we ordered rum raisin ice cream and... omg, i forgot when the last time i ate ice cream with a real liquor in it!! it tasted soooooo good... thank god swan didn't like it so she just ate a bit and i finished the rest ;)
we also went to pesta keboen for having dinner, another trip advisor's top 10 restaurant in semarang. actually i tried to find local's favorite restaurant through 4sq, but look what i found? restaurant such kfc, mcd (and their fellas) were on the top list. disappointing!
lively vibrant unclear interior. that's my first impression about pesta keboen.
pesta keboen had the weirdest menu i've ever seen. they didn't wrote the price on the menu! my best suggestion is: don't be shy to ask the price. a waiter handed me a price list after i asked hihi... oh ya, we were the only guests they had so it's our chance to take some silly photos. the food was so-so, but the best thing about this restaurant was, they sold manyyy retro snacks that will remind you on your childhood such nougat candy in orange packaging with a horseman image on it, cigarettes candy, ginger candy in blue-white-red packaging, candied fruit, penguin bubble gum, and we found suzanna chocolate! it becomes one of my fav chocolate now.
full belly, happy travellers.
as it's a short journey, we didn't go to many tourist attractions, just two.
lawang sewu, a big spacious building located at the traffic roundabout tugu semarang. in the dutch colonial era, it was the indonesia's train head office. when japan took over, it turned into a vicious jail. after the indonesia independence, lawang sewu's function was changed into a military office before the government made it as a museum as we know today. the ticket was cheap, only IDR 10K per person, but we MUST accompanied by a guide and it meant we have to pay extra. IDR 30K. total entrance fee for two people + 1 guide = IDR 50K. e x p e n s i v e.
the other one was museum of jamu nyonya meneer. nyonya meneer is a traditional jamu brand which is very famous throughout indonesia. as its name, the small museum located in the factory area displayed the story of nyonya meneer and the history of the brand nyonya meneer itself. they still keep the original utilities of nyonya meneer to make jamu. also, the advertisement from time to time, the traditional jamu ingredients, the products,,, the museum also displayed the personal stuff belong to nyonya meneer. i loooveee the beautiful antique chandelier hanging on the center of the museum.. uhm.. apparently nyonya meneer had a high taste for fashion and stuff. i love her kebaya encim and her pretty make up stuffs.
riri
dafam hotel! a nice clean city hotel in the heart of semarang, our resting place. it located at jalan imam bonjol, near tugu semarang and lawang sewu, the famous and historial colonial building.
the short lazy weekend escape began :) traveling = culinary adventure. first, we went to the #1 trip advisor top list restaurant. toko oen, just took not more than 10 minutes by taxi to get there. a shabby-look vintage cake and ice cream restaurant located at the corner of the street. pleaseee don't judge by its facade :) swan hardly believed that it's the restaurant we'd had lunch to when the taxi stopped in front of the building! haha.. soon as she passed through at the two pieces old green door and looked at the sticker on the door's mirror, she believed me. a trip advisor recommendation sticker.
toko oen sold original taste cakes and cookies. a taste that would remind you of your childhood. we ordered manyyy... small size girls with big appetite... crocket, resoles, loenpia, chicken steak, bitterballen, and a must kudu harus absolute try.. the ice cream!!! as a media victim, we ordered rum raisin ice cream and... omg, i forgot when the last time i ate ice cream with a real liquor in it!! it tasted soooooo good... thank god swan didn't like it so she just ate a bit and i finished the rest ;)
lively vibrant unclear interior. that's my first impression about pesta keboen.
pesta keboen had the weirdest menu i've ever seen. they didn't wrote the price on the menu! my best suggestion is: don't be shy to ask the price. a waiter handed me a price list after i asked hihi... oh ya, we were the only guests they had so it's our chance to take some silly photos. the food was so-so, but the best thing about this restaurant was, they sold manyyy retro snacks that will remind you on your childhood such nougat candy in orange packaging with a horseman image on it, cigarettes candy, ginger candy in blue-white-red packaging, candied fruit, penguin bubble gum, and we found suzanna chocolate! it becomes one of my fav chocolate now.
full belly, happy travellers.
lawang sewu, a big spacious building located at the traffic roundabout tugu semarang. in the dutch colonial era, it was the indonesia's train head office. when japan took over, it turned into a vicious jail. after the indonesia independence, lawang sewu's function was changed into a military office before the government made it as a museum as we know today. the ticket was cheap, only IDR 10K per person, but we MUST accompanied by a guide and it meant we have to pay extra. IDR 30K. total entrance fee for two people + 1 guide = IDR 50K. e x p e n s i v e.
the other one was museum of jamu nyonya meneer. nyonya meneer is a traditional jamu brand which is very famous throughout indonesia. as its name, the small museum located in the factory area displayed the story of nyonya meneer and the history of the brand nyonya meneer itself. they still keep the original utilities of nyonya meneer to make jamu. also, the advertisement from time to time, the traditional jamu ingredients, the products,,, the museum also displayed the personal stuff belong to nyonya meneer. i loooveee the beautiful antique chandelier hanging on the center of the museum.. uhm.. apparently nyonya meneer had a high taste for fashion and stuff. i love her kebaya encim and her pretty make up stuffs.
we had fun in semarang, i may say semarang is not my favorite city though. indeed. i just didn't feel alive. we -me and swan didn't feel the town's energy. was it because i am very used to the warm humble atmosphere of jogja? or was it because i only stayed there for two days?
Comments