Semarang in 10 Points

If you have already done reading my previous post on our trip to Karimun Jawa, you will now be reading the sequel of our remaining trip from that day.

So we transitted at Semarang ( 三宝垄) before resuming our journey back to our place. It took us approx 3 hours reach Semarang from the Jepara Harbour as it was also quite jam on the road. Was totally energy drained from the long hours of the ferry ride so most of us dozed off in car while we travel to this city.

Just a brief introduction, Semarang is the capital city of Central Java province and it's the 5th largest city in Indonesia. Due to its history, many chinese immigrants moved here and that explains why the place here is influenced greatly by the chinese culture.

So we stopped by Kedai Beringin after arriving in Semarang for our dinner.

1. Kedai Beringin 

Cheers to Chinese food! It has been a while since I last had a proper and satisfying oriental meal. This fried oriental mee cost IDR 26k (approx RM8) and I kinda like it. We also ordered the char siu pao (IDR 15k) but it was not up to our expectation yet.

2. The Hotel

 The morning view from the hotel.

Rise and shine. As usual I woke up early to get washed up and everything to prepare for our new journey ahead for the day. Being an early riser makes me a side sleeper for all of my vacation previously when staying with friends. But this time there was a twist. It was my first time being a sandwich sleeper between the girlfriends hahah omg and tragedy happened. But that's not important...

 ANYWAY

Breakfast was pure awesome. I think this was one of the best memory that was etched inside my heart. Uhh.. being too much of a breakfast person myself..

Another breakfast sans presentation. 

Due to time restriction, I think I just have time to eat and no time to arrange nicely to put in instagram ._. I just want to concentrate on indulging my food and ditch the phone aside that's all rawr.

So my fuel of the day consisted of:

Laksa Fish
The fish were so fresh and everything was so nice!

Fried Fish Fillet
You know I love fish!

Milk and cereals 

I just simply can’t resist the temptation of fresh milk in combination with other cool cereals. It has always been my weakness.

Banana cake

One of the best cake I ever had. Love the moist texture

Bubur manis

and etcetra... I don't think you even give a damn on what else I eat :P

My favourite meal of the day and now you know my secret.

3.  Pecinan Semarang Morning Market 

So here we are, at the Chinatown of Semarang. You will see many vegetable and fruit vendors here. Otherwise you would see tau fu fa, hiong beng.. tau sa beng and even yao zha guai here.

The kuehs you can find here

Come and follow me and I will tour you around the market here bahaha macam yes only

The snapshots I took around the market

And keep getting knocked off by these basket-bearing ibus (aunties) because they have no idea how big their basket is  ._.

Live tour

I forgot what was with that grimaced face for already.

Stopped by a chinese shop to have my Wan Tan Mee. I still miss my hometown's one.

4. Wingko Babat

After that, us people went to look for something know as the Wingko Babat. It's one of the local delicacy here. Apparently it's a Javanese coconut pancake snack and I personally think it's not bad. Well.. I don't hate coconut.. so yeah :P

The Wingko Babat. The boss was friendly and he offered us some of the wingkos to try at the shop.

5.  Lumpia Gang Lombok

So along the street of Gang Lombok lies a mystery greater than the pyramid of Giza: The Lumpia Gang Lombok shop.

And I have no idea why is their Lumpiah so famous in Semarang. The queue was long and you have to wait for like 2 hours to get your order (Actually it was more than 2 hours). I didn't get to try it, but according to my peers it seems they are not as good as it's cracked up to be. Well, if you happened to drop by there, I wouldn't mind being a food connoisseur for it *winks*

6. Tay Kak Sie Temple

Also nestled within the city of Semarang, this temple accommodates worshippers from buddhism, confucianism and taoism.

It's quite a good place to pray here. There's also a Zheng He statue in front of the temple. Quite interesting to know about his story and his influence of the temples in Semarang.

 

Taming my guardian lion

7. Lawang Sewu

Address: Komplek Tugu Muda, Jl. Pemuda, Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Entrance Fare: IDR10k

Lawang Sewu, also known as Thousand Doors used to be a railway headquarter built by the Dutch dating back to history. It is a famous landmark in Semarang and also widely rumoured as a haunted house. It has 600 large windows. It's the name doesn't imply that it has 1000 doors but just many doors.

The facades of Lawang Sewu

Cute choo-choo trains

Left: Standing in front of the glass stained window but I didn't go inside. What was I thinking.

Top left: The building / Top Right: The attic / Lower right: the staircase

The emptiness inside

Psychedelic illusion?

Took us forever to wait for the moment where there's completely nobody crossing the corridor for a perfect shot.

The attic

 *Pretty stained glass (pic courtesy of HY) Such a waste that I actually missed out this place :(

The landmark monument of Semarang

8. Sam Poo Kong 三保洞

Address: Klenteng Sam Po Kong, Bongsari, Semarang Bar., Kota Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Entrance Fare: IDR 5k

Also known as the Stone Building, it is one of the oldest chinese temple in Semarang.

 

 It's quite a pretty place for photography. Look at the cascading roof. If you notice there are many animals perching on top the the roofs.

One of the building here.

You are required to pay another IDR 20-30k to pray inside. *rolls eyes*. But anyway, can you tell what animals are perching on top of the roof? ;)

 

The columns in the temple. 

Anyway, there is a saying that goes “a hungry man is an angry man”. But when you’re not just hungry, but also severely dehydrated, sleep deprived and the traffic is just miserably upseting, the effect could be more horrendous.

And no matter how hard you try avoiding the crowd...

In the end you still get photobombed... ._.

9. Paragon Mall

Address: Jl. Pemuda No. 118, Sekayu, Semarang Tengah, Kota Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Shopping has never been my thing on a holiday. But it could be a great place to chill down for some cool air from the temperature outside. Anyway, the cineplex is quite huge here.

10. Waroeng Semawis

Address: Jalan Gang Warung No. 50, Semarang Tengah, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Yeah you're probably thinking: Isn't this place the same as the morning market? That's right. So there would be more food at night, just like the pasar malam we have in Malaysia.

There's also Bak Kut Teh here. Never tried it too.

Tried the waffle that my friend bought from the vendor and it was not bad at all! (Top left). The pisang plenet is one of the local delicacy of Semarang too. It tastes.. oklah. The rest of the photo you see on top is the lumpia of the great queue that I didn't try. Perhaps you can try it and lemme know if it taste like rainbow the next time you visit there.

More food here! 

 

Soo here are my picks: Fruit Salad Ice-cream (IDR 18k), Avocado and Durian Sorbet (IDR 20k) and Tahu Petis (IDR 1.5k)

But frankly, I think I just enjoyed my fruit salad ice-cream. For the durian ice-cream, I'd prefer to eat the durian just by itself. Neither am I particularly appealed by the Tahu as well. It somehow doesn't suit my taste.

That pretty much sums up our trip to Karimun and Semarang. Hope you enjoyed *winks*

and let me know how do you think of it :)

Till then,

x