Another Short Trip to Semarang-Kudus-Yogyakarta

A friend suddenly asked if I could accompany her to Kudus to pay respect to the elders in her extended family following the death of one of her aunts. D has just been told to undergo a cataract operation, so I said that I needed one-two weeks to see if the operation went well (I would write in a separate post on this).

After D had the first operation, there was an airplane accident and it made both of us rethinking the means of transportation. We decided to use different kinds of transportation during the trip: train, bus, and plane, which is not Lion Air, of course.

Long story short, we finally left for the trip between Nov. 29 and Dec. 3, 2018. I could not take any sudden leave, so I decided to take my laptop and find an accommodation with WiFi to finish the daily work. Here was how it went.

Nov. 29, 2018

I finished my daily work and headed to Gambir station. We were to take Argo Sindoro, which departed at 15.45. The ticket price was Rp 310,000, and the service included with a full air-conditioned car, a small pillow, a blanket, more leg space, but alas, no dinner. I did remember how awful the dish in the restaurant car was, so we bought KFC in the station.

Interior of Semarang Tawang Station, kind of remind me to Ukraine's vokzal :)

The trip with Argo Sindoro was only six hours, and we arrived at Tawang station at around 22.15. I had booked a room at an Airy Room establishment on Jl. Tri Lomba Juang, Mugas because I received a voucher from Google as a contributor (thank you, Google!). With the voucher, we only pay around Rp 104,000 per night.

This accommodation is located right in front of Tri Lomba Juang stadium in Mugas area, Semarang

The room is clean and neatly organized

The bathroom had hot water, but smelt like it had been urinated, ugh

There were welcome snack and two bottles of water

This toiletry set gave a nice touch

Due to the low price of the room, I did not expect much. I chose the room because it had the most strategic location, close to Simpang Lima area but a bit hidden so the traffic was not that heavy. But it turned out to have a good WiFi in the reception area, the AC was working, the shower had hot-cold setting and there was a packet of welcome snack! Before anyone protest, I must underline that food is an important element in this trip, and you will find even more food photos down below. You have been warned.

Nov. 30, 2018

In the morning, I found that the WiFi was slowing down. I had browsed several potential workplaces around Mugas area, but then Yana found Peacock Coffee, a 24-hour cafe with WiFi on Jl. Gajah Mada. She had been up and went around the city to find eateries that opened in the morning. Her findings included Asem-Asem Koh Liem and Nasi Kebuli Ibu Aminah.

Asem-Asem Koh Liem is an eatery selling mainly meat soup cooked with tamarind (hence, the name 'asem-asem', asem means sour in Javanese, because tamarind gives the sour flavor). 

I forgot to take a picture of Nasi Kebuli Ibu Aminah, because I ate that later at night. Yana was glad that I could eat all food that she bought and could not finish.

Asem-Asem Koh Liem

Anyway, back to Peacock Coffee. A quick chat with the barista informed us that there were three Peacock Coffee in Semarang and one in Yogya (which I had visited back in 2016!). The owner used to study in Semarang, decided to open a cafe and somehow found that doing business gave more satisfaction than getting a degree so the cafe owner dropped out of college. Here are some photos of the cafe.

If you're wondering why I made such a big fuss on this cafe, well, Semarang is not Jakarta in the sense that there are not that many 24-hour establishment like this. There might be people like me, who is on a trip to Semarang and need to work at night or in early morning, so this one is for us.

The facade

Things you can order in the cafe

Shelf love

Backyard patio

Green tea latte and chocolate pie

Across Peacock Coffee was a shop selling fabric in kilograms and also in pieces, and in cheap prices. We peeked inside the fabric shop with innocent eyes, and the last thing I knew, I had two pieces of hijab in my hands. This place is dangerous. When I reached Jakarta, I regretted the fact that I only took two hijabs, because the fabric quality was quite good for such cheap prices. Ahhh, the adage that says "nothing haunts us like the things we did not buy" is so true.

Things that haunt me

We went back to Mugas to check out, and to store the bags while we went out for lunch and souvenir shopping. But then the Singapore office rang to ask if I could revise the report. It was lucky that I was still in the reception area. I opened my laptop and quickly made the revision.

After the drama with the report, we had lunch at Soto Bangkong on Jl. Brigjen Katamso. The place held such wonderful memories as it was the place where my parents and I dined when they accompanied me to do the university registration, whenever they visited me in Semarang and after my graduation ceremony.

Soto Bangkong, a legendary cuisine and a must-try when in Semarang

View of Soto Bangkong restaurant from across the street

Then we bought lunpia on Jl. Mataram for Yana's family in Kudus. One lunpia is now priced at Rp 13,000. Back in 1997-2003, it was only Rp 2,000. 

I did this price comparison almost all the time in Semarang, and whenever I did that, Yana gave me a deadly stare and said,"It was 15 years ago, get over it." Hahaha, silly me to think that Semarang would stay the same. It was such a bittersweet to go around Simpang Lima-Gajah Mada-Mataram and then saw how much the city had changed. But then I realized, I have also changed, grew and developed to the person I am today.

We came back to Mugas to collect our bags and then booked Go-Car for the trip to Kudus. We could just take a bus from Mangkang-Terboyo Terminal. But I still remembered how the terminal looked like back then and Yana also preferred to rent a car, so we paid Rp 185,000 for the ride to Kudus.

Leaving Semarang at around 17.00, we arrived in Kudus at around 20.30. The traffic was bad (as expected), but the road condition had improved from the last time I saw it. I fell asleep during the ride, in which Yana commented,"This sleeping ability of yours, it's a superpower. Not everyone can sleep anywhere like you do." Hmm, ok.

Our room in Griptha Hotel, Kudus

We stayed in Griptha hotel that night. After dropping off the bags, we went to Yana's family using GrabCar. They had a long family chat, while I nursed the tea pot (the tea was flavorful!). Her family was warm and welcoming. We returned to the hotel using another GrabCar at around 22.30.

Tangent: when in Kudus, GoJek provides the bike ride service, while GrabCar gives the car ride. The spirit of sharing and 'gotong-royong' (community help) is deeply engrained here.

Dec. 1, 2018

We kicked off the day by going to Menara Kudus Mosque at 03.45 using...GrabCar. I was so surprised that there was actually a GrabCar in Kudus at that hour. I mean, Kudus used to be this serene, sleepy city.

That magical blue sky

Inner court of the mosque

After the morning prayer, we took a walk around. I did not have any work to do, it was Saturday, I was free! 

The original plan was we would head to Yogyakarta in the afternoon. But then Yana wanted to visit SMK Raden Umar Said for her article and I wanted to eat 'sate kerbau' (buffalo satay). After a very long discussion during breakfast at the hotel, we decided to spend another night in Kudus. But tonight we would stay at her family's home, because (1) they offered it, and (2) budget efficiency.

We checked out and ordered GrabCar, which turned out to be a brand new car (the car plate was in red color) and the driver was a polite young man. We asked him if he was willing to take us around for the day and that we would pay for Rp 250,000 for 6 hours. He said,"well, if it was my 'rezeki' (blessing) for the day, how can I refuse?" We took that as "yes".

SMK RUS is a vocational high school, with majors on animation and the likes. It has been receiving help from PT Djarum. The school has been featured in TV shows and news, so there are many news sources on this vocational school. Here are photos from my visit.

A signage at SMK RUS that shows its five majors: DKV, Anim, RPL (visual communication design, animation and software engineering); desain grafika (graphic design) and produksi grafika (graphic production)

When teachers and students work together to develop games, this kind of gadget is considered normal to be found in the teacher's desk.

A sound engineering room,  where the students insert sound into the visual work. And to think that they are high school students *gasp

The school realizes that students need to relax to keep their creative juice flowing, so they have this slider. If you're wondering, yes, I did try it.

After the fun tour around SMK RUS, we went to a local batik shop, where we could also have a look on its production process.

Is it God's way to tell me to buy that batik fabric?

One of the stages to make batik fabric

Some of the batik patterns in Kudus feature the mosque, clove (which is used in cigarette, the main product of Kudus) and badminton (which also has strong tie with Kudus)

We went to Gudang Kaliputu, one of the badminton training grounds owned by PT Djarum. There was an audition competition that day so the place was opened for public. This was such rare opportunity, alhamdulillah!

We had lunch in this eatery. The locals recommended this place, so it must be that good.

There are two options: soto ayam (with chicken meat) and soto kerbau (with buffalo meat). Since I am a curious and adventurous, I chose the buffalo meat hohoho. It's delicious.

It felt like being told to choose between the lesser evil: sate jeroan (innards on skewer) or sate paru (lungs on skewer). In the end, I chose kerupuk kulit kerbau (buffalo skin cracker)

We went to Simpang Tujuh, or Kudus town square, which has seven roads meeting into this traffic circle. The last time I was here was in early 2000, when I got assignment from my university.

A photo with sewer top

People reading newspaper that is placed on one of the square's corners

I did mention that we had lunch, so I guess this is late afternoon snack? We shared one dish for three. This is Garang Asem Sari Rasa (Gasasa), also a must-try when in Kudus.

For dinner, we had sate kerbau (buffalo meat on skewer). The meat is minced with a food processor.

Kudus has many buffalo-based dishes, because in the past it was Hindu-dominated. When the area was having more Muslim residents, the Muslim put buffalo (not cows, which are considered sacred animals in Hindu) for the Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice). It was part of religious tolerance. While the area has now become Muslim-dominated and has been sacrificing cows on Idul Adha, the dishes stay.

Dec. 2, 2018

The next day, we took a bus to go to Yogyakarta, our final city in this trip. We used Nusantara bus, the ticket was Rp 60,000 per person. We hopped off in Jombor terminal and then headed to Artotel Yogyakarta at Jl. Kaliurang, which turns out to be such cool hotel. Here are the photos.

Urip iku Urup (Life is A Flame), a Javanese adage that means your life should give positive impact on others.

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The hotel has a slider. Yes, I tried this one too!

A lovely mural at Roca, the hotel's restaurant

The hotel is very Instagrammable with many corners to take photos

Our bedroom at Artotel Yogyakarta

The bathroom area

I love this bedside table

We only spent one night at the hotel and returned to Jakarta to continue working and saving up money, so we can go on a trip again. This has been such a wonderful trip, which was unexpected as I was taking work with me.