Singapore Day 1

11:21. Arriving at Terminal 1, I headed to the Jewel part of the airport to find my family who had arrived earlier from Jakarta.

I know that I just praised Kualanamu, but this was on another different league. Perhaps any airport in this earth would look pale compared to this one.

It was my first time seeing the famous Rain Vortex, and I was in awe, really. Keren banget! I visited this in June 2019, and it was first opened in April 2019.

Btw, I thought the name of the waterfall was jewel, but apparently not. Jewel Changi Airport (also known as Jewel or Jewel Changi) is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex on the inside of Changi Airport. Its centrepiece is the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by a terraced forest setting (which is very cool also)

Rain Vortex is the world's largest and tallest indoor waterfall, standing at 40 metres high. Recirculating rain water is pumped to the roof to free fall through a round hole at up to 37,850 liters per minute to a basement-level pool. It received many awards and accolades for its outstanding design. I think everyone would admit that Singapore is very serious in spending their money to create design marvels.

From the airport, we went to Marina. Nope, not Marina Bay Sands, but the Marina Bay Cruise Center. Since as the hashtag has been hinting in the past few weeks, we were gonna take cruise ship!

I don't know, but I thought taking a cruise ship was like once in a lifetime experience, and actually, it wasn't as expensive as going to Europe, Australia, or even Raja Ampat. and it's less mainstream. And I just want to treat my fam. Alhamdulillah ada rezeki.

So, few weeks before the departure, we already had purchase the tickets. Similar with booking regular hotel rooms. However, booking a room in a cruise, we can, and have to choose, the exact room that we want to stay in.

So they will provide you with the layout of the ship (floor map), so we can choose in which floor that we want to stay in, bagian depan atau belakang, kanan atau kiri, intinya which exact room, and so on. Why? because different floor and location have a different price. I of course searched for the economical one. lol.

so, since we already chose which deck that we would stay in (there are 10 decks in total). Hmm, why it reminds me of PPT deck. lol. Back to the topic, our check-in time was determined by which deck that we chose. Staying in deck 7, our check-in time was on 1:30 pm.

So our Grab Car was nearing in to the cruise center. And I was so ecstatic just by looking at the giant ship.

The Marina Bay Cruise Center was a building specifically built as port for cruise ships, and it's moved there from previous location. The new location at Marina South has deep waters, a large turning basin, and no height restrictions, which enables it to accommodate the largest cruise ships being built now. From inside, the building's design was quite similar from cruise ship's design.

We then dropped our luggage and checked-in. We had to give our passport and they'd keep it during our trip. As the exchange, each of us was given an access card that we should keep during the trip. Since it'd be used as our main card when we want to enter/leave the ship, as well as to enter our room.

After checking in, we were guided to enter the ship. Exciting!

Apakah bahasa Inggrisnya garbarata? Kata wiki jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, airtube, or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)).

I asked since to enter the ship, we used jetbridge-like thingy, kinda. I'm not sure. But it's a nice one for sure.

Prior to entering the ship, we were asked to strike a pose in front of a banner, where the photographer was ready to take a pic. I knew that they would offer the photos later with a price.

13:32. The ship was huge with luxurious hotel-like interior. We went directly to the restaurant since, well, since it's not 24/7 open, and we're running out of time. Well, thanks to someone who posted it in her blog about the tips, so we didn't miss our lunch. I know the photo is kinda blurry, since I snap it from a video. lol.

Lunch! The restaurant was pretty packed with guests. It seemed we were a tad late. Actually, there was still enough, even so many, food. Perhaps since we still brought our bag with us, so it wasn't too convenient.

Oh ya, there were few restaurants that we could choose, and that afternoon we picked this one, a buffet one, where there were loads of varieties of food being served. Will write about it in another post.

So, when we finished our lunch, we then went to our room, a small room. Our luggage would be delivered directly to our room, we just needed to wait.

Then later, apparently one of our luggage got suspended by the ship's authority, since there's unallowed item(s) inside the bag. We're wondering what it was. Apparently, it's a clothes iron that my mom brought with her.

Yes, other than knives, gun, and so on, in a cruise trip, you're not allowed to bring items that were "electrically risky" such as clothes iron, even cable extension. Perhaps to avoid fire. We're also not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages, well, since we supposed to purchase it on board. Not that it's my concern, since we're teetotaler anyway..

16:00. Mandatory Muster Assembly Drill. For you who are working in an office building, this is similar to a fire drill. So, there's a sound of general emergency alarm, and the captain explained what the passengers should do, then the guests should be moving to a specified spot in the ship, determined by which room the guest was staying. For us, our meeting point was in a restaurant on the 5th floor, which our table was also had been specified. The crews were standing by in the alleys and every corner to guide us where we needed to head to.

A muster drill prepares passengers for a safe evacuation, in the event of an emergency on board the ship, and familiarizes the crew and the passengers with escape routes. In a muster drill, the use of life vests and the escape routes from the ship are explained to the passengers.

Apparently the cruise had started moving. The island of Singapore was getting further, the skyscrapers seemed to get smaller and smaller. See you Singapore!

Well, I thought it'd be like in cartoon where people on the shore would be waving to the ship's passengers. Yeah, not like that apparently. Not dramatic at all.

Medan (Last Day)

 

I departed early in the morning, since I needed to go to Singapore, while the others would continue their culinary adventure in Medan.

I planned to go have breakfast at the hotel's resto. But unfortunately, it wasn't possible since I had to bring my room key with me. Well, I didn't bring it of course since the others were still staying in the room.

Usually, I only had to tell the officer my room number (and my name) to be able to enjoy breakfast. I know perhaps it's for security reason that they didnt allow me. But when I told the waitress that I could show her my ID card as well as the soft copy of our room reservation, she told me the only way for me to have breakfast was the room key. I was so fed up. It's no way that I ask my "still sleeping" friends to deliver the room key for me, or I got back to the room to take the key.

It's absolutely my worst experience of having breakfast in any hotel in any country like, ever! I planned to write it up on Trip Advisor, but was too lazy.

Then I walked to the train station, which is quite close to the accommodation. Actually, I was a bit hangry, so it felt further than it actually was.

From outside, the station was not crowded at all, so I was wondering whether I was in the right place or not. I liked the station, it's so clean and tidy. and I could buy the tickets online.

It was my first time also taking the airport train in Indonesia. I think it's pretty nice. There was a section where you could put your luggage on. Similar to the airport train in foreign countries.

Kualanamu? yes, it's a huge and nice airport, and it seemed still quite a lot of empty spaces. The design was very modern and I am glad to have such airport outside of Java. Btw, do you think that all new airports in Indonesia have quite similar design?

Medan Day 1

  Welcome to day-1 of #rcruiseshiptravelog

Welcome to day-1 of new series of my travelog. This time, we go to Medan to attend our friend's wedding.
We took morning flight from Jakarta. Actually I liked how the Soekarno-Hatta Airport transforming. It's so easy to do self-service check-in using the provided machines. Especially if you dont bring any luggage. zap zap, and then you could enter the gate.

And then, there's a room with full of resting chairs, equipped with tv and charging station, with super cold temperature. As the first to arrive, I was waiting the others in that room. Well, I couldn't really enjoy it albeit empty, since the temperature was friiizinn.

The plane was quite empty, so we could choose our preferable seat :D

We arrived at Kualanamu International Airport. It was my first time visiting the airport. In my previous visits to Medan, I always went to Polonia which located in city center. Soo practical, wkwk. I do love some of the decoration in Kualanamu.

In the airport, we met with the others who flew with similar schedule.

08:09. Our rented car with its driver was already waiting. Oh wait, paw was the driver. lol. From the airport, we dropped our bag in our accommodation, plus picked alfi up.

In the first pic is Masjid Raya Medan, or often called Masjid Raya Al-Mashun, built in 1902-1906, long before Indonesia Independence Day. I think it's so elegant. I didnt expect that a building pre-Independence could be that grande, and it's not built by colonial. Perhaps will go there on next my visit to Medan.

Second pic: inside the accommodation.

Third pic: pillow face! lol. and why my glasses were purple!

10:02. We headed to the breakfast spots. Yes, spots, with 's' (plural). Winda acted as our guide during our trip in Medan. They were actually located nearby our accommodation, thankfully.

First destination was RM Sinar Pagi (since 1961) which served Soto Medan. Winda actually recommended its lung menu as her favorite. But unfortunately, it's already sold out! Well the name is sinar pagi, dan kita ke sananya udah ga gitu pagi sih. Jadi, ya memang sudah risikonya kalau kehabisan.

I ordered half portion only, since I knew that we planned to go to multiple spots, so I had to reserve space in my belly.

The soto was awesome! the broth was savory and delicious. I tried so hard to not order another portion. The peyek udang (what do you call it?) nya juga enak!

Then, we went to next stop: Kedai Kopi Apek. Kedai kopi Apek ini sudah ada sejak tahun 1923 yang didirikan oleh Thia Tjo Lie atau yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan Apek. Nama Apek diambil dari bahasa Tionghoa yang artinya kakek (maap hasil copas ni).

Menu andalan kedai ini diantaranya, kopi Mandailing dan telur ayam setengah matang serta roti bakar selai srikaya.
Uniknya, kedai ini tidak menggunakan kompor atau mesin pemanas untuk mendidihkan airnya. Hanya menggunakan tungku yang di dalamnya ada kayu bakar.

Berhubung saat itu masih pagi, jadi makanan yang sudah ada pun terbatas. Serba salah ya, di resto sebelumnya kesiangan, di sini kepagian.

11:51 ~sorry for the blurry pic. Our plan actually only consisted of culinary spots. However, we were aware that our desire was constrained by our belly's space. Ga muat cuy. So from the second culinary spot, we decided to take a break and took a detour: visiting Rahmat International Wildlife Museum and Gallery, yang termasuk dalam natural history museum. Museum ini dimiliki dan didirikan oleh Rahmat Shah, ayah dari aktris Raline Shah.

Singkat cerita, ini adalah museum yang isinya berupa hewan-hewan hasil buruan yang diawetkan. Hmm, emang berburu boleh? Nah, katanya ada yang namanya Perburuan Konservasi. Jadi, katanya berburu sesuai aturan yang berlaku demi menambah populasi. Emang bisa? Dugaanku sih mengikuti prinsip yang ada di piramida makanan ya. Kalau populasi pemangsa terlalu besar, bisa-bisa nanti terjadi ketidakseimbangan. Ataupun memburu binatang yang sudah tua, sehingga "aman" untuk diburu.

Walaupun ya, kalau baca lebih jauh, tentang hal ini banyak kontroversi sih. jadi, legal hunting ini katanya salah satu alasan diperbolehkan adalah karena salah satu sumber utama pendanaan untuk konservasi. Jadi, daripada ada perburuan liar, mending perburuan legal dengan harga mahal dan termonitor dengan baik. Begitu katanya. Saya ga riset lebih jauh sih.

Waktu itu museumnya sepi, waktu di parkirannya pun hanya kami seorang (padahal 7 orang). Kirain tutup, karena kami hanya disambut oleh landak-landak di kandang. Untungnya buka. Dan ternyata dalemnya bersih dan terawat dengan sangat baik ya.

Koleksinya sangat menarik, walau saya lebih senang melihat binatang hidup daripada yang sudah diawetkan ya. Spot favorit saya adalah di section 'Night Safari', karena dibuat lebih niat dibandingkan bagian lainnya (third slide).

Last photo: coplo goat aka kambing koplo

Rahmat Shah telah mendapatkan penghargaan tertinggi dari Safari Club International (SCI) 'African Big Five Award'. SCI merupakan Club berburu International yang diakui oleh seluruh dunia. Dan beliau merupakan orang Indonesia pertama yang mendapatkan penghargaan ini pada tahun 1996. African Big Five yaitu gajah, badak putih, banteng afrika, singa dan macan tutul afrika. (semua hewan ini boleh diburu di Afrika dengan aturan, seperti gajah diburu kalau gadingnya minimal 1,5 meter di Tanzania dan harus di atas 50 pounds untuk daerah Afrika lainnya. Hal tersebut menunjukan kalau hewan itu sudah tua).

The museum displays various collections of wildlife from the smallest to the largest according to the habitat. Koleksinya pun menurut saya sangat lengkap dan menarik. Museum ini katanya galeri sejenis yang pertama di Asia.

14:03 After our stomach was ready to be filled (again), we headed to the next stop: RM Tabona. From the 3 culinary spots that we visited so far that day, this was the largest.

Menu utamanya adalah bihun kari, bisa pilih mau pakai jeroan ataupun daging. Saya pilih daging saja lah ya. Bihun kari pun disajikan dengan kentang dan juga ayam. Wait, ayam? Iya, jadi ada daging sapi dan juga ayam reunian di mangkuk kari ini. Protein galore!.

Menurut saya, rasanya lezat! Kuahnya sangat kental dan gurih. Kekenyalan bihunnya pun pas! Ok, just by imagining it is enough to make me hungry.
.
RM Tabona ini katanya berawal dari Pematang Siantar tahun 70an, kemudian buka di Medan tahun 80an. Wah klasik ya. Nah, ternyata katanya sudah buka juga di Pluit dan Muara Karang di Jakarta.

Anyway, actually I tried to avoid posting food pic on the feed in this acct, but I've no good pic of the place :/.

Es Krim Ria. Actually I was already full, so didn't order much: Es Krim Ria (of course), Martabak, and Sate Padang as the snack. For the ice cream, we ordered es krim soda, as one of its specialties. Another option was es krim buah.

This ice cream joint was opened since 1936 (another old merchant we visited that day!). Es Krim Ria dibuat pendirinya dalam bentuk wujud happy (senang). Nama tersebut menurutnya bermakna pengungkapan senang ketika menikmati Es Krim Ria.

For me, the taste of ice cream was okay, but not memorable. Perhaps because I wasn't hungry that time. The other foods' taste also forgettable. Hmm, perhaps other culinaries that we tasted earlier were just superior.

After that, we went back to our accommodation to ... eat! Kidding, to take a rest and do some prep before attending the event later at night. Well, I ordered some dimsum nelayan for afternoon snack. lol.

The accommodation actually is adjacent to the Old Medan City Hall that's been refunctioned as a restaurant.
The city hall was built in 1908 during the Dutch colonial period, as kilometre zero in Medan, and was originally built for De Javasche Bank (now Bank Indonesia).

Dance til drop, like, literally. You could see the change from super power in the first video until low-bat mode in the last. lol.

So, at night, we visit our friends' wedding ceremony, that thankfully the traditional ritual had already finished earlier. Since it could be very long! Haha.

When we arrived, there was no one on the stage where the dais was. I thought we were late! Finally we saw the bride and groom, and they were gorgeous.

We were the first the one to take the food in the banquet, felt honored. (nope, we didn't ask to be prioritized ya. altho we were actually hungry. lol).

and then, yeah, we went to the stage to take the photo with the couple, and dance!

Could you see how happy and ecstatic we were? especially in the first few videos. But at the last video, we were exhausted! lol. I thought it's around 10 mins that we were dancing on the stage!
Apparently the musicians just won't stop to play the music until we give them the code to stop. hahaha.

A really good time!

After attending the wedding, we continued our culinary journey. This time we went to Nasgor Komdak, located in Kampung Madras.

Wiki said ~ Kampung Madras is the Little India of Medan, Indonesia, and one of the city's significant ethnic enclaves. It hosts a large Indian community (mostly Tamil).

In the mid-nineteenth century, the colonial Dutch began importing Indian labor to work on Sumatran plantations and to construct roads, trenches, and dykes; today, Sumatra is home to as many as 60,000 people of Indian descent, many of whom reside in Medan.

This area was originally called Patisah (Tamil: பெடிசாஹ்), and the name became a district in Medan called Petisah. The enclave's name changed to Kampung Madras to reflect the native land of the people of Indian descent who reside there. However, many people still refer to the place as Kampung Keling, a more derogatory term that may be offensive to some of its residents and others.

You know, the lighting from the temples at night were so cool! It reminded me of the atmosphere of Little India in Singapore or KL. I didn't know that Medan had such a place, although it's my third time in Medan. And I also didn't know about the history of Kampung Keling before. I feel so enlightened. lol. Thanks wiki!

Our first destination in Kampung Madras was Nasi Goreng Komdak. It's a good one! And yes, we ordered shared menu, since we already ate at the wedding earlier.

6th culinary spot that day aka 7th merchant (one is delivery order): Kwetiau Akuang. It's within walking distance from Nasgor Komdak. Despite its chinese name, don't worry, it's halal! The joint was opened since 1960s – with a wok and a spatula, Kwetiau Akuang has since became one of the legendary culinary spots in town. The stall was named after the current owner’s dad, the O.G person behind the wok, the late Mr. Akuang.

The Kwetiau is stir-fried with oil, fishball, veggies, and also shrimps. Because it’s stir-fried on a wok with charcoal as a source of heat, the smoky flavor is enhanced—both from the aroma and the taste. They primarily use duck egg instead of chicken egg, and it gives richer taste.

And I loved it like A LOT! I know, it's my 3rd dinner, but it's just so good. It's different than any other kwetiau's that I ever had. So so good.

8th merchant: Martabak Piring. While waiting for our driver to pick us up, we ordered Martabak Piring, basically martabak that was cooked on a plate. I don't really remember the taste. lol.

9th and final food merchant that day: Duriaaan as the dessert at the legendary durian ucok.

It's open 24/7 and if you dont like the durian that was served to you, you can ask to change it with the new one.

Actually the "rejected" ones wont become a waste, since it'll be used to be processed for other form of durian as food (eg. pancake durian, es krim durian, and so on).

Oh, how I do miss it!

Solo (Last Day) - Solo Car Free Day

  Welcome to day-3 of #rsolotravelog

Day 3, in the morning, we went to Solo's Car Free Day. It was fun! Seeing how the people enjoying Sunday morning with their loved ones. The weather was pretty good too!

To reach this street, we ought to pass the alun-alun kidul first, and passing some of the buildings of Keraton Solo.

One of the interesting thing for me was the wall that surrounding the keraton. Saya copas dari wiki aja ya, males nerjemahinnya.

Kompleks keraton ini dikelilingi dengan baluwarti, sebuah dinding pertahanan dengan tinggi sekitar tiga sampai lima meter dan tebal sekitar satu meter tanpa anjungan. Dinding ini melingkungi sebuah daerah dengan bentuk persegi panjang. Daerah itu berukuran lebar sekitar lima ratus meter dan panjang sekitar tujuh ratus meter.

Patung Slamet Riyadi ini memang salah satu icon kota Solo dan berada di lokasi yang sangat strategis. Nah, berhubung penasaran siapa sih beliau ini. Mari kita simak hasil copas saya :p.

Bernama lengkap Ignatius Slamet Riyadi, Riyadi lahir di Surakarta dari pasangan Idris Prawiropralebdo dan Soetati yang tinggal di Kampung Danukusuman, Surakarta, Jawa Tengah.

Sang ayah merupakan seorang abdi dalem prajurit Kraton Kasunanan Surakarta dan ibunya seorang pedagang buah-buahan di pasar.

Ketika kecil Riyadi bernama Soekamto, hingga tak berselang lama dirinya mengalami kecelakaan yaitu jatuh dari gendongan ibunya.

Pasca kejadian tersebut Soekamto sering mengalami berbagai macam penyakit.
Menurut adat istiadat Jawa, Soekamto kecil harus disembuhkan dengan cara 'dibeli', maka dibelilah dia oleh pamannya dan namanya diganti menjadi Slamet Riyadi, supaya menyelamatkannya hingga kelak dewasa.

Riyadi meninggal di usia belia, 23 tahun.

Source: https://solo.tribunnews.com/amp/2020/03/29/sejarah-patung-slamet-riyadi-solo-ternyata-ini-kisah-di-balik-pose-sang-brigjen-acungkan-pistol?page=4

Actually really interested to explore this place, but it was closed due to a private event.

Fort Vastenburg (Dutch "Fort Steadfast"), also Fort Surakarta, is an 18th-century Dutch fort located in Gladak, Surakarta, Indonesia.

Fort Vastenburg is a square shaped fort with four bastions. It is surrounded by 6 meter high bearing wall and dry moat. Three portals providing entrance to the fort from the east, west, and north. A draw bridge used to provide access point to the fort's western main portal, however this has been demolished.

Most agreed that Fort Vastenburg was constructed in 1743 and was completed in 1745, following the order of Governor-General Baron van Imhoff. First named de Grootmoedigheid ("magnanimity"), later the fort name was renamed to Vastenburg ("steadfast") (1750).

The main function of the fort was to house the resident (colonial administrator) and the Dutch East Indies garrison for the region of Central Java. The fort maintained order in Surakarta, especially between the royalties.

Memasuki area Keraton Surakarta dari arah utara, kami melalui Gapura Gladag. Kesan yang saya dapatkan adalah sesungguhnya "gerbang" sesungguhnya bukanlah gerbang buatan manusia yang berwarna putih gading tersebut, tetapi lebih ke pohon beringin sangat rimbun yang ada di dekatnya. It gives you chills and different atmosphere. Kebetulan saja saat itu memang sedang ramai dan di pusat kota. Kalau sepi, hmm.

Eh, tumben pake bahasa Indo? Iya, soalnya saya mau copas keterangan dari wiki, dan ga nemu yang bahasa Indonesianya. Atau terlalu malas untuk mencarinya.

Gladag yang sekarang dikenal dengan Perempatan Gladag di Jalan Slamet Riyadi Solo. Pada zaman dahulu, space area di sekitar Gladag dan gapura kedua dipakai sebagai tempat menyimpan binatang hasil buruan sebelum digladag (dipaksa) dan disembelih di tempat penyembelihan. Wujud arsitektur pada kawasan Gladag ini mengandung arti simbolis ajaran langkah pertama dalam usaha seseorang untuk mencapai tujuan ke arah Manunggaling Kawula Gusti (Bersatunya Rakyat dengan Raja).

Shakespeare, Copernicus, Galileli, Da Vinci. Nama-nama tersebut hidup di abad 16, saat di mana Sultan Agung memerintah Kerajaan Mataram, yang menjadi cikal bakal Keraton Solo dan Yogya.

Jadi, terkadang saya saat melihat bangunan-bangunan ini secara langsung, juga mencoba membayangkan bagaimana situasi dan suasana 500 tahun lalu.

Bangunan di slide 1 adalah Sasana Sumewa yang merupakan bangunan utama terdepan di Keraton Surakarta. Tempat ini pada zamannya digunakan sebagai tempat untuk menghadap para punggawa (pejabat menengah ke atas) dalam upacara resmi kerajaan.

Di kompleks ini terdapat sejumlah meriam diantaranya diberi nama Kyai Pancawura atau Kyai Sapu Jagad. Meriam berbahan perunggu ini dibuat pada masa pemerintahan Sultan Agung.

Berhubung ke sininya pas lagi lari pagi, jadinya memamg mengunjungi objek yang ada secara mandiri, bisa atur pace tapi jadi ga banyak dapet info.

Sebenernya secara sejarah dan arsitektur sanhat menarik, tapi kurang terawat sayangnya.

Saya suka dengan kombinasi warna putih dan biru yang mendominasi bangunan Keraton Surakarta ini.

Keraton Surakarta tidaklah dibangun serentak pada 1744-1745, namun dibangun secara bertahap dengan mempertahankan pola dasar tata ruang yang tetap sama dengan awalnya. Pembangunan dan restorasi secara besar-besaran terakhir dilakukan oleh Susuhunan Pakubuwana X yang bertahta 1893-1939. Kata wiki.

Nah, terus saya kurang tau apakah karena alasan itu juga, sehingga terdapat bangunan khusus PB X ini, atau yang lainnya juga ada tapi saya saja yang tidak melihatnya.

Kori Kamandungan. Kori ini mempunyai ukuran yang besar. Hal ini untuk menunjukkan kewibawaan raja, keagungan kraton, dan kemegahan kraton. Selain itu, juga untuk memunculkan rasa hormat kepada kraton. Hmm, saya sendiri ga tau artinya kori itu apa ya :p.

Masjid Agung Kraton Surakarta, dibangun oleh Sunan Pakubuwono III tahun 1763. Tidak lama setelah itu, negara Amerika baru terbentuk, hehe. Entahlah, bagi saya membayangkan situasi tiap wilayah di bumi pada periode yang sama itu menarik. Apalagi pada saat itu, satu wilayah dengan wilayah lain kan "less connected" ya.

Ohya, di gambar pertama, terdapat gapura yang megah, berbentuk paduraksa. Paduraksa adalah bangunan berbentuk gapura yang memiliki atap penutup, yang lazim ditemukan dalam arsitektur kuno dan klasik di Jawa dan Bali.

Menara masjid, mempunyai corak arsitektur terinsirasi dari Qutub Minar di Delhi, India. Berdiri di atas lahan seluas hampir 1 hektare, bangunan utama masjid mampu menampung sekitar 2.000 jamaah.

And that's it! Foto terakhir untuk #rsolotravelog kali ini. Singkat bukan? Sampai jumpa di travelog selanjutnya, dimana kita akan ke beberapa tempat, yang diawali dengan ke kota Medan.

Solo Day 2 - Sangiran UNESCO Heritage Site

 Welcome to day-2 of #rsolotravelog

Day 2 of #rsolotravelog. Eh, kok udah hari ke-2 aja? Bukannya hari pertama baru 2 postingan? Ya, saya sendiri juga bingung, hari pertama itu ngapain aja ya saya? Apa malem2 tepar di penginapan? Saya sungguh lupa.

Anyway, on the second say, we went to the wedding of our friends, Hendra and Dyta in, umm, forgot the exact town. Sragen? What I remember, it's nearby Sangiran.

I picked Ade, Agung, and Naufal at their accommodation, then heading to the wedding venue using g*car.

It's kinda far from Solo, but thankfully we didnt get lost. Alhamdulillah. When we arrived, it's already on the commencement speech part. Each guest has their own seat and table, and then the food, drink, and snack were delivered by the servers.

Most of the guests were the neighbors I guess. And they were raving about Hendra, as a super smart guy who got scholarship abroad (with perfect GPA), yet staying very humble, well-mannered, and religious. They talk about him proudly with sparkling eyes.

Do you know that Sangiran Early Man Site is 1 out of (only) 9 UNESCO Heritage Sites in Indonesia? and Hendra's house is pretty close with Sangiran Museum, perhaps only 5 mins by car.

After the wedding, we went to Hendra's house, and ate (again), hehe. We initially wanted to go back immediately to Solo, but my inner traveling heart saying that we needed to go to the museum. Kapan lagi cobaaa.

I only knew about Sangiran because it's told over and over again in History subject at junior high school. Personally, I was not interested on archaeological thingies, but since it's recognized by UNESCO, I thought I should give it a visit.

ohya, other than Sangiran, other UNESCO Heritage Sites in Indonesia are Borobudur Temple Compounds (v), Prambanan Temple Compounds (v), Lorentz National Park in Papua, Komodo National Park (v), Ujung Kulon National Park (forgot), The Subak System in Bali (v), Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra, and the latest one: Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto.

So, how much the entrance fee? It's only IDR 5000, or around USD 0.35, or EUR 0.31. Super cheap! I know that some tourism objects such as Ragunan Zoo also imposed pretty low price, but it's still shocking everytime I find one. Since I guess no one would wanna go there if it puts a hefty price tag. But as a UNESCO site, thought the price would be tad higher.

Expectation: low quality of museum, with fossils covered with dust, dirts around the corner of the rooms, some lamps couldn't be turned on, non functional air conditioner, and bad smells.

Hmm, but the lobby looked promising with very clean area, and a nice design. The parking lot seemed very empty though.

Before entering the first room, we can see one of the interesting things there, which is a place that contains ancient lava which is almost two million years old. The said lava is derived from the eruption of Mount Lawu that occurred millions of years ago.

For a museum located in a small town, I think this is pretty good! I think even better than some museums in Jakarta. Nothing that I expected, written in the previous post, found here.

They have very informative and well-arranged artifacts. Well, sometimes it's very detailed that I didnt really comprehend that. Lol.

After doing research for decades, the Sangiran Museum has collected 13,809 fossils. This figure is certainly the largest amount among the history of the museums in Indonesia. In fact, this museum is said to be the most complete museum in all of the region of Asia. Some say that the Sangiran Museum is the largest site in the whole world.

I didn't expect that we could see variety of fossils here, from t-rex, ancient elephants, sea animals, and so on. Not sure whether they were just replica or the real things.

The description from UNESCO in the Internet mentions about how Sangiran is such a special place, that I won't be surprised if those fossils are real.

There is a very significant geological sequence from the upper Pliocene until the end of Middle Pleistocene by depicting the human, faunal, and cultural evolutions within the last 2.4 million years. The property also yields important archaeological occupation floors dating back to the Lower Pleistocene around 1.2 million years ago.

The macrofossils that appear abundantly from the layers provide a detailed and clear record of many faunal elements, while the property reveals more than 100 individuals of Homo erectus, dating back to at least 1.5 million years ago. These fossils show human evolution process during the Pleistocene period, particularly from 1.5 to 0.4 million years ago.

Inhabited for the past one and a half million years, Sangiran is one of the key sites for the understanding of human evolution. More discoveries of stone tools have been made since. These human, fauna, and stone tool materials were deposited within its unbroken stratigrafical layers.

There's an exhibition asking us to touch an ancient elephant fossil. Then again, not sure it's a real one or what. Perhaps the fossil is not that scarce and not fragile at all to be touched by many guests.

But what I like is that it's asking to FEEL the sensation. I mean, oftentimes we were asked to think only. Thinking without feeling, in my opinion, is kind of bland and shallow. It's like going to museum to just read the text, then, so what? You need to feel and sense with your soul, and sometimes heart. Well, it depends on the museum of course. But to really appreciate something, we need to use more than just brain.

Inhabited for the past 1.5 MILLION years, Sangiran is one of the key sites for the understanding of human evolution.

50 fossils of Meganthropus palaeo and Pithecanthropus erectus/Homo erectus were found – HALF of all the world's known hominid fossils.

Skeleton Bridge, or whatever

Jadi, pas mau foto-foto di sini terus tiba-tiba hujan 😅

In the backyard of the museum, there's a beautiful joglo house, that I guess could be used as event venue.

But basically, we had visited all parts of the museum. Anyway, looking in the Internet,
there are four thematica clusters are developed, namely the Krikilan Cluster (as visitor center, which we visited that day), Ngebung Cluster (the history of site’s discovery), Bukuran Cluster (human evolution), and Dayu Cluster (modern research).

Regarding tourism management, the four clusters will be connected by means of a special tourism route. People are expected to visit all clusters which will take more than one day. So, there will be next time perhaps :).

Btw, kami sempat terjebak hujan jadi ga bisa pulang. Coba order grabcar dan gocar, but none nearby. Jadilah minta tolong Hendra dan saudaranya untuk jemput. Dan alhamdulillah keluarganya Dyta jg mau ke aiport via Solo jadi bisa nebeng, hehe.