My plane arrived in Jakarta around 1:00 pm and the connecting flight to Solo was not until at 4:35 pm with Garuda Indonesia. Immigration and custom was a breeze. Visa on arrival was required and good for 30 days for $25 USD. After that, I went to exchange some money even though I know it was not the best way to go about, since the airport money changers usually have a lower rate compared to those in the city, but it was necessary at the time since I didnt have enough cash at hand to pay for taxi etc.
I also bought a local mobile number to communicate with friends and fam in Indo during my trip. They charged pretty high too (almost Rp 90.000), but then again..I got it at the airport..so although I felt like being ripped off, there weren't that many options.
Oh btw, during this trip, every time I flew with these local carriers, they charged an average of $10-13 USD each time for excess baggage courtesy of my gigantic luggage, LOL. Oh well anyway, after checking in for my flight, it was time to wait for boarding. The wait wasnt so bad if it wasnt for the lack of air conditioning at the airport! I was already tired from the super long flight and the heat made it even more uncomfortable.. =(
At last, the plane was finally boarding and thank God it was only an hour flight. The plane landed in Solo at around 6:00 pm. The airport is located in the outskirt of the city, roughly about 20-30 minutes from downtown so the best way to get there is by cab. Some other sensible means of public transportation in Solo would be becak (rickshaw) or bus.
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| Finally, a proper place to stretch! |
The hotel that I stayed at was Best Western Premier Solo. It was a fairly new hotel. Location is great because it puts you right in the heart of the city. The famous Galabo (the night food market) is just a stone's throw away.
After settling down in my room, I came back down to finally meeting up with my friend, the bride-to-be, Melanie! She invited me for a dinner with her family =) We went to this chinese restaurant which I think was called Bintang (cant really remember). I personally like chinese food in Indo better than the one in the states, taste-wise. In my opinion it is more flavorful. After some nice meal and convo, we headed back to the hotel. Melanie happened to also stay in the same hotel. She showed me around her bridal suite before I excused myself, calling it a night so the both of us could get some rest.
The next morning, after having breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, my mom's friend, Aunt Hwa (in my culture, it is customary to address an older relative as aunt or uncle), came to pick me up as she was very kind enough to offer to be my "tour guide" while I was in Solo.
We started off with Pusat Grosir Solo (PGS) which is a big wholesale shopping center where one can buy clothes, accessories, local gifts, fabrics, and more at low prices. I wanted to get some "batik" so she suggested PGS instead of Kampung Batik Laweyan (Laweyan Batik Village) which is much more expensive. However, we were not so lucky as the place was not quite open yet, so we decided to go look for another items on my gift list which were abon (shredded beef jerky) and dendeng (sweet/ candied beef jerky). She took me to this place where she usually buys abon and stuff.
After that we went to eat Timlo Sastro. Timlo is a popular cuisine from Solo which is basically a light soup with boiled egg (sweet soy-marinated), chicken hearts-liver, and egg roll as the main ingredients.
Next stop was Pasar Besar/Pasar Gede (Big Market), since it is located near Timlo Sastro. I have a very fond memory of this place. Going there with my mom to shop groceries and buy traditional snacks, all sorts of variety felt just like yesterday =)
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| Front entrance |
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| Aunt Hwa posing with fresh veggies =) |
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| Jajan Pasar/Traditional Snacks |
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| Fruit Stalls |
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| Rambutan |
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| Still in the spirit of Chinese New Year celebration. At night they're all lit up so pretty. Click here to see them. |
We went back to PGS afterwards and bought some batik.
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| Random observation: cars all look similar |
Here prices are cheap, you can bargain too. Too bad I can't really remember the exact price, but I think it was between Rp 30.000,00-50.000,00 or somewhere along that range. Sorry =( (I'll take better notes in the future)
Then we headed to Omah Selat for lunch with my relatives. Along the way, we passed the Alun-Alun (large open square within the palace compounds and Keraton Kasunanan (Kasunanan Palace). I would touch on the historical side of the city but that would require a post, if not a blog, by itself..lol. So if you really want to know, please utilize wikipedia haha.
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| taken from the car. no time to stop. |
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| Didn't know Sekaten festival was held that week. |
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| One of the buildings in the Palace--Please ignore the reflection on the car front window >.< |
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| The sacred 'Kiai Slamet'--Kebo bule (albino water buffalo), palace heirloom. |
Lunch was delicious. Selat is for me, a lighter version of bistik (Javanese steak).Unlike western steak dishes, it has a sweet runny soup with a variety of vegetables on the side. Hence, it does not feel heavy which is nice. What's even nicer was the restaurant. The owner apparently is a collector of antique furnitures which are displayed throughout the restaurant. Very cool.
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| HA! they even have this awesome 'bale-bale'. Maybe for resting after eating too much that you can't even walk anymore? |
Jl. Gotong Royong No. 13, Jagalan, Solo. Indonesia 57124.
That was the end of day one adventure. I went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. Met my long lost friends Diah, Steven, Jeffry. Gosh, I probably have not seen them in almost 14 years! Was it awkward? Yes, a little bit at the beginning but it was a great mini reunion session after. =) Here are some pictures:
Stick around for more stories.
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