Malang and Solo

Our first taste of the big city life on the Java Island of Indonesia was Malang. The city is home to 3 Universities and it is buzzing. It is off the main tourist “trail” so we found ourselves immersed within the locals (although 8” taller). We loved it as there were no tourist busses, hotels or restaurants to be found. Our hotel was probably one of the best hotels in the world around 1965, but with no upgrades, new furniture or changes it must have quickly fallen off the list. We experienced a great taste of Muslim culture as they wouldn’t give us a room with a queen bed because we couldn’t prove we were married with a marriage certificate, so we enjoyed side by side single beds!

We toured the city by foot, quickly realizing Java has some serious “traffic volume” compared to Bali. Scooter, Scooter, Scooter, Motorbike, Horse and Buggy, Scooter, Car, Bicycle, Scooter – NonStop. We put on a few miles in search of pedestrian overpasses to safely cross the streets. On our journey we walked  down “Millionaire Street” which is a bit out of place as there are dozens of homes built by the Dutch Colonialists in the early 1900’s, but have since been taken over by locals. Another benefit of eating with the locals is no “tourist prices” at the restaurants. $4.00 gets you a couple of fruit shakes, spring roll appetizer, and 2 main courses (Includes taxes and tip). Pretty good deal eh?

The journey continued to Solo via a 7 hour train ride. The city was left behind in the modern-ification of most Indonesian cities. We toured the local markets, and 2 different King Palaces. At night we enjoyed eating dinner in the streets; literally as you order your food from the food cart, they toss you a piece of carpet. You sit in the middle of the street waiting for your food to arrive. (No traffic aloud during dinner time!). Later in the evening we attended a theater show and caught part of an outdoor concert as it was a national holiday.

 We retired in the evening to the best & worst hotel we have stayed at the entire trip. The courtyard and entry was one of the most beautiful we had ever seen. In fact the hotel was given UNSECO world heritage site designation. Inside the rooms however was a bit different, no sink or mirror in the bathroom, pail of water to flush the toilet with, no sheets or bed-frame (Just a dirty old mattress on the floor. BUT – in the 39 degree heat it made up for all of that by having Air Conditioning! We used our trusty “sheet bags” and called it good.

COLIN