Whenever visiting a new place, chances are, you will end up asking people for recommendations on spots to visit where they will name a couple of them followed by “That’s where the tourists go”. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2016)
After having lunch at the food court of Pavilion KL, my college classmates and I hailed a cab to Merdeka Square. We are staying in an Airbnb at the KLCC area, so it took us a while to get there, plus there was a traffic jam.
Our cab driver dropped us off in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and said, “There, that’s where the tourists go” while pointing at the Merdeka Square and the museums surrounding it.
I remembered specifically requesting my classmates to visit museums because I need to get some information for a paper on Southeast Asian Art that I was then writing for grad school. I am pretty sure they don’t like it but said yes anyway.
We met another classmate for dinner at Jalan Alor in Bukit Bintang where a lot of street food stalls are located. He asked me, “Ano, Sher, okay ka na sa museums mo?” (“So, Sher, were you able to do your museum thing?) That’s how I confirmed it. Everybody wants something else that afternoon, but they went to the museums with me anyway.
Naturally, I asked her for recommendations on where to go, and she told me that I can take the train to Kota Tua, and Cafe Batavia is “where the tourists go”. She added that it’s a very touristy cafe, therefore the food is expensive.
Jakarta, Indonesia
This time I did not mind visiting the cafe. It has a colonial vibe, old, rustic interiors, and damn, the toilet is so selfie-friendly. The nasi goreng I had was one of the best. I also had the most expensive coconut juice, ever. It was a lovely day.
For some reason, I have seriously YOLO-ed myself over traveling a lot in 2019, as if I know something will happen that will literally bar me and everyone else in this planet from traveling in 2020. I have been out and about on every school break there is (presenting researches, sneaking in quick vacations, and doing projects, among others). The freshest overseas travel memory I have is with Surabaya, Indonesia, where I went to attend and academic event, visit museums, take advantage of my layover in Jakarta, and get to know the a side of Indonesia I, if I’m being honest, actually almost never knew existed.
Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia located in East Java. Unheard of by so many people, Surabaya does not even consider itself a tourist destination, unlike Bali or Yogyakarta. I seriously don’t know why some cities could steal my heart just like that. Surabaya is definitely not the best city I have visited, that’s for sure, but there’s some kind of magic it projects that made me fall in love. For one, it’s a more relaxed version of Jakarta (which could be as crazy as Manila, my home city). And more importantly, it being a less popular tourist destination means that, chances are, it has other awesome things to offer.
BTW, SOME TRIVIA!
In case I will forget to mention sometime later in this post…
“Berjalan” is an Indonesian word which means “to walk”, and I used the term to signify that this photo essay is a result of my photowalk around the streets of Surabaya.
SELAMAT PAGI, SURABAYA! It’s a bright and beautiful day to explore the city! During the course of the academic event I attended in Universitas Airlangga, I was housed at Novotel Samator East Surabaya Hotel (which is a super duper awesome hotel!) but it is located in another neighborhood. Since I am exploring museums and doing some food trip, I transferred to another hotel close to my destinations: Swiss Belinn Tunjungan. This was my lovely view. At nighttime, some kind of a light traffic is evident, but I would trade the crazy Manila traffic for this. I just love staring at the vehicles and the lights from buildings turning off one by one slowly as the night goes deeper. Man, I just love staring at hotel windows with views! But I came here to explore the city, so I’m going out!
JALAN ELANG. The surroundings of Surabaya reminded me so much of my hometown (Batangas, Philippines). Life is so simple, and the city life in urban areas like Tanauan, Lipa, and Batangas City are so chill and they don’t try so hard to become like Manila. And I like it that way. There’s just so much provincial vibes here. This man sitting by the street next to some mechanical equipment is also common in the Philippines.
MERDEKA. Prior to my visit to Surabaya, I only have a superficial academic knowledge about its history, and it has come to my attention later that a lot of historical events happened here. The nerd in me Googled like crazy and made sure I will not miss out all the important historical sites. My journey led me to visit the Museum Sepuluh Nopember next to Kota Balai (where the super cool City Mayor hosted a welcome dinner for us during the event a few days ago). Unlike the Philippines, Indonesia had a bloody struggle for independence against the Dutch, so imagine the nationalism they have until today.
BECAK. The different modes of local transportation in the places I visit always fascinate me. In the Philippines alone, you will find a lot of varieties of bicycle/sidecar/pedicab rides which reflects the resourcefulness of the Filipinos. In Surabaya (and in Indonesia as a whole), I admire their Bluebird taxi system, and other modes to get from point A to point B, such as becak or the bicycle rickshaw.
SURO DAN BOYO. I had to stop and take a photo of this embossed Surabaya Coat of Arms in a bench at Tugu Pahlawan because it reminded me of the manhole covers in Yokohama, Japan. I want to have memories of the identity of the places I visited. Suro (shark) and boyo (crocodile) were the two words of origin of the name of the city of Surabaya.
ANOTHER BECAK. Oooh, so that’s what it looks like if it’s occupied by a passenger. Amazing! I don’t know about you, but my heart really jumps whenever I am being mindful about setting foot in another land and just looking around the streets and try to feel how far from your home city the place will make you feel.
PROUD AND LOUD. Seriously, my visit to Surabaya has made me want more of Indonesian History. Indonesian food is one thing I will always love about this country, but its history is something else. I was very excited to learn more and share a lot of things about it to my students. This is how academic nerds roll, if you know what I mean.
OH, HELLO THERE, CUTE ONE. This girl right here has a super soft spot for cats and will always stop to take photos or admire them as they walk around ignoring all them hoomans. Cats are a very important part of the streets. They bring life to streets. Don’t debate me on this. My day lights up everytime I see cats. Thank you, Surabaya, for letting me see some cats in your streets. Your blazing humidity is something untolerable, btw.
SNAPSHOTS: ASIA Trailer
SNAPSHOTS: ASIA PHOTO ESSAY #2: BERJALAN SURABAYA (PIN IT! )
Direct flights to Southeast Asia may have been limited before, but more routes have been opening to so many destinations connecting the East and the West every now and then. Flights to Brunei Darussalam, for instance, are increasing, hence Bruneians and other travelers have more options on where to go next. Brunei has direct flights to six (6) Southeast Asian countries. As part of my passion project to help travelers have a seamless navigation experience around Southeast Asia, I am writing a series of flight guides to help you have the best travel experience in this beautiful region of the world. The first of this series is this comprehensive article guide about direct flights from Brunei Darussalam.
DIRECT FLIGHTS TO SOUTHEAST ASIA: FLIGHTS TO BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
Are you currently in Brunei and planning your next Southeast Asian destination? But wait, I do hope you were able to visit this beautiful places during your stay in Brunei:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-KUL): 2 hours and 20-25 minutes
Kuala Lumpur is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of low-cost carrier AirAsia.
Airlines that fly directly from Brunei to Kuala Lumpur:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-MNL): 2 hours and 35 minutes
Manila is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific.
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-SIN): 2 hours and 5 minutes
Singapore is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of many routes by its flag carrier Singapore Airlines.
Airlines that fly directly from Brunei to Singapore:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-BKK): 2 hours and 45 minutes
Bangkok is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam. It is also a good transit point to many Southeast Asian destinations.
Airline that flies directly from Brunei to Bangkok:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-SGN): 1 hour and 55 minutes
One of the nearest destinations to Brunei outside Borneo, Ho Chi Minh city also operates a lot of flights to Brunei Darussalam and other destinations to Southeast Asia
Airline that flies directly from Brunei to Ho Chi Minh City:
See? I told you there is a lot of flights from Brunei Darussalam! There are so many direct flights to Southeast Asia and direct flights from Brunei is just one of the many destinations to choose from. Are you ready to draft your ultimate Southeast Asian itinerary covering these amazing destinations and hop on that plane to take one of the next direct flights from Brunei?
Whenever I travel, I have this standard personal rule that I will only try my best to spend USD200 at most for a 4-day international trip (USD100 for a 4-day local trip). Since I kinda proceeded to my 7-day trip to Bali unprepared, I was only able to exchange USD200 and forgot that I will be staying there for a week. Given that, I had to withdraw some money from an ATM there, and withdrawing money from ATMs in Bali is something I did for the first time outside the Philippines. To be honest, I have always been scared of using any plastic money I have outside the Philippines. One reason is because if some problems arise, I will not be able to resolve them immediately since I’m too far from home.
Of course, the first thing I will do is to search for tips on how to safely withdraw money from ATM machines in Bali, and I was lucky enough to have come across this useful article:
