travel to Surabaya: a good advice

Kazuki Matsuo. a friend from Japan (we met for the 1st time in APDSA 2005) left Surabaya this afternoon..

He arrived here on Sunday evening on his tremendous trip: fly from Tokyo to Singapore, cross to Batam by ferry, go to Jakarta by plane, and continue his trip to Jogjakarta and Surabaya by train. Don't ever imagine our train is as good as shinkasen or somewhat like that! Well, travelling here is not as convenient as if you travel in Singapore etc, public transport is the main reason. But eventually he could survive!! Maybe, his ability of speaking Bahasa really helps him a lot. What a super traveller, lol~~ But I'm really sorry for his camera~~ =((

These are my suggestion for people coming to Surabaya:
I was born and raised here, so I think I'm quite capable writing sumthing like this..
Okay, I'm not going to scare my blog readers.. ^^

• First of all, travellers should be careful of their belongings, and it takes no exception between people come to Surabaya or anywhere else in the world. And as the second metropolitan city after Jakarta, the city is just tough.

• Do plan your trip! If you have relatives/friends/family here, contact them for some helps. Most of Surabaya people are not English-fluent, and not few of them can't understand nor speak English at all.

• Public transports like bus and angkot/bemo are HIGHLY UNRECOMMENDED for foreign travellers. Pickpockets are everywhere and they're not air-conditioned. The weather is very hot recently, so it'll be awful inside the vehicle. Besides, angkot/bemo has varied colors and each color represents different direction/route. You don't want to risk yourself by taking wrong colors, because it's not the same as if you go to subway and take the wrong lines, you can always go back to your starting point by taking train to the reverse direction. For angkot/bemo, it's really NOT that simple. Those two kinds are very cheap if compared to taxi or private car. They only cost Rp. 2000,- for single trip. But the safety and convenience are not guaranteed at all.

• Taxi is the best choice, but please be careful while choosing the right one. There are many called 'taksi bodong', a taxi which doesn't come from a registered taxi company. This kind of taxi is illegal, and if something happens to you or your belongings, you can't do yourself a favour. Plus, the driver tends to decide the price by their own (which is mostly much higher and not reasonable) instead of using the valid argometer, and if they know that you're a foreigner, things can get worse! They'll drain out your money! There are many registered taxis available, like: Blue Bird, Silver Bird, Zebra, and Orange Taxi. You can pick any of them. I suggest you order by phone for your safety instead of 'hijacking' them on the road. This is also applied when you want to order taxi from airport to the city.

• For language, Surabaya has a very distinct language style. Our language is mixed from Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese language, and our ethnicity language (like Javanese, Madura, or Chinese). But overall, Surabaya language is pretty rude and rough. We tend to say what we want straight to the point. We have strong, hard, and sharp tones, and tend to speak fast.. That apparently makes us considered as rude people. But don't think that we're bad. We don't eat you.. We welcome everybody!!

• Surabaya people love shopping, but we do love EATING much more!! Within the shopping centers, you can find many various restaurants ready to please your taste. And if they're still not enough, there are plenty of choices outside, ranged from the common Chinese/ International food to Indonesian/ Korean/ Japanese/ Indian/ etc; from hawker-style to the first class dining experience. Our food is very spicy. Some like, but some don't.. You can find many restaurants mostly are open from 11.00 am to 09.00 pm. Some particular cafes can open until midnight, mainly on weekend. Don't want common dining experince in restaurant? Try hawker! But remember to ask a local to accompany you. Ever tried the famous Rawon Setan? Rawon is a black soup (its colours are actually brown and yellow, but they're so intensed) and Setan means 'ghost/ evil'. This famous seller only sells rawon from 11.00 pm onwards!! Now you know where the name comes from.. G-Walk is also a good choice. It's where you can find many food stalls along the road. It's full with local youth, mostly on the weekend, at 07.00 pm - 11.00 pm. I like to hang out there until late with my friends.

Those are few of important guides from me.. I'll keep this list updated if suddenly something comes up in my mind..

Next time, I'll try to write your guide to be a local.. ^^