Surabaya Sights, Sounds and Smells

I only had 2 full days in Surabaya. Whenever I can, I tried to walk the streets to experience Surabaya.  To get a feeling of what it is like, how it looks, sounds, and smells.

One morning, when I took my first walk in the neighbourhood, before attending the meeting at the university, I was pleasantly surprised to hear birds, song birds.  They were kept in cages, just like the way people do it in Hong Kong and mainland China.  

Later, on a long walk through the city, I smelt salted fish. I remember smelling the same in Yogyakarta.  At first I wasn’t sure what the source of the smell was.  Was it really salted fish?  Or was it actually something else.  This time, I could confirm, in Chinatown, that indeed it was salted fish.  Lots of them.

In the market in ChinaTown, there was so much spice, of so many different kinds: garlic, ginger, chilli pepper, lemon grass, cinnamon, …  Most of them I could not name.  

On the street, one can buy snacks that look like meatballs, fried tofu, siu mai, etc.  

Not too far from ChinaTown, there was a mosque that looks like a traditional Chinese temple. It is dedicated to Cheng Hoo, the Ming  Dynasty admiral, who commanded great fleets to visit South East Asia: Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Malacca, Bengal, Sri Lanka, Hormuz, Aden, and East Africa.  

This mosque is quite new.  But dedicated to someone who lived hundreds of years ago.  It reminds us of the historical connection between China and Java/Indonesia.  

Later on, I found Masjid Al Falah, a mosque in a very different style.  The walls are not walls in the traditional sense.  

I also walked past a statue of Karapan Sapi - racing bulls.  Very powerful bulls.  

People play chess on the sidewalk.  

Kinds play soccer, also on the sidewalk.  

When trains are passing through, everyone had to stop and wait. 

Surabaya is green.  So many tall, big trees everywhere.  One gets the feeling life is leisurely, slow-paced, traditional, in Surabaya.