An ad just popped up in my facebook and it says that there is a Tour Organizer in a city where the ship that my wife and I are in about to dock in Semarang on March 13, 2017. We tried to send these guys a message and the replied my message quickly. After we set the places that we are going to visit in Semarang, we agreed to meet up at designated day at 7.00 AM and after the refueling and resupplying, the ship will leave at 5.00 PM. These guys also provided me the map where we could see them. We are getting more excited to see the town.

When we arrived, we were welcomed by the dancers who performed the traditional dances in the docking bay. For around one hour as well as the ship is prepared to dock. After the ship was successfully docked in at the harbor, we rushed ourselves to the arrival terminal. We still got confused with the map that Bersukaria gave me, so I asked the security officer and he directed us to the buses parking lot but then we couldn’t find them. It appeared that the bus parking lot and cars parking lot are located in different places. Bersukaria awaited us in cars parking lot. Finally we found these cheerful and warm fellas from Bersukaria Tour. Their names were Ardhi and Dimas.

Ardhi and Dimas picked us up with their white big car just for two of us. It is so comfortable. Another reason why we preferred to have this private shore excursion tours with Bersukaria is because we wanted that our experience in Semarang to be personal and relaxed. The cruise also offered another tour to Borobudur though. They would carry us to Borobudur in bus and the journey will last for two hours back and forth, but I couldn’t imagine if we were packed inside the bus with many travelers and with the given time, we were certain that the tour will be in a very tight schedule and always in hurry.

While Bersukaria drove us out from the harbor, we were counting at our blessings and as we looked back, we also felt how fortunate we are that we were able to work hard, save some money and travel all over the world. We also felt fortunate to find these young energetic fellows who speak English fluently.

Our first journey started with the visit to Buddhagaya Temple, the highest pagoda in Indonesia. The journey from the harbor to the temple was only 30 minutes. We were amazed with what we saw, how crowded the city and how chaotic the traffic was. I don’t dare to drive in Indonesia. We couldn’t contain ourselves to take pictures from these magical place. We just spent our last couple days in Bali and we could tell you that Semarang is totally different than Bali. These guys were also knowledgeable, that made the journey was more exciting. Ardhi and Dimas also had high curiosity too. We lived and worked in Gibraltar for three years and apparently these guys were curious about what currency do we use in Gibraltar since Gibraltar is also part of the United Kingdoms. What an enriching conversations we had back then with these guys from Bersukaria.

We arrived at the temple really early at 8.30 AM. We were mesmerized by the ambient around the temple. How quite and tranquil it was to be inside the temple even though the temple is located next to a crowded and noisy motorway. We saw that the temple received its influence from Chinese culture. We asked Ardhi and Dimas, who built these temple?

While wandering inside the temple, we also wondered, why not many people from the cruise wanted to visit this temple? Again we felt fortunate to travel with Bersukaria. Due to the high altitude of the temple, you could see the city from up here. It’s really beautiful from up there. After we spent about one hour looking around this temple, we moved to another destination.

It’s unbelievable that this city also has mountainous landscape and it still has the forest and rice terrace inside the city despite being one of the crowded city in Indonesia and the island of Java itself is the most populous island in the world! Again, we were wondering where do the people live? Because we didn’t see so much high rise buildings here being built in Semarang.

 After around an hour we reach our second destination, the biggest Chinese temple in Semarang, the Sam Poo Kong Temple.

This is the temple where the local people believe to be the place where the grand admiral Zheng He (the local pronounces it as Cheng Ho) landed. The local believes that it was Zheng He who discovered America first in 1421. Almost a century ahead of Columbus. We were astonished with the huge brown statue in front of the temple. We looked around the temple and also saw the cave where the original temple was built. We met a lot of people from the cruise were visiting this places too. How good to see these people again inside the temple. When we looked to our watch, it still 11.00 AM, we still have so much time left so we decided to move to the place that supposed to be our last destination, Lawang Sewu.

Sam Poo Kong is really close to Lawang Sewu. The journey was only 15 minutes. The guy from Bersukaria Tour told us the story about this building comprehensively. This building was the head quarter of the oldest railway company in Dutch East Indies. This building is so big and we felt like walking into the big castle. We explored the building rooms by rooms, block by block, corridor by corridor and building after building. Lawang Sewu displayed a lot of interesting documentation about the railway history of Indonesia. We also had a strange feeling when we entered the second building. There was a part of a building, in this long and white building, there were numerous rooms standing side by side and only separated by small door in the middle that connecting one room to another. When we looked at that room, we could see through the edge of the building from another edge of the building but it feels like I starred at the mirror. Sometimes, I also felt like seeing something which is limitless. It was amazing.

 

The third building that we visited was telling us about the renovation process of the whole buildings that started in 2009 using new materials that look like old and original. The building used to be a building to print the tickets for passengers when the building was still owned by the original owner, The Netherlands-Indies Railway Company.

When we finished our last visit from Lawang Sewu, it is time to have lunch and at the same time, the rain started to fall just as predicted by the weather forecasters in internet and from the radio. But we managed to enter the car before the rain getting worse.

We were having lunch at the local restaurant that already opened since 1934, Toko Oen. We already asked Bersukaria Tour that I don’t like fish and I can’t stand spicy food, Then these fellows suggested us to try Nasi Goreng or Fried Rice. Not spicy, at all. Not even a single sliced of chili was inserted into the food that I demanded to the waiter. These guys also said that Toko Oen is famous for its Ice Creams and we loved ice creams! These guys also recommended us the best Ice cream that this restaurant has. While we are waiting, Dimas and Ardhi wanted us to try Indonesian brownies. It tasted delicious. So sweet and I believed that this cake contains milk too. Finally our orders arrived, a not-spicy fried rice with the sliced ham next to the pile of rice in the middle accompanied by the prawn cracker that they call a krupuk. I couldn’t believe how tasty the Nasi Goreng was. It was delicious and not spicy at all just as we wanted. We can’t hold ourselves to finish the Nasi Goreng to the last rice. Now it’s time for the ice cream! I ordered the coffee coated ice cream meanwhile my wife ordered an ice cream under the suggestion of Dimas, Oen’s Symphony. When the ice cream came to our table we were astonished with the size of it. The smell and the colors especially what my wife ordered, it was a 5 scooped ice cream with five different flavors in one glass. They were delicious too. We know that Nasi Goreng is actually Chinese influenced food but still the Nasi Goreng here is more delicious than other fried rice that we could fine back there in UK. We were so fortunate to try the local delicacies.

It’s still 1.00 PM and we still have four hours left. Then Dimas asked me,”is there any other places that you would like to see?” I said to him that I want to see the dome church of Semarang. Dimas said yes and then we left the restaurant. Dimas said that if it’s not raining, he would like to take us to have a walking tour in the old town of Semarang where the dome church is also located, to tell the story of the buildings one by one. The journey from the restaurant to the church is so close. We were able to have the tour in Old Town from inside the car though, Dimas told us the stories of the old buildings outside the Old Town complex clearly. Albeit being called as Old Town, but most of the buildings here were built in the beginning of the 20th century. After made a round of the Old Town, we finally arrived at the church. The church was fantastic and we saw an old organ hanged on the wall above the second floor. But Dimas told me that the organ is no longer operational however they still use this church for service but using the more modern keyboard that takes less space than organ or piano. Even though the church is small, but it’s really beautiful.

“We Feel Grateful to Find The Guy From Bersukaria Tour”

It’s still 3.00 PM. We still have much time left! Then these fellows suggested us to visit another place which is China Town. We saw another temple apart from the Sam Poo Kong. The smaller temple yet older than previous one. Dimas and Ardhi told us that the temple possesses the wide variety of Gods and Goddess if we compare it to Sam Poo Kong Temple. This temple is so compelling. Dimas and Ardhi told us the Gods and the Goddess and their role. There is only one chamber that was painted in black and Dimas told me that the role of the God in here is to expel the evil spirit that being sent by someone to us. After we saw the temple, we thought that it’s time to leave.

We were wondering, Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population on earth but why we didn’t see so much mosques here? Then Dimas replied that actually there are, but they are located inside the residential area like there is one mosque in every neighborhood. But then for the bonus, Ardhi and Dimas showed us one of the oldest mosque in Semarang that has the combination between Malay, Javanese, and Middle East architecture in one mosque.

These guys were truly amazing. We really didn’t regret our decision to travel with Bersukaria Tour. apart from the good English, these guys were really knowledgeable and gave us a lot of local perspective. We really suggest that if you are going to have a shore excursion in Semarang, Bersukaria is the right option to choose.

We arrived at the harbor at 4.00 PM and these guys walked us through the departure hall and that’s where our journey ended and we said goodbye to them and continue our voyage to the next destination, Brunei Darussalam.