Part 2 of 4 Only time will tell. This cliché has been proven over and over again. We’ll never know what the future has in store, and despite our best efforts to anticipate what lies ahead, in the end we have to let time do […]
All posts tagged: Semarang
A Change of Heart about Semarang
Part 1 of 4 In a post I wrote about my 2018 trip to Semarang – my hometown and where my parents live – I recount the moment when I thought the city no longer excited me, for I’d visited most of its must-see places […]
Killing Time in Semarang
The city of Semarang, the capital of Indonesia’s Central Java province, is the place where I was born. However, since the age of 1.5 years old I have been moving around the country with my parents following my father’s assignments from the government institution he […]
Semarang: My Cherished Hometown
“Semarang is squeezed in the middle,” a pun my father once told me about the Central Javanese provincial capital which is also my hometown. We were discussing about how slowly Semarang developed compared to other major cities in Java – Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and even Yogyakarta. […]
Zheng He and the Treasure Voyages
Chapter 2, Part 6 Far from the heartland of Arabia where it was born, Islam reached the farthest side of the world known by the Arabs as Tsin, China. Muhammad himself in a popular but not necessarily reliable hadith (reports describing Muhammad’s words, actions, and […]
Revitalizing A Haunted Building
A woman with long black hair wearing plain, white long cloth appeared, but her eyes looked menacing, her skin so pale, and her feet not visible. A man waved to the infrared camera, signaling his defeat to the challenge and a call for help. A […]
A Smokey Business in Kaliasin
Red, spicy and addictive. Sambal Panggang Pe (smoked ray covered with ground chili paste and spices) look not only visually appealing, but also menacing to some for its generous spread of chilies. Widely available throughout Central and East Java, Sambal Panggang Pe is highly popular […]
The Fading Charm of the Little Netherlands
Semarang is known to have one of Indonesia’s most exquisite collections of colonial buildings. On a recent visit to my hometown I took the chance to do what I should have done much earlier, exploring Kota Lama – the old town quarter. Rows of Dutch buildings fill […]
A Gastronomic Adventure in Semarang
Despite calling Semarang in Central Java home, I only spent a brief 1.5 years in the city since I was born. Life had taken me to live in three cities in South Kalimantan (Borneo) and four cities in Java. Until a few years ago, the […]
All Traditional at Prembaen Market
On my latest visit to Semarang – my hometown – I got the chance to go to a lively traditional market which sits in an unassuming small alley not too far from the Chinatown. Prembaen – the name of the alley after which the eponymous market is named […]
A Taste of Home
For the first six months of 2012, my wanderlust has brought me to six countries as well as some destinations in Indonesia. New interesting stories, unforgettable experiences, memorable photographs, new friends, funny-tasting local delicacies and beautiful memories have enriched me in a way only traveling […]
A Legacy of The Great Admiral
In the early 15th century when Ming dynasty ruled China, The Yongle Emperor sponsored seven expeditions of unprecedented naval fleet to impress other nations across the Indian Ocean and control trade in the region. The great expedition, however, was commanded by Zheng He, a Muslim […]
