A weekend shopping and dining in Cirebon

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

On a recent weekend, my colleagues and I were all really burned out and in need of something rejuvenating to recharge our batteries.

Watch a movies, take a massage or hang out at cafes? Been there, done that. Boring.

"Let's just get out of this damn town," a colleague said. Cool! Besides, it was just after payday, so the budget was not really a problem.

The destination that we had in mind was not a quiet and serene place, but rather a town where we could eat out and go on a shopping spree.

The initial choice was Yogyakarta. But then, we thought, it was too far for a two-day weekend, with 18 hours trip back and forth by train. By plane? The budget wouldn't cover that, lah.

Bandung, meanwhile, was already out of question because, despite its proximity, the food and the places to shop (now there are just too many, though), the town is always packed on weekends.

"Why not Cirebon? It's only three hours by train. It's hot but the food is varied and delicious and the batik is great," I said.

So, off we went to Cirebon, West Java, 254 kilometers east of Jakarta. As some of us had to work a half day on Saturday, we left at 6 p.m., hoping to reach the city before 9 p.m.

"We have to eat nasi jamblang right after we arrive, OK?" a colleague insisted, referring to the Cirebon specialty dish of steamed rice wrapped in a leaf and served with an array of side dishes of your choice.

Fortunately, we bought the train tickets (Rp 45,000 or US$4.9 for executive class, one way) a day before because the train was full.

However, the train was two hours late -- a occurrence that has happened so many times that we didn't feel like complaining anymore.

We finally arrived at around 11 p.m., and went straight to a hotel which is in the same business group as our office, so that we could get a discounted rate.

We did not reserve a room, thinking that it was not necessary, but it turned out the hotel was fully booked.

But the hotel then transferred us to a three-star hotel on nearby Jl. R. A. Kartini. We were burned out and sick of living in a non air-conditioned room kost (rented room), so a three-star hotel it was.

Despite being tired and sweaty, our spirits were soaring high. After taking a shower, we went out to look for nasi jamblang, even though it was already midnight.

After asking directions from a becak driver, we walked to Grage Mall which is just a few hundred meters away from the hotel. In front of the mall a line of the vendors was seen on the street.

On a table were rows of neatly arranged aluminum bowls containing the side dishes. The dishes were varied, from chicken and egg, to liver, brain, mussels -- all cooked in several different ways. Yummy.

The portions of the rice itself were so tiny that we ended up eating at least three servings. When it was time to pay, however, we were a bit surprised because we had to pay some Rp 60,000 for four people.

But then we remembered how much food we had gobbled up, so we just shrugged it off and went back to the hotel.

At the very same hotel, there were two discotheques and a karaoke club. The karaoke was already closed so we checked out the discotheques. The first one was playing Arabic music, the other house music, so we decided to just sleep.

The next day, we went to Trusmi Batik village, six kilometers to the west. But before that, we had a very nice brunch at Ayam Kalasan Pringgadani just across the street.

We had traditionally seasoned fried chicken with crispy flour topping, plus sambal tempeh, fried tempeh which is mashed with chili. Just heavenly.

For the meal including rice and fruit juice, it cost us some Rp 80,000. Definitely worth it. In fact, it was quite cheap.

It was extremely hot outside, so we took a cab. It turned out that the cab was not air-conditioned, and did not use the meter. We had to pay Rp 20,000 although the village was quite close. Yeah, well.

Most of the residents in the batik village are employed in home industries. Packed with small houses, the area features many old houses with classic Dutch colonial architecture.

We quickly got into the shopping mode, the first stop being a small shop called Saidah. Despite its small and very simple interior, the shop had a variety of batik, both printed and handmade.

Some come in really classic motifs which, later we found out, cannot be found in other shops (or maybe we didn't look enough).

Cirebon batik itself is known for its brighter, glarey colors, opposed to the dark brown and black hues of batik from the Central Java cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

Known among aficionados as coastal batik, the motifs sometimes include folk stories and landscapes.

Prices vary, from as cheap as Rp 15,000 to more than Rp 500,000. The material ranged from cotton to silk.

One shop, quite a posh one, even had this Rp 1.9 million length of batik. But it was gorgeous, very classic with a beige background and brown motif.

"The cheap section is over there," the owner of the shop repeatedly told us every time we asked about the price. Got it, lady.

We browsed through store after store for several hours, until we got a little bit sick of seeing batik. And because we ran out of money too.

We then just browsed around the area, took pictures of the houses and bought some traditional snacks.

We spent the last night browsing the mall, which was a bit boring and then went out to find something to eat.

It is apparently difficult to find street vendors with specialty dishes aside from nasi jamblang after 9 p.m.

Well, there is satay and seafood, and regular restaurants, but we wanted something unique.

After riding a becak for, like, half an hour, the driver then took us to this vendor which sells Bubur Sop Ayam (Chicken Porridge Soup) on Jl. Tentara Pelajar.

It tasted just heavenly. Basically, it is chicken porridge mixed with soup, vegetables and rice noodles. But the mixture works well.

The next morning, post weekend syndrome attacked badly as we had to return to Jakarta. But it was not as bad as usual, because the trip really did rejuvenate us.