A weekend shopping and dining in Cirebon
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.