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Surabaya
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Surabaya city is the capital of East Java province. It is also the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. This city is a transit point for tourists who want to go visit Mount Bromo near Malang city or to Denpasar city in Bali island. Surabaya is an important trading hub for central and eastern regions of the Republic of Indonesia. Goods and people arrive and depart from this city through the Tanjung Perak ship harbor located at the north of the city and the Juanda international airport located in Sidoarjo - a nearby town. Across from the Tanjung Perak harbor is the Madura island. Every day we can see large and small ships travel along the Madura straight whose water is brown as the result of marine pollution from the city's domestic and industrial waste.
The meaning of Surabaya
Surabaya is formed by two Javanese words Sura (a shark) and Baya (a crocodile). There was a mythology about a fierce battle between the two animals at a river mouth of a place where the city is now seated. When the battle was over the sura left for the sea and the baya stayed in the river. Then people who had seen the battle name the place Surabaya. Today the city has a population of 3 million people. When we travel around the city we will see a large statue of Sura-Baya (shark and crocodile) at Diponegoro street near a zoo.
Long before the arrival of western people from the Netherlands under the flag of VOC in 1677, Surabaya's harbor had been a trading hub for kingdoms in Nusantara achipelago (the name of a vast region between Asia and Australia that consists of tens of thousands of big and small islands). If we traveled around the areas near the main harbour of the city, we will see a lot of old concrete stores that were used by the Dutch for keeping agricultural commodities such as rice, sugar and tobacco that had been brought to the city from the inland areas. These commodities would be exported to other cities and towns in Indonesia as well as other countries. Most of the buildings are still used for various purposes. When Indonesia became an independent country, Surabaya continued its role as a major trading city not only for Indonesia but also for South East Asia. Today the rapid loading and unloading of cargoes in Tanjung Perak harbor are handled by cranes of the container terminals for various shipping companies that operate in the city. Surabaya stretches along Madura strait but its beach has been heavily polluted leaving no places for city dwellers to enjoy any recreational activities in an outdoor settings by the beach. As a result on weekends, youth and old alike go to malls to enjoy food, films or just window shopping. Near the city center of Surabaya, Tunjungan Plaza and Delta Plaza are visited by thousands of people every day. Other malls such as Pakuwon Mall, Galaxi Mall, Surabaya Mall and City of Tomorrow and Jembatan Merah Plaza which are far from the city center are also attracting tens of thousands of visitors not only from Surabaya city alone but also from other smaller towns from the East Java province as well as from the larger East Indonesia region.
Flights to Surabaya and Juanda International Airport
As the second largest trading city after Jakarta - the capital of the Republic of Indonesia, Surabaya has always been visited by businessmen from all corners of the globe. For example: cheap airfare flights from Hong Kong to Surabaya are offered by Cathay Pacific, Garuda Indonesia. And from Sydney to this city, travelers can take Malaysia airlines. From Amsterdam in Europe to Surabaya city in Indonesia, my recommendation for travelers will be the Singapore airlines. As a matter of fact, you are free to choose any airlines that you like to fly to Surabaya. Most people prefer an affordable airfare with good service, of course. All the commercial flights to Surabaya will land at Juanda International Airport. Actually the airport is located in Sidoarjo, an industrial town close to Surabaya. To know and compare the ticket price, you can go to such websites as skyscanner.net and wego.com.
Hotels in Surabaya
When merchants, business people and travelers arrive in Surabaya, they surely will need hotels to stay in. Surabaya as a metropolitan city has a lot of hotels ranging from cheap up to 5 star hotels. The most famous hotel in the city is the historic Majapahit hotel. Merchants who visit this metropolitan city for business affairs prefer to stay in cheap hotels. They are usually called hotel kelas Melati.
Surabaya Car Rental
When businessmen or tourists want to go around the city, they will need cars. They can go by public bus, taxi, or rented car. The convenient way to visit business centers and industrial estates is by a rent car whose price ranges from Rp. 400,000 to Rp. 500,000 (four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand rupiahs).
Suramadu bridge
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated Suramadu bridge in 2010. The bridge connects the city with Madura island. The construction of the bridge began in 2003 and finished in 2009. The bridge connects the Surabaya city and the Madura island thus accelerating the economic development of the island. Before the bridge was constructed, the transportation of goods and people was served by ferries. The length of the Suramadu bridge is 5,438 meters making it the longest bridge in Indonesia.
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