Well I think it was my first adventurous trip in this 2010.
1st day
We took bus from Bungurasih, after she mistaken said tat we would take it from Gubeng, coz her last trip was started from there, but on the third thought she said it must be becoz they had a ticket. So I thought , yeah, maybe it was a some kind of shuttle bus or whateve. Good that the cab driver corrected us in a polite way. I, myself, being a pretty new to this kinda stuff too after 2-3 yrs.
She made a baked cauliflower with cheese sauce, which later I felt craving it again, for our snack. I got her Asterix comic in bahasa, it is a funny comic turned out! When i was a kid i just liked scanning through the images only!
Arriving in the Arjosari bus terminal, I bought 1 portion of bakso, yummy, cost 10k IDR. And after couple of phone call we knew what bemo we should take.
It was pretty far to the city at least to the place we were heading to. Both , us and the driver didn't know where the place, so we were dopped off and asking for direction. The lady in the small store was on the phone when we approached her, but then she then abruptly hang up and greeted us with big smile. o__o wow... very friendly, then she explained.
Finally we met the other dude, an American, we strolled to their dorm and we talked alot of things, he loved kerupuk, so cute. Then nearly evening he had to work, we asked direction to go to the flower market to his Indonesian folks, the only place could be reached before it closed. My friend saw a bakpao seller and bought it. Surprisingly though she spoke bahasa the seller replied in english, we both laughed! I asked how did he learn it. From his son, his son learned it at school. It wasn't a surprise that many people in Malang speak english, we both agree it may be of the universities and many foreign students or tourists come and go. Interesting, Singapore is not even close with this!
In the evening we strolled around hotel Tugu, too bad we didnt actually go in to look around :( We just had some nice sitting, drinking and chatting in Java Dancer Caffe (or coffee?)after asking the hotel rate just next to it. I decided to find a room for myself since I got a slight headache, needed some rest. I decided to take a room at this Jona's homestay. Not bad, 1 room for 1 pesron cost 60K IDR / night, with tv and fan, outside bathroom. On the way there I bought a nasi goreng, yumm, tasted good! Again while i was sitting, waiting for my nasi goreng, my Oz friend asking to the next warung about the direction in bahasa. She loved to do that n i enjoyed it, ahahha. The warung lady was so happy to talk with my friend, and she sent us to the street she meant! Wow.... at the end she shook her n my hands...ha..hahahah. I know that most of indonesian have an interest toward white people, but witnessing it myself felt kinda cute n my friend also a friendly one, she greeted almost those who had eye contact with! Phew...
2nd day
After a brunch, another NICE nasi goreng my friend had! We were heading to a chinese temple called Eng An Kiong (again if I m not mistaken). Again I let her to ask direction in bahasa, though I had to be aware some missing information she gained. Like we were supposed to walk again on the next junction , etc.
In the bemo, after we asked which direcion goin to the temple, we hopped in. A kid asked plainly in bahasa, "Are you a konghucu? Why goin to a temple?" Not to me of coz, to my Oz friend. Cute kid, both us agree, not many kid will dare to speak to stranger using bahasa especially knowing that this stranger is a foreigner! ^^
2 yrs ago my friend in Malang took me there to taste the famous pangsit mee. But since we both just had our brunch we went exploring inside. At first we were hesitate since it is a temple, maybe we were not allowed, but we were wrong. They open widely for tourist to explore, we were even asked to fill a guest book. Some tourists were there too.
After taking some pictures & enjoying the cool Malang wheather our next stop is Dinoyo! Kampung of ceramics. After walking to the market and looking around for the bemo gone there we finally had it. Again an old lady was curious toward my friend and made a conversation with her in bahasa. So cute!
By instinct I asked the driver and we didn't miss the ceramics kampung that far. We enjoyed stopped to buy some drink and ice cream and went into backpack bag store and a distro.
After looking around, the cloud was pretty dark so we decided to leave immediately not knowing where the next stop, so I just asked some bemo which would go to Alun-alun.
Finally we were dropped to Alun-alun. Malang still has a lot of beautiful colonial houses, especially around Ijen street, it is a place to have a lovely walk! But we forgot to do tat, got no time, hahaha!
After asking where to get a cab in a police station, we had some snack for early dinner. Btw the cab we took was a crap! Once we hoped into, the driver said "the minimum argo should be 25K IDR" For a small town like Malang tat was qiute alot, so beware to take a cab in Malang.
After some short 'farewell', with bemo we headed back to Arjosari, back to Surabaya...
Thanks to her book Lonely Planet Indonesia 2006 edition.
