Malang : Day 1

Surabaya - Malang - Batu, Day 1 : 28 April 2012

Razeif arranged for our ground tour from Surabaya – Malang – Batu – Bromo – Surabaya. He found out about Wong, a Chinese Malaysian married to an Indonesian via one of the travel forums on the net. www.sapsamsok.com/cari

We took the 9.35am flight from LCCT to Surabaya, arriving at 11.30am local time. Surabaya is 1 hour behind Malaysia.

We were greeted by a signage of Dato Razeif upon arrival at Juanda International Airport, Surabaya. How creative of Wong! 

Dato Razeif

 

We would be making our way to Malang to visit the Masjid Turen next. But on the way, we stopped by at Waroeng Tempo Doeloe (which just means a stall once upon a time ago) for lunch and enjoy the Gurami fish, sapi rawon and nila pesmol. 

On the way to Malang, we were shown the haunted Niagara Hotel (we were told there was a murder case ). We finally arrived at Masjid Turen around 5.15 pm, after a 4 hour drive. It rained during the journey so it was a good time to catch some sleep.

We were mesmerized by the majestic masjid Turen. It reminded me and Mas of the Sagrada Familia we visited in Barcelona as the masjid was still under construction and it was higher than the usual masjid. Legend has it that djins / spiritual forms built the masjid as the villagers there realized the masjid was already buing built overnight. We couldn't really verify that. But alas, we truly admired the unique beauty of the masjid with the colourful tiles adorning the walls and floors and fountain and small pond within the vicinity. 

beautiful Masjid Turen

 

We then proceeded to Batu, another 2 hours driving after prayers at the masjid. On the way, we stopped by Ayam Goreng Remaja restaurant for dinner. Not quite sure why is it called that haha. The tofu soup was great. We arrived at Hotel Gradia 1 at around 10.30pm. After checking in, we then continued to the Batu Night Spectacular fun fare before closing time at 12midnight, so we had another hour. We tried the Crazy House ride which was tilted a bit and then spinned 360 deg, making us feeling dizzy after that lol. While still nursing the dizziness, we went into the Galeri Hantu to get spooked out. It wasn't really scary though. At midnight, it was time to go back and get some rest for another exciting day tomorrow :)

ayam goreng remaja

Batu Night Spectacular

Crazy House at BNS