From ‘Lontong Balap’ to Hotel Majapahit, Surabaya.

The 100-year old Hotel Majapahit

Once a younger brother of a well established founder-developer said to me, ” I  do the closing ceremonies and my brother did the openings.” In Surabaya last week, another curtain closed from the curse of the global economic crisis. The once hailed to be the most high-high end development is made to collect dust today. Lights off.

Time was generous with me in Surabaya and decided to heed the advice of the poet Sara Teasdale, “I make the most of all that comes and least of all that goes.” So, I decided to stay back into the place and cooked myself long enough just to be there like a standing pillar of the majestic Hotel Majapahit.

If you decided to go for recluse, forget the Himalayas, but check-in at the Hotel Majapahit. Once it was called the Mandarin Oriental Majapahit. It was opened in 1st June 1910 by the Sarkies brothers as the Oranje Hotel. The colonial-style architecure plus the well landscaped space with classic settings and atmosphere will never failed your heart and senses for this hotel. It is a must for those who have eyes and soul for architectural design from the past.

An old tree for a 100 year old building?

The comfort and space for US150 a night.

Though I was served the best coffee ever at the hotel cafe, but by the streets in Surabaya you might want to try some seafood delicacies or more down the road into the local dishes of lontong balap, tahu kraton, rujak cingur or ayam penyet. Not to worry if you are not familiar to such names, but these are the right local dishes to try in Surabaya.

If you are familiar with Surabaya, the lights at the old china-town ‘Kya-Kya’ are no longer glittering but a new happenings arise and kicking at the G-Walk at Citraland, west of the city.

Once upon a time, the classic Hotel Majapahit was called “Yamato Hoteru”. The worst insult to such a grandiose hotel ever from the land of the rising sun. Banzai!