Aug 12 2007
Semarang
Saturday 11 August 2007 I successfully forced Angie to accompany me to
go around Semarang to take some pictures of this dearest hometown of
mine. J I have had this idea for several months, especially since my
friends at one mailing list welcomed my writing about “Semarang Pesona
Asia” warmly. Four weeks ago, Angie and I visited Lawang Sewu-on July
15, 2007 there was cultural exhibit there-and we took some pictures of
the building. Then we went to Gedung Batu Sam Po Kong, to take some
pictures of trees that have long roots hanging from one branch to
another, something amazing to my Abang. After that visit, I asked Angie
to continue our ‘adventure’. And we did it yesterday, 11 August 2007.
Below you can see the pictures of Jalan Pemuda, one main street in Semarang. 
To
welcome “Semarang Pesona Asia” event, some main streets are decorated
with Chinese lantern. When reading the news in Suara Merdeka, I didn’t
consider it too much to promote one ethnic group. However, one expert
in culture, Djawahir Muhammad said that the government played favorite
to a certain ethnic group by decorating some main streets with those
lanterns. He said that Semarang citizens are divided into three ethnic
groups: Arabian, Javanese, and Chinese. He even mentioned an acronym
that is totally new for me: ARWANA (ARab, JaWA, ChiNA). (This made me
wonder of Tukul popular comedian from Semarang chose ARWANA as his last
name from this acronym?) He suggested that the government was supposed
to accommodate the three ethnic groups when decorating the main streets.
As
someone who is always fascinated by Chinese culture, I don’t mind it at
all. Besides, from the book “Semarang Tempoe Doeloe” we cannot deny the
Chinese influence in forming Semarang culture because in the past, many
Chinese people became landlords here, together with Dutch people in the
previous centuries.
To counter what Djawahir Muhammad said, Prof.
Eko Budiharjo stated that it was okay for the government to decorate
the main streets with those lanterns. Nevertheless, he also didn’t deny
that it would be more advisable that the government used different
special characters in some special areas. For example, in Pecinan
(Chinatown), it is okay to hang as many Chinese lanterns as possible
for decoration. In the Old City area, the government can give
decoration that is closely related to European heritage. (Aha … I am
wondering if in the Old City area there are many people having European
blood living there?)
When talking about this to my sister, she
asked, “Where about do you think people with Arabian blood live in
Semarang so that the decoration can be related to Arabian heritage?”
There is one area called ‘Pekojan’ in Semarang. If Pecinan is from
China word, Pekojan is from Koja word, that refers to people from
India, or probably Arab too. however, ‘Pekojan’ is also a part of
Pecinan.
Below you can see the pictures of the Town Hall (Balai Kota) located on Jalan Pemuda.
Below
you see the pictures of some shops selling Semarang special food, such
as lumpia, wingko babat, bandeng presto, some traditional food (jajan
pasar) etc. During long weekend or holiday these shops located on Jalan
Pandanaran are always full of visitors coming to Semarang. This made
Jalan Pandanaran one busiest street, and sometimes traffic jam happens
there. 
Below
you can see the picture of Java Mall, one biggest mall in Semarang that
is full of decoration/banner to welcome “Semarang Pesona Asia” event.
The
pictures below are some tent cafes located on Jalan Pahlawan. This is
also to welcome the big event so that the street vendors on that
street, and some other areas too, such as around Simpang Lima look
tidier. 
Angie
and I also visited Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah. There are many visitors
coming from out of town. I can see it from the buses and cars parked in
the parking lot. I am wondering whether they come to fulfill their
curiosity to take a look at this grand mosque closely (now that
religious tour has become a trend recently), or whether they come
because of the spectacular event, SPA. 
Next
we had lunch in one tent café located on Jalan Menteri Supeno. Our menu
for our lunch on that Saturday was: tahu gimbal, rujak, and es teler.
Tahu gimbal (it consists of chili sauce with peanut, tofu, lontong, shrimp, etc.)
Rujak (some kinds of fruit and chilli sauce)
Es teler
At
the same time there was decorating plants exhibition close by, perhaps
also to welcome SPA. Therefore there were more customers coming to café
tents located around there.
The last place we visited is the Old
City area. Below is the picture of the main post office in Semarang.
The building is also one heritage from Dutch colonization.
Below are some pictures of Jalan Merak. The street has been especially decorated for SPA. 
Some
buildings in the Old City area are still in good condition, especially
when those buildings are made use by some companies. Some other
buildings were terribly damaged and very filthy. 
Gereja Blenduk from different angles. 
One thing we must not forget, along the street there are many people who sell flags to welcome the Independence Day.
Below are some pictures of banners special for the great event, Semarang Pesona Asia.
All pictures were taken using the digital camera in Sony Ericsson K510i mobile phone, on August 11, 2007, around 11.00-14.00.
PT56 12.45 120807
