Life At Slow-Mo

If you live and work in Indonesia, you will definitely notice that this year we have quite a few long-weekends. People are excited over this kind of thing. Some of us love to make plans on where to go and what to do. Some are so tired with work they don’t have the energy to think about going somewhere and choose to stay home and rest. Some would love to go on a trip but don’t have enough money to do that.

A lot of us belong in the first category, including my wife and me. It feels so wasteful to spend a long weekend doing nothing. This month we have two National holidays in the same week. We have been eyeing this opportunity since last month. We oscillated between several options. Do we go abroad or domestically? Turkey seemed like an interesting choice since we didn’t need visa to go there. We backed up as soon as we realized how expensive the flight was. How about Malaysia? We let this idea go because since our fateful trip to Penang last year, we learned that Chinese New Year was not an ideal time for a visit. All the interesting culinary places were closed for the holiday. “How about Kota Kinabalu?” I proposed to my wife. “What’s there?” she replied. “Well, there are some Chinese temples and other points of interest.” She pouted. “They might be closed for the CNY.” How about Thailand? They might celebrate CNY too. Vietnam? We went there last year. “How about Hong Kong?” said my wife. I rolled my eyes. “We want to avoid countries with strong CNY celebration, and you suggest Hong Kong?”

We finally agreed on a road trip to Solo, with a stop in Semarang. I was too busy with work that the task of hotel bookings fell to my wife. She did extensive research on the most reliable sources of information: YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. “Here are the bookings,” she said in a WhatsApp message. My eyes grew wide as I read it. “We will stay in three different hotels in three nights?”

We did stay in 3 different hotels. One in Semarang, and two in Solo, as my wife had arranged. The first one was in Aston Inn Pandanaran. It’s right in the middle of souvenir shopping area which proved to be very useful. The stores were in walking distance from the hotel. The room was sufficiently spacious, well-appointed and well-maintained.

Our first hotel in Solo was more of a private resort. It’s called Ayom Java Village. It’s comprised of 9 private villas, each with its own swimming pool. We got a larger one with an outside cooking and dining area. It’s very pleasant if you are looking to enjoy your vacation in privacy.

Our second hotel in Solo was Mahalaya The Legacy. The building was designed in Dutch colonial-style architecture. The owner took a great care to create an early 20th century nostalgic atmosphere, down to a music player that played keroncong and old music. Our room was huge and artistically appointed. The hotel is next to Pasar Legi. In early morning it becomes a produce market for small sellers.

We spent our time in Solo enjoying the hotel and shopping for some Batik. We went to Pasar Klewer, a very popular batik market. From there we hired a becak to take us around, visiting batik shops in the Kauman Batik Village. In Semarang we only had time to have meals and shop for some souvenir and Lunpia, the traditional spring roll of Semarang.

In Semarang we discovered a hidden gem of eateries. It’s a small warung that sells Gudeg Wijilan. The food is good, the place is nice, but it’s not expensive and it’s not crowded.

Despite the limitations, I consider it a time well-spent. We still have several long weekends to enjoy this year. See you then with more stories!