The 6 hours series are back!
The 6 hours is a travelog where I documented places I visited under 6 hours. These places are something new that I haven’t visited before. So, I am going to take you to explore these places with me.
LET’S GO TO MALANG!
Unlike my previous 6 hours where I explored Yogyakarta Indonesia, this time I am going to take you exploring Malang, a mountainous second largest city in East Java, Indonesia. This city is known for its natural beauty and colonial history. If Yogyakarta is known for its ancient beauty, Malang is where to go if you want to understand and take a peek at colonialism in Indonesia. However, there is also ancient history around the region as it was one of the places for an east java kingdom. So, who knows if I will go around the temples in this city next time.
I got the chance to see my sister after more than three years of not talking and seeing each other. She just finished her study and since I plan on staying around east java for the next couple of months, I made the time to see her. The last time I visited Malang was a long time ago. It was also with my family and just a brief visit to a relative. This time, I explored it with my sister and we had quite a bit of fun. And this is the story of how we explored it.
From my hometown to Malang, I went with a car sharing service. There were three other people who were also going to the city. Car sharing service is pretty common around this area. In yogyakarta, grab service is much more reliable but around this area, a car sharing service is an option. However, there is a schedule so if you’re not comfortable with a scheduled pick up, another rental type of service might be for you.
Many people go to Malang because of Mt Bromo. But other than that, there’s so much to see around this urbanized city. Along the way to the city, I was presented with lush green forests and some areas with pine forests.
It gets colder and the road is getting more meandering as it gets near Batu, a neighboring city of Malang. I reached Malang at around 5PM where I went directly to the hotel to check in.
I am not familiar with hotels around this city so it was like a gambling.
I ended up staying at a place called the 101 which has an amazing view from its rooftop and the room. These were the views from my room and the rooftop.
Though I spent sometime around with my sister eating dinner at Soux Bistro, we got too tipsy and it was already past 9 PM. So, she decided to go back to her place and I went to the hotel.
Now, this is the part where I will show you what you can do with 6 hours around the city, without having a car, on foot, and just relying on grab services.
Breakfast With A View
The first thing that I can recommend to anyone who is visiting this city is having breakfast with a view.
We went to a place called Shivaraja's Secret Garden. You can read the whole restaurant review here Breakfast With A View. It was a great experience having breakfast there as it was filling and quite a way to start the adventure. The price is also quite reasonable for something like a chef-made breakfast. For a person, you can spend approximately 4$/free drinks either coffee,tea, or orange juice.
After breakfast, we went to Alun-Alun Malang, a historical plaza filled with colonial historical buildings.
Alun-Alun Malang And Alun Alun Bundar
Malang has two town plazas. The first one is an old plaza filled with religious buildings and business districts and the next one is filled with government offices and schools. These places are free attractions that you can visit while in Malang. You can see historical buildings and also enjoy a water lily pond with a historical monument on it.
The first alun-alun or plaza we visited is the main alun-alun. In the main alun-alun, you can see some historical churches, architecture, and shops at Malang’s biggest market. But that day, my sister and I were walking around historical churches and also a colonial cafe. You can read my review about the church's and nearby architecture in this article Remnants Of Colonialism.
We tasted a delicious olden times ice cream in a cafe called OEN. I mentioned briefly about the cafe in my architecture post. Their ice cream is made with old recipes which apparently is also famous. My mom also told me that when she was in her 20's she would go there just to buy the ice cream.
My sister was even wondering if they have a display like the modern ice cream shops. But apparently, the waitress, who was dressed in black and white, told us that it’s ordered by menu. So, I ordered an ice cream that has a strange flavor to me.
The ice cream seemed to be made with egg yolk. It smelled quite fishy with a strong taste of baking soda. It was not like the modern ice cream that we all use to eat. So, I am not sure if that’s up to anyone’s liking. Perhaps the older generation? I bet the younger generation like me and my sister wouldn’t really like it. The ice cream in this place is quite pricey. For that two scoops, it costs around 6$ but I guess, it was worth it? at least I can say that I've been to OEN.
While we were there, I saw some groups of families that didn't seem like locals. And this is something that I came to know from my grab driver. On our way to the Alun-Alun Bundar, the Grab driver told us about the feud between online car service and local public transportation. He mentioned that in that cafe, it’s quite dangerous to pick a passenger because that place is only visited by tourists and not locals. That’s why he was calling us to confirm the order and told us to move quite a bit from the exact map. He mentioned that often the local public transportation or known as “angkot” will jack up the price knowing that the passenger isn’t local to Malang.
We stopped at a place called Java dancer which is a cafe. It was by my sister’s request that we stopped around that area. Then, we walked to Alun-Alun Bundar which essentially is a monument with a lily pond surrounding it.
I captured some beautiful lily which at first, I thought was a lotus here Blooming Lotus. It was a hot day when we circled the place. I was hoping I could do macro shots of the butterflies and the beez but alas, they were flying quickly.
Surrounding the area is also filled with historical hotels. Even my mom knew the hotels around the area.
My mom told me that at night, this place transforms into a place for working trans girls to look for their customers. In the end, we ended up going to a small bakery that serves traditional snacks and dutch named pastries and cakes.
It was filled with local snacks and some bread with dutch names. It is so easy to find dutch pastries and bread in this city compared to Yogyakarta. I got one loaf of bread with ham and some bread for my mom to bring home.
I have no idea why my sister took me there but it was interesting to know where I can get some international bread in the city. Just after that place, my sister took me to a place known for its imported goods called Lai Lai.
Shop at Lai-Lai Fresh Market
This one is a grocery store that sells plenty of imported goods. From noodles to beer, everything is available here. I can even find Cheez it here and REESE'SI. This market also has plenty of goods from Korea, China, Taiwan, HK, and JP. But other than that. They also sell local snacks and fresh fruits.
I really love this place because I can find spam and all the ingredients I needed to make Korean food. They also have extensive beer collection. Not to mention, their chocolate is quite complete for such a store. You can even find lindt in this place.
In this store, since it's about CNY, they play Chinese songs almost all day. They also sell CNY snacks and food related to the Chinese New year. These are the snacks that I got. This will last for a month before I have to visit this place again.
Bakso Bakar Pak Man
Malang is also known for its meatballs. Anywhere in Java, hands down the best meatball is from Malang. Even in another city, many bakso areas also called themselves as Bakso Malang.
I still have no idea what makes their bakso different but it really is the best according to me. Their meat is soft and the soup is hard to explain. The spices in the soup is still something I couldn’t replicate. When it comes to grilled bakso, Malang is also the pioneer. It was started in that city then spread like wildfire to other cities and provinces in Java.
But what exactly is Bakso?
Well, in English it’s simply referred to as meatball. But unlike western meatballs, Indonesian meatballs are served with savory clear soup, glass noodles, fried wonton (optional), and tofu.
Pak man is apparently the famous grilled bakso seller in the city. I was referred to this place by my sister. In this place, it’s all self-serving and you pay later.
But if you want grilled bakso, you have to talk to Pak man in advance and tell him how much you want to eat. This is a picture of grilled bakso soaked in sweet soy sauce. You can also request the spiciness level of the sauce.
See you in my next 6 hours series!
Mac's Pinmapple Travel List
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 | Mac is a jack of all trades. A typical introvert in love with literature, books, technology and philosophy. She is also so into nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than that, she is passionate about cooking and traveling. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, leave a comment or a feedback. A re-blog is also appreciated. |