A street with Chinese vibes.
In my previous blog, I wrote about the Old Town area in my city. I mentioned that it was where various cultures interacted and influenced each other between Europe, Chinese, Malay, and Arab. While the Old Town area features more buildings with a European touch, Kya-kya is the area most influenced by Chinese culture. So it’s like the Chinatown in my city.
This area is close to the main tourist attractions of the Old Town. However, I only found out about it last month while cycling around :”) Was I really born in this city? not sure😂 There are many places in my hometown that I have never visited, including this little Chinatown area. Kya-kya Kembang Jepun is how it’s called now. It’s located at Kembang Jepun Street, one of the central business area in this city that still survives until now.
Kya-kya comes from the Hokkian language which means walking/strolling (or streets, I’m sorry if the translation is not right). During the Dutch colonial era, this street was called Handelstraat. Handel means trade and straat means street. Because it is said that many foreign traders anchored along this street at that time.
In this area, we can find clothing stores, electronics, accessories, also street vendors selling food and drinks. This area was successfully established in May 2003 as one of the city's icons and tourist destinations, for the locals too. On some special occasions, Kya-kya becomes a venue for festivals and various events in Surabaya.
As we can see, it actually has Chinese vibes throughout the street. Besides all the ornaments that they put up, the buildings are also remain with its own characteristic. I went there on a Sunday morning, so most of the stores were closed. But strolling around this area itself, really feels different from any other areas because of the vibes.
The government also continues to optimaze the attractiveness of this area, such as adding murals and photo spots around the pedestrian area. So it has stronger a Chinese atmosphere that visitors can feel.
This area is also the location of many old buildings such as the Radar Media office, and also several Chinese temples that are well-known to the local community. Kya-kya had been dim and quiet for some time, but after it was officially reopened in 2023, this area emphasizes typical culinary of Chinatown for tourism at night. On weekends, there are bazaars and festivals that held in this area.
According to this article, back in February, the government held an event called Kya-kya Chunjie Fest to celebrate Chinese New Year of 2025. I personally haven’t tried visiting this area at night or attending any events, but even just cycling around Kya-kya is make me can feel the historical atmosphere around it. The old buildings in this area are still maintain their characteristics and not really trying to be more modern or anything like that, which is also great.
I’m curious about the food bazaar that hold at night, so maybe I should try to attend it next time. But that’s all for now, thanks for reading as always :) Have a nice day hivers, see you in the next blog!