Eva’s Surabaya
Moving on from Jakarta, don’t fret I might do more on Jakarta, but as Indonesia is huge I want to move on to another part of the country, Surabaya, East Java. This time I asked Eva, from the blog Si Koper Biru, about her Surabaya.
Eva grew up in Surabaya, lived in Jakarta for a bit and now work and lives in Coppenhagen, with her beloved cockatiels. We did this interview via twitter, which in itself was interesting for me to do, but it was soon very apparent that we are similar to each other that we went of to a random tangent. It was fun to do. 🙂
Anyway here goes in the edited version in English.
Me: Finish this sentence: Home is …
Eva: Home is comfort. Me : comfort is…
Eva: Comfort is when you are perfect where you are standing or sitting and you don’t want to move or go anywhere else.
Me: Where is your hometown? Eva : Or Surabaya a.k.a Sidoarjo, just say it is Surabaya from birth to 2001 when I moved to Jakarta
About Memory
Me : When you are little what fun place do you go to with your parents?
Eva : The one that I remember the most was when my parents took me to Surabaya Zoo. It was our city’s pride back then. In front of the zoo there’s a monument of the city symbol – a shark and a crocodile tangled into one, fighting each other.in which they make the name of the city Sura-Baya
Me : What made the zoo so nice back then? Eva : so many animals, of course as a kid it was mesmerizing for me to see exotic animals that I only watched on TV. I have always been fond of animals since I was a kid. So it was nice to go to the zoo- not far from our house back then Me : When you go home to Surabaya where do you go to eat?
About Food
Eva :
- First is of course at home. My mum’s Sayur Lodeh. She usually has it ready on the day I arrive. There’s nothing else I want more than that.
- Second is the take away crabs from the nearby seafood warung*. We do take away because it’s messy to eat seafood. Even at home my mum banished us to the veranda to eat the crabs, because she doesn’t want the house to smell. My sisters and I will usually prepare all the things we need: mosquito repellent and newspaper to line the table.
- Third I would go to Depot Bu Rudy to have her famous Nasi Udang and bought busloads of sambal Bu Rudy to bring back to Denmark. Me: Can you not remake the Sayur Lodeh? What so good about your mum’s version?
Eva : There is no Keluwih. Not even the seed, which is the best part. I don’t even know how to translate that. 🙂 My mum’s Lodeh Keluwih is so divine.
Me : What is Keluwih?
Eva: It some sort of Jackfruit
Me : Where is Depot Bu Rudy?
Eva: It is on Jalan Darmahusada. It gets really busy and difficult to find parking, especially during lunch time.
Me: Oh all of this makes me want to go to Surabaya. When you are there where do you hang out?
Hang-out and Places to Visit
Eva: I hang out at Galaxy Mall. Hahaha. It is where I meet my old university friends. I go there because it is the nearest to where I live. Just want to avoid the traffic.
Me: Does it get bad? The traffic?
Eva: Well it is not as bad as Jakarta, or maybe this just that I am biased of my hometown. I have got more love for it.
Me: If a tourist comes to visit to Surabaya, where would you take them?
Eva: That is a good question. It is kind of hard if we are just staying in Surabaya. Usually I take them to Jatim (Jawa Timur= East Java) Park, Prigen Safari Park, Bromo Mountain, Malan or a culinary tour.
Me: What about shopping? Is there a kind of hidden gem?
Eva: Hmm not really a hidden gem, there is Atom Market.
Me: Atom Market? I love the name!
Eva: It is the most popular shopping place, especially prior to Chinese New Year. They sell a lot of Chinese new year’s related stuff. The food is also good at the market. They sell stuff from DVD to Ball Gowns Although every time I go there with my sister or mum, it is too much for me, they take absolutely ages to shop.
Me: It sounds a bit like Tanah Abang Market in Jakarta
Eva: Oh I don’t know I have never been.
Me: Ok, last question describe Surabaya in 140 characters
Eva: Surabaya is a vibrant harbour city w/ a history of good culinary delights. It has more relaxed atmosphere than Jakarta and its own rhythm.
Me: Cool, thanks Eva.
I have never been to Surabaya. I have only passed it to go to Bali, I have been to both Bromo and Malang but not Surabaya. I’d love to know more of the city from more people. If you are interested to tell your side of Surabaya let me know on the comment below.
PS: Apologies to Eva, who I have interviewed a long time a go now, but only manage to upload this week. I have been really late and slow with this update. Been really busy at work and have been working long hours 😦
By the way you can follow Eva on her:
- Blog : sikoperbiru.wordpress.com
- Instagram:@ekholm
Right, although the Surabaya’s weather is alwasy hot, Surabaya has beautiful side which can pull our interest, ya? 🙂
Yes obviously. Is there any where else?
Nasi bebeknya juga enak diseluruh penjuru kota, dan…rujak cingur..dan rujak yang dijajakan oleh mbok-mbok yang lewat depan rumah. Dan nasi rawonnya.
Kalo ke Surabaya, ya makan pagi, siang dan malam….jajan.
I miss my hometown >_<
Hahaha… I thought from our conversation you just miss the food. Just kidding.. is the update ok?
Hometown = food, so technically you are right. Update looks great. One mistake on the map, it should be bu Rudy and my instagram tag is ekholm78 — sorry sorry, I’m used to proof check technical drawings LOL
Hahaha. Sure. I think the map does say bu Rudy but with an I than a y. Don’t be sorry perfectly fine. This is hardly technical drawing. Hohoho.
oooh, must be my eyes, it looks like Bu Budi to me. Must have been confused with all the scandals going on in RI now :p
yay, finally something else than Jakarta! 😀 i went to Surabaya a long time ago, for 3 days only, i think. the first thing i remember about it: the heat. it really was hotter than Jakarta! and i also went to that Atom market… to buy lidah sapi aka cow’s tongue! the raw one, since it was notorious for the good taste (so the rumour said). and then back in Jkt i asked my parents’ assistant to cook it for us. it was yummy!
so your interview proves that it’s worth it to go to Surabaya for good food (that crab food… gosh, i am virtually drooling!).
the things that you need remember the most about Surabaya is the weather. so hot! it’s like you’ll be sweaty even after you finished to take a shower.
the second one is the culinary. you’ll find a lot of ‘warung’ which sell fried duck. the most famous is ‘Bebek Sinjay’. it’s come from Bangkalan, Madura but now you can find it in Surabaya at Kapas Krampung Plaza. it’s really tasty. you have to try it 😀
Waa sambel bu Rudi 😀 enak enak
Sukses bikin rindu Surabaya dan bu Rudi