The Java Sea cradled the Riviera as our sails swelled with its heavy but harmless humid breeze. A full day at sea, and we arrived into Surabaya with a mild thump of the Riviera’s bow against the city’s ancient dock. The Dutch East India company built this city and the improvements ceased when they fled…fortunate to eeck out a small profit.
Some curious locals in colorful dress met us at the dock’s gate and we quickly nabbed a few to replace the crew that abandoned us in Singapore (their last day’s pay appropriately docked, I can assure you). The old Irish proverb, “Curiosity Killed the Cat”, comes to mind.
Our official greeting was by the Arrival Committee and its chief. The arrival band played the Theme from the Godfather which i thought suitable as me and my swarthy shipmates were eager to make offers to their traders they couldn’t refuse.
The public relations and travel jobbers refer to Surabaya as “authentic” and “bustling” and “ancient” but i am here to tell you they are all code words for “dump”. Surabaya is a dump….an honest to goodness, no place like it, hole in the wall, bona fide dump.
The indigenous people are sweet and friendly, but the money changers will swindle you blind. Better to barter than tender. One greenback converts to 16,000 rupees and 16,000 rupees buys you a decent meal of rice with your choice of slop and a local brew. Sadly, 16,000 rupees buys exactly nothing at Publix.
I must confess that I feel an odd and strange oneness with this city….perhaps because their legendary warriors never stood taller than 5 feet ( head- dress not included)
The Dutch should be ashamed and appalled at the condition they left their former colony.
Listen to me, when the British abandoned their colonies, they left behind a population that could speak English, read literature, practice commonwealth law, play cricket, and pucker up. The French taught their subjects how to bake a perfect baguette, how to decant an expensive bottle of wine, how to kill brits, and how to pucker up.
The Dutch left the Surabayans nothing but an old hotel later used by the Japanese as a naval command outpost during WW2. As penance, each Dutchman should be forced to bath in Surabaya for one week.
After a quick tour and a revitalizing tea, we boarded our transport and made haste back to the Riviera where the delightful house players enjoined us in a sing-along of Weber and Rice show tunes.
If I have offended anyone’s understanding, impression, or kinship of or towards Surabaya, i make my sincerest apologies but i urge you to up your game. There is better, trust me.