Travels in Surabaya: All aboard a Submarine (and Mosque visits)

Jessica needed new ear plugs for swimming, so she found the Surabaya Dive Shop, which was located far outside of town place. The Grab (taxi) driver had to go slowly down the narrow street and looked a little perplexed at where he was dropping us off. I figured it would be more difficult finding another driver, and this stop shouldn’t take long, so he agreed to take us to our next destination after Jessica made her purchase. She acquired the needed earplugs from the dive shop that still used the old school printer to provide her the receipt, and we were off to visit the al-Akbar National Mosque. We received some inquisitive stares as we arrived, nothing unfriendly. The Mosque is quite impressive from the outside, as it is the second largest Mosque in Indonesia.

We were welcomed inside by a staff person, and he told us about the mosque and even took our picture in front.

We looked around inside, and the ceiling in both the main mosque and the women’s area were very impressive and beautiful.

There are many, many mosques in Indonesia, and I’ve mentioned before it is the largest Muslim country by population in the world. There were mosques every few blocks in all of the cities were visited on Java. Most are not as impressive as the al-Akbar National Mosque; they are much smaller, and are often seen as community centers where people can pray, meet friends, eat meals, and many have schools as well.

After we left the al-Akbar National Mosque, we visited Kenjeran Park, which was the subject of my last post. Afterward, we stopped at another Mosque, the Muhammad Cheng Hoo Mosque. This one was unique in that it was devoted to a Chinese man, which is quite uncommon. Cheng Hoo was a 15th century admiral who traveled from China to Africa in the early 1400s and a devout Muslim from Yunnan Provence (we visited Yunnan during our China trip).

We were invited to look around the small Mosque, which was in front of a big sports court; there was a cafeteria and school on the site as well. It was a Mosque with touches of Chinese temples and unique for sure.

Our last full day the destination was the Monumen Kapal Selam, which is a decommissioned Russian submarine. We were especially excited because we could actually go inside, and how many opportunities does one have to climb through a submarine! It was a first for us both. We saw the big sub, painted bright green and black, and paid the nominal fee to enter the grounds.

We had a lot of fun, as you’ll see by the pictures below; climbing through the sub, seeing where the crew slept, ate, and did their jobs, and even see the torpedo bay. It was way more entertaining than we had expected, and a must visit if in Surabaya.

On site there was a cafe, multiple convenience stands, a prayer room, riverfront seating, even a swimming pool.

We also saw some cool bonsai trees that were lined up outside the sub and an interesting green and pink leaved tree with a tiny yellow flower at the center (called a Pink Mussaenda).

On our way back we passed some more white colonial buildings, a fountain and four odd statues outside the mall.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed to the train station, and bid adieu to Surabaya. Next stop: Jogjakarta!