Page 6 - Fifty-fifty Aug 2021 (1)_Neat

The train trip on the Sancaka Pagi train to Surabaya was again a very relaxing experience as the crops changed
from rice to sugarcane. No downpour on arrival, but straight to the magnificent Majapahit Hotel, formerly the
Oranje Hotel with its colonial splendour and sumptuous rooms with marble floors and gold taps. Just about worth
going back to Indonesia for. The Hotel also has a significant connection with the Indonesian Independence
Struggle being the location of the “Flag Incident” where the Indonesian flag was raised by cutting the blue strip
off the Dutch flag. I thought the Merah-Putih flag had been around for some time before that incident. Anyway,
we consider that this hotel was the jewel in the crown of the accommodation that was provided on this trip.

The splendid Majapahit Hotel, Surabaya; an oasis

The trip to the Sidoarjo sugar factory was most informative with a daily output of 171 tons of sugar if I heard it
correctly, and also to see a Birmingham steam engine from 1832 [again if I heard it correctly] still doing its daily
task. I asked the supervisor why the sugar bags were labelled “Raja Gula” and not “Gula Raja” which would be
something like Royal Sugar according to my limited knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia. He just smiled. Untung was
lucky to spot a durian seller, so we all piled out of the bus to taste this fruit which has been described as
“smelling like hell, and tasting like heaven”. The fruit was an early harvest so that its creamy custard flavour had
not fully developed, but for me, it was as great as ever.

Visiting sugar factory at Sidoarjo

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