Solo, Central Java

Surakarta, or more familiar to me as Solo, is a city in Central Java. What makes this city the one place I want to go to the most is because this is where my parents are from. Every year, at the celebration of Eid Mubarak, my family would travel from Bandung to Solo by a car. We call it mudik. That is not an easy trip, remembering the mass on the road, the traffic jams, and countless boring hours of being stuck in a bumping car. While being a tough trip to take, it is also an unforgettable one. Through my fifteen years of living, the around 500 kilometers trip has made many memories for me. It has bounded my family to the core. So that's why Solo is the place I love the most, the place full of memories, the place that I miss every second of my life being outside it.

As I have told you earlier, both my father and mother came from Solo. They spent their entire childhood here, before moving to Bandung after their marriage. Both my grandparents' houses are here, and I that's the first reason why I always want to go to Solo. Both places are filled with stories of them as a mere children; how my mother sold popsicle for a living, how my father studied hard at his room. Both of my grandfathers have passed away, so now I can only meet the grandmothers. Visiting grandmothers' house, especially around the Eid Mubarak holiday, means that I can also meet my cousins. When we were little, years ago, we used to play games all the time. But now that we are all grown up, we have our own business, and we don't get together as often. Which is sad, and I miss those games we used to play, and how I would do anything just so we could be little kids playing together again.

My sole purpose every time I visit Solo is to visit my grandmothers, so I haven't deliberately enjoy the tourism spots. But I do have visited Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat Palace, which I find beautiful and charismatic. Built in 1744, the palace were mainly made as home for Sri Sunan and his servants, but for now most of the land are changed into museum for tourists. It changed after the independence of Indonesia in 1945, which made Sri Sunan lost his right to order the government activity around Solo. The present Sri Sunan, Pakubuwana VIII, now works to preserve and protect Java culture from extinction.

the outside of Keraton Palace

Solo's citizens really respect Pakubuwana XIII. Although he is not the one who takes care of Solo's government, he helps people understand Javanese culture and he contributes so the culture will never be gone.

traditional ceremony held in Keraton Palace

The second thing I admire most about Solo is the people and their culture. Both my grandmothers live in the country side, where custom and tradition lives more than here in the city. They live with modest and humble mindset. It's not rare for me to find old women still wearing kebayas on daily basis. The bond between them is really strong. For example, my grandmother rarely cooks for herself because her neighbors would always giving her food to eat. This also shows how they really respect their elders. Nearing Eid Mubarak, people from the neighborhood would be invited by grandma to her home for a feast. Lots of people know each other and they are all friendly, even to me, who is an outsider to them.

The other thing I absolutely love about Solo is its traditional market and food. There are markets everywhere, which sells everything, in a really cheap price (waaay cheaper than goods sold in Bandung). In the morning, especially on weekends, people crowd the nearest market to find breakfast. My favorite breakfast to have is anchovy porridge (the porridge is a little saltier than the normal porridge) for 1000 rupiah per serving, sate-lontong (it's still 8 in the morning, but who can resist bites of meat covered in peanut sauce?), and chicken soup. Not only foods, the markets also sell household appliances, vegetables and fruits, souvenirs, and even beautiful purple flowers for funeral. The thing I find unique is the sellers. They are usually middle-aged woman in their kebayas, busy serving their customer while busy gossiping (and often in a loud and obnoxious voice) with their neighbor fellow-seller in Javanese.

popular tradirional market in Solo, Pasar Gede, which literally means "big market"

Other than markets, there are also street vendors (which usually sell food) scattered everywhere. Twentyfour seven, you are guaranteed to encounter at least one street vendor whenever you go for a walk. My favorite is called Shi Jack, which sells variants of drinks and snacks. They sell milk, ginger drink, grilled bread, gorengan, and nasi kucing (a veeeery little portion of rice accompanied with also little piece of anchovy and spices). The price varies, but you would not find any foods or drinks for more than 10.000 rupiah.

the famous Susu Segar "Shi Jack"

With the reasons to love Solo described, I hope you understand just how much I want to go there, over and over again.

Questions

1. What's my main reason to love Solo?

a. the magnificence of Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat

b. this place is full of memory for my family

c. the people are nice

d. there are a lot of traditional markets

e. the foods are delicious and cheap

(answer: b)

2. Below are Sri Sunan's duties, except...

a. order the government activity

b. help people understand Javanese culture

c. protect Javanese culture from extinction

d. host several traditional ceremony

e. carry Javanese tradition on

(answer: a)

3. What's the synonym of the word deliberately?

a. thoroughly

b. exactly

c. unconsciously

d. intentionally

e. entirely

(answer: d)

4. Below are foods/beverages from Solo, except...

a. nasi kucing

b. anchovy porridge

c. nasi timbel

d. sate-lontong

e. ginger milk

(answer: c)

5. What made Sri Sunan lost his right to order the government activity in Solo?

a. he was not capable to do it anymore

b. Indonesia declared its independence from Dutch

c. he had no descendant to take the throne

d. the government system in Indonesia was replaced

e. his people did not support him anymore

(answer: d)