My flight from Surabaya kept getting delayed by thirty minutes to an hour. Every so often, an airline employee would come out to the gate and announce something in the local language. The first couple of times I asked for a translation for us foreigners, but eventually I gave up. They weren't really saying anything useful anyway.

According to Indonesian law, passengers are entitled to various perks during delays, including compensation if you've been waiting more than four hours. Which was exactly my situation. The airline kindly posted a sign with all the rules, and they handed out cash compensation right at the gate. We're talking 300,000 local rupiahs (~15 euros). Not the hundreds of euros you'd get in Europe, but since I paid just over 40 euros for the ticket, it worked out pretty nicely.

Though to be honest, handing out all that compensation just delayed the flight even more. Everyone lined up to get their money, and for each passenger they manually copied down passport details onto a form. And photographed it for some reason too. The three 100,000-rupiah notes they gave out were stapled together. Convenient, obviously.

After Malaysia, Indonesian restaurant bills are much more pleasant. Especially in small towns.

At local street food spots, you can eat for 3-4 euros per person. Though there's no guarantee it'll be delicious. There are places with European cuisine and European prices too.

I was really impressed by this mushroom restaurant. I've never seen such a variety of mushroom dishes anywhere else, honestly.

There's tons of street food. Some spots are even featured in films. For example, this place was in Netflix's street food series (that's the video in this post).

I saw a couple of places selling ant eggs, with crowds of ants crawling all over the counter. Apparently they put them in salads ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And here they brought me the weirdest double espresso: two separate cups with an espresso shot in each. Who even came up with that? :)

In Surabaya, you can visit a museum inside a former Soviet submarine for a small fee. It served in the Indonesian Navy for almost 30 years, but you can still spot Russian writing on it.

The Soviets weren't supplying weapons for nothing: Indonesia was trying to seize West New Guinea from the Netherlands through military force. Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs about how Soviet military personnel participated in Operation Trikora. Though technically as "volunteers" wearing Indonesian uniforms. I never thought the Soviets basically went to war with the Netherlands. To prevent Soviet influence from growing, the US forced the Netherlands to sign a devastating New York Agreement, under which the disputed territory came under UN administration and later fell under full Indonesian control.

However, all Soviet efforts to cement its influence turned out to be in vain. Just a few years after victory, a coup happened, and the new Indonesian government, backed by the US, essentially wiped out virtually all communists and their sympathizers, banning the communist party. Half a million to a million people were killed. Years later, leftists in Latin America would be threatened with settling disputes using the "Jakarta method," and in 2020 an American journalist published a book by that name about US government involvement in mass murders of communists.

By the early 1980s, Soviet equipment acquired during friendlier times was deteriorating, and they needed to find replacements. One option was cooperation with Israel—which, by the way, Indonesia still doesn't recognize. They bought fighter jets from this "non-existent country." But you can't just buy them like that: you need to train the pilots. They had to pull off an entire secret operation: the pilots were taken to Israel, where they posed as Singaporean pilots, and even learned "I'm a pilot from Singapore" in Hebrew to avoid suspicion. Right after that, they went to a US military base in Arizona to get fake certificates, as if they'd trained on American fighter jets.

One thing you really can't miss while walking around Surabaya, Indonesia is the manhole covers – they're absolutely remarkable. Not quite on the scale of Japan, where there are literally thousands of unique designs, but in Indonesia, you'll only find this kind of artistry here.

And you have to thank the former mayor for that – Tri Rismaharini. The first woman to hold this position in Indonesia! During her 10 years in office, she managed to significantly improve the city's infrastructure, reduce the frequency and duration of flooding during the rainy season, and Surabaya won the award for the best city development in the country eight times in a row.

Unlike most of her peers, Risma had an architecture background and wasn't a career politician at all. That's why her changes actually made the city better and won over the locals. While she won the 2010 election with just 38.5% of the vote, by 2015 she absolutely crushed her only opponent with 86% to 14%. Fast forward to the 2024 election and there was only one candidate running – and they actually got fewer votes!

The new mayor just doesn't have that same popularity: flooding has started increasing again and the environmental index is dropping. That said, from what I've seen, Surabaya is still noticeably more comfortable than the other Indonesian cities I've visited.

I made it out to Mount Bromo, but the most picturesque views were hidden behind clouds. Sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate. There was at least something visible from the base, but it wasn't nearly as impressive.

On the bright side, I managed to peek right into the crater itself and see what's going on down there. If I'd been here in July, I would've witnessed the sacrificial rituals of the local Tengger people. Unlike most of the island's inhabitants, they didn't convert to Islam—they've held onto Hinduism.

According to local legend, a king and queen once lived near the volcano and couldn't have children no matter how hard they tried. They prayed extensively, and the gods, moved by their deep faith, granted them children on one condition: they had to sacrifice their youngest son. After that, the royal family had 25 (!) children. And the twenty-fifth one was thrown into the crater. Ever since, people continue to leave offerings for the gods at the bottom of Bromo, but now they stick to food, flowers, and money. No more human sacrifices.

For over a decade now, they've been staging a ballet based on the Ramayana in Yogyakarta. You can watch it practically for free at the sultan's palace (though you do have to pay for palace admission), or for a fee at Prambanan Temple (they move into the city during the rainy season).

The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic where Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, rescues his wife who was abducted by the evil king of Lanka. Being a truly trusting husband, Rama suspected her of infidelity right after rescuing her. As proof of her faithfulness, his wife literally walks through fire, and the god of fire protects her from the flames. After that, the couple lives happily ever after.

The epic reached Java centuries ago and underwent slight changes under the influence of local traditions. For example, Rama's wife is called Sinta instead of Sita, and she's portrayed as brave and strong, even fighting asuras in battle, rather than just being a modest and patient woman waiting to be rescued, as in the Indian version.

And the ballet is far from classical. But it was interesting to watch. If you happen to go, at least read a summary beforehand. Otherwise, you'll have no idea what's happening on stage. Or read the full version of "The Tale of Seri Rama: The Indonesian Ramayana" translated by Lyudmila Mervart.

Not far from Borobudur, there's a "Chicken Church." It got that name because the building is shaped like a chicken. Well, more precisely, that's what most visitors see it as, but the architect and builder of the project insists it's actually a dove.

According to legend, about 40 years ago, Daniel Alamsha was commanded by God in a dream to build this temple. Pretty much like that Swiss guy with the spaceport in Argentina. Why don't I ever get dreams like that?

The project was built slowly and was basically abandoned for nearly 20 years due to lack of funding. A decade ago, they made a documentary about it, and somehow money appeared. Today it's all completed and looks pretty decent. There are always some volunteers on duty, and they charge a small admission fee. You can even climb up to the top.

Although Daniel himself is Christian, the temple is open to people of all faiths. On the first floor, there are separate rooms so worshippers don't get in each other's way. That's how they live.

PS. Among other unusual places of worship around there, there's also a nearby mosque styled like Saint Basil's Cathedral. The interior is nothing special, but you definitely don't expect that kind of cosplay on the outside.

I came to see the famous Prambanan, and I was instantly swarmed by a crowd of Indonesian schoolkids. Their teachers bring them here to practice English with foreigners. I don't know who came up with this idea, but it's absolutely genius.

Two students give a mini guided tour and recite what's clearly a pre-rehearsed script. If you're not alone, they really ask you to split up and each take a pair. Of course, you can decline. But how could you not support such an initiative?

For their age, the kids spoke pretty well. At the end, the teacher comes over and asks you to rate the "guides" and tell them what could be improved. It really seemed like the schoolkids themselves were having a blast too. After getting feedback, they came over as a mob asking me to tell them about home traditions and food. Getting them to pronounce "echpochmak" took a few tries, but they tried so hard :)

PS. The pictures show not just Prambanan, but also Borobudur. Both incredibly monumental structures. Highly recommend.

Since I'd made it to Malaysia, I couldn't resist spending a week poking around Indonesia and bouncing around Java. Even though it's peak rainy season, the weather actually treated me pretty well. Rain only poured down for about a day and a half. The rest of the time was bearable. And not too hot either.

Indonesia is a presidential republic, but Yogyakarta still has its own sultan with palaces, ceremonies, and all the perks that come with it. That's because the sultanate was one of the first to support the Indonesian revolution in 1945, and the city became the capital of the new state while Indonesians were fighting for independence from the Dutch. The revolution is often called the independence war, though Dutch historians frequently refer to it as police actions. The war lasted more than four years, and the Dutch were pretty brutal to the locals.

Poncke Princen turned out to be one of the most talked-about Dutch people of that era. He ended up on the Indonesian front after fighting fascists. But he didn't approve of his own government's actions in Asia, and even tried to escape to France, though the attempt failed and Poncke ended up in the hands of the gendarmerie, and then in Asia. He wasn't much use to the Dutch army because he defected to the Indonesian side and fought as part of a partisan unit.

After the war, he became a member of the Indonesian parliament, but turned out to be too opposition-minded and ended up in prison more than once for his views. Until his final days, he lived in Indonesia and actively pushed his ideals. For example, in 1998, at age 73, together with other political activists he openly violated the ban on protests in the capital. He was buried according to his wishes in an ordinary cemetery in East Jakarta among ordinary people in 2002.

Finally, a few leftover pictures from Malaysia and we can close the book on this topic.

The country turned out to be much more developed and way less budget-friendly than I expected. And they could definitely work on their food :)

Ipoh has tons of cave temples. The city is literally dotted with them. They're not that old—averaging around 100-150 years—but this one is especially stunning.

Beyond that, Ipoh does a great job preserving examples of British colonial architecture. Its southern neighbor Melaka (the last 5 photos in this post) showcases Portuguese heritage alongside British influences. It's really beautiful.

Near the Malaysian city of Ipoh, you'll find some of the world's richest tin deposits. So it's no surprise that big-money tycoons rose to prominence in the local mines. One of them, Yau Tet Shin, rebuilt a significant portion of the city after a major fire in 1892. And here's the interesting part—he gifted three streets to his three wives, complete with the right to collect rent.

The second wife's street became the most famous. Wealthy Chinese, and according to rumors, British officials too, would set up their mistresses there. Nearby, brothels, opium dens, and gambling establishments popped up. But many women didn't end up there by choice—some were victims of human trafficking, while others simply saw no other way out of poverty.

Right outside the city, along the Kinta River and around the mines, thousands of women did grueling manual labor: hand-washing ore to search for tin that had been missed at the mines. Locals called this work dulang washing. In the early 20th century, colonial authorities issued up to 8,000 licenses—you couldn't work without one. By various estimates, this method accounted for up to 2% of the country's total tin production. Among the workers, you'd occasionally find women who had taken vows of celibacy. The most famous such movement in the region was the Samsui women, though they lived mainly in Singapore and were almost absent here.

Today, that street has no brothels or mistresses left. It's just become a popular tourist spot: souvenirs, cafés, murals. Yau Tet Shin's name is still visible on streets and markets around the city. As for the dulang washers, they remain in postcards from the 1970s and a few museum exhibits. They're not entirely forgotten, but people talk about them much less often.

One last thing about Penang. In the 19th century, an entire ethnic group emerged here, which a little over a hundred years later quietly dissolved into the local population.

At the end of the 18th century, when Penang was just being built, a large wave of immigrants flooded in. Especially many workers came from South India. Mostly men. It's no surprise that marriages between South Indians and local Malay women became a common occurrence. Plus, both groups were Muslim. A bit later, Arabs mixed in as well.

Children from such marriages came to be called Jawi Peranakan and were considered a separate people. Over time, they became quite wealthy folks. Many worked as officials under the British, some were involved in renting out properties. However, the Great Depression hit hard, many businesses closed down, and the Jawi Peranakan ended up being too dependent on work in the British administration.

With the British departure, all power went to the Malays, and non-Malays started facing discrimination. So over time, the Jawi Peranakan began to identify themselves as Malays, especially since their cultures were very similar. And that's how they live now.

At one of the Arab restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, they were broadcasting a show from a Qatari TV channel. The guests were sitting majlis-style on the floor, which caught my attention. I listened in and it turned out that all these people had gathered to discuss and comment on (try to guess) a football match!

PS. To avoid attaching a pretty low-quality photo of the TV on the wall to the post, I googled that same broadcast from late 2024. I would never have guessed what was happening there. Here's the full video.

Since I've already started talking about the culinary capital, let me tell you about Malaysian food in general. The cuisine here really depends on the region. Penang is very different from Kota Kinabalu. But I can't say I was super impressed overall. There are so many variations of fried rice and similar dishes everywhere. It's tasty sometimes, but not every single day.

Chinese and Arabic restaurants really save the day. You can find some good stuff there. The dim sum at this place and that place were absolutely divine. And at one spot they even had something very similar to peremyach. Though there was way too much oil in it.

On the bright side, the coffee is pretty solid. At a café in the Chinese quarter, the espresso was just perfect. And here is good too. At Arabic places, you can find some really solid Turkish coffee.

What really made me laugh was how shops sell "water" (that's literally what they write) with Russian and Georgian names: Sochi, Moskovi, and other Kavarchi. 30-40 proof stuff.

I stumbled upon a Kazakh restaurant somewhere in the back alleys of KL. The beshbarmak was absolutely incredible. Felt like I'd just come back from Kazakhstan. By the way, it's not far from Central Asian countries from here. I regularly saw ads for tours to Tashkent (which was unexpected).

Penang Island, just a short distance from Langkawi, left me with the complete opposite impression. It's the culinary capital of the country, and overall much more pleasant. And there was significantly more happening here.

The region is wealthy. You can see what locals considered "expensive and luxurious" from the mid-19th century in the Peranakan Mansion. It belonged to Chung Keng Quee, a Chinese immigrant and one of Malaysia's richest residents. According to family history, his father and two older brothers moved there first. But there was no word from them, so his mother sent their middle son to follow. He found his relatives and discovered that these former peasants had gotten into the tin mining business, and things were booming. But it was Chung who became the man capable of growing the business to imperial proportions.

Besides business, he also got involved in political matters. On one hand, he became a Chinese Captain (an official position appointed by the colonial government). On the other hand, he managed one of the Chinese secret societies. These were unofficial but extremely powerful structures that distributed work among Chinese residents, settled disputes, and effectively functioned as a parallel government—but only for the Chinese. The colonial authorities used this as a tool for control through these community leaders.

However, since these societies were never formally recognized by law, they constantly fought each other for power and influence. It literally came down to wars (four of them!). But at such times, even the colonists had to step in.

Within Malaysia, you can get almost anywhere for $20-30 thanks to local budget airlines. So I decided to check out Langkawi. It's an island right on the border with Thailand. But I quickly regretted the decision: there's practically nothing to do on the island, the infrastructure is pretty run-down, and the weather wasn't great either.

According to legend, in the early 18th century there lived a young and beautiful woman on the island called Mahsuri. Her husband went off to war with Siam, and in his absence Mahsuri became friends with a passing traveler. The village chief's wife, out of jealousy, started spreading rumors that it was more than just friendship—a full-blown romance. Eventually, the villagers brought an official accusation of infidelity against her.

As punishment, the woman was tied to a tree and they tried to stab her. It didn't work. Then Mahsuri said they needed to take the family dagger and that would definitely help kill her. They took her advice, but after the dagger struck, white blood flowed out. This proved her innocence. As she was dying, Mahsuri cursed the next seven generations of the island, predicting misfortune in everything.

According to beliefs, the curse was supposed to end at the end of the 20th century. The increasing flow of tourism is often linked to this. But from my experience, it hasn't ended yet :)

Malaysian Chinese Muslims build mosques just like in China. And it's really different from everywhere else in the world. Who else builds mosques with pagodas and roofs like that?

The Sabah state issue means Malaysia and the Philippines just can't seem to get along. The Filipinos have tried several times to launch small military operations on the Malaysian island because they believe northern Borneo is theirs, even though the rest of the world disagrees with them. Most recently back in 2013!

By the early 18th century, the Sultanate of Sulu had essentially conquered northern Borneo and the Brunei Sultan formally recognized this. In 1878, the new Sultan of Sulu signed a treaty with the British about selling (or leasing?) this land. The document was written only in Jawi (that's Malay written in Arabic script), where the land was supposed to be "ڤاجقن", which in English could be translated as either a lease or a sale (Jawi experts, correct me if I'm wrong :) ). The payment terms included perpetual annual monetary transfers. Meanwhile, the British labeled the transactions as "payment for land purchase," and the sultanate never disputed this.

Later, several new documents were signed without such ambiguity, explicitly stating a sale. By the early 1960s, the Sultanate of Sulu ended up part of the Philippines, while Sabah became part of Malaysia. But the desire to reclaim the land never went away. In 1962, a year before Malaysia was formed, a bill was even submitted to the Philippine government proposing to rename the country Malaysia so there'd be no doubt about where the true Malay lands were, but the law didn't pass, and they had to abandon this brilliant idea. In 1967, the Philippine president was secretly preparing to annex Sabah, but at the last moment the soldiers refused to participate. The rebels were eventually executed, and the authorities didn't acknowledge this fact until 2013.

In that same 2013, several hundred armed Filipinos landed on Borneo and declared the return of the lands to their historical owner. At first, they tried to negotiate with the fighters, but ultimately the Malaysian army suppressed the conflict by force. The Philippine government didn't officially support the attackers, but it didn't renounce its territorial claims either. Malaysia only at that point stopped making payments for the land and built a security zone on its coast in case of future attacks. Based on tweets from the Philippine foreign minister in 2020, where he directly wrote that Sabah is not Malaysia, it's not really such an unlikely scenario.

PS. In the photo is the capital of the region — Kota Kinabalu, a pretty charming city. Let's hope there won't be any new conflicts there 🕊