Comparing Hotels in Semarang Java

Semarang in central Java is a manufacturing center probably for a number of reasons.

Located in the center of the country things can be shipped in all directions, a train link to Jakarta and Surabaya allow people and goods to move cheaply and the fact that labor is cheap here all add up to a good place to knock out your product.

I have just spent a week in the city focusing on my wedding and have to confess I did not do very much outside of that. I do not think there is a tremendous choice of hotels in Semarang as it is not a tourist town but you can find decent places. Ika and started off staying at the Santika in the east of the city which is a very nice little place focusing on the domestic market. The thing I really liked about the Santika was the food. A buffet breakfast was included in the price (a Standard room was 280,000rp this time) and the restaurant served very good Indonesia food.

Ikas uncle Kasim had made the trip to Semarang from Jakarta and really wanted to meet me and my friends, Sean and Chris who had made the trip from Portland USA. I invited Kasim to lunch and he turned out to be a character. Trained as an actor he has studied in America. I am from Chicago, said Sean. You know Chicago? Yes said Kasim, I have been there. He is currently the Assistant Rector for Student Affairs at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts. Sean and I ordered a soto ayam and made ourselves sweat by dosing it with super hot sambal. That was followed by a tongseng kambing (goat in spicy liquid with some vegetables). Both were excellent. We were chatting about a marriage and life in general and Kasim was right there with us, a very nice man. We had 7 people eating altogether (Ikas sister Ningrum and her friend only having juice and fries) as well as several beers. Our bill was 290,000rp which was okay considering how good the food was.

Ika and I moved over to the Ciputra hotel at the big square in the middle of town called Simpang Lima ( 5 ways). The Ciputra is a level or 2 up from the Santika and we had a very nice room, comfortable bed, mini-bar, TV with many foreign channels, AC, nice bathroom etc. The Ciputra also has a business center, swimming pool and gym which is really nice when you are feeling like a slug and want to do something active. The restaurant at the Ciputra is open 24 hours and also does a nice breakfast buffet ending at 10am. The food served is fairly high priced I thought (125,000rp for a tenderloin) and is deliberately more fancy than the Santika. I would take the food at the Santika for taste though.

Sean and I discussed our changing perceptions of what is considered luxury and our personal needs in regard to accommodation. When I was backpacking around the world 10 years ago I would never stay in a place like the Santika, never mind the Ciputra. I would head for a cheap guest house with a shared bathroom and ceiling fan. My needs were different then, time was a commodity I had plenty of and my daily goals were not dependent on me having access to technology. Things have changed a bit since being involved with web sites and I can now see how it is worth paying more in order to get a quiet air-con room with your own bathroom and a business center downstairs. If you have to get things done in a foreign land and do not want to run around in 90 degree heat negotiating with taxi drivers who themselves do not know where they are going, a decent hotel can save you stress and time. Sean commented that as we get older and have more responsibility our time becomes more valuable. He said that we can always earn more money but we can never get the time back and that is something to consider.

Stepping outside the Ciputra there are a number of foreign companies, namely McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, HSBC etc. The square is large and has a lot of becaks, the small bicycle rickshaws and local food stalls. Ika and I took a ride in a becak. Do not try this if you have a bad back. My head was virtually in the guys lap as we were tilted backwards. In order to prevent that I had to crank myself forwards all the while sucking in traffic fumes on our 5mph ride.

For our short time in Semarang the Santika and Ciputra were ideal.