My First "Pulang Kampung"

Tuban, finally :D

I have been expecting this for 23 years of my life, and alhamdulillah i got the chance to visit my father's hometown, Tuban, early January this year. Tuban is a sea-side city at the edge of East Java. A small yet peaceful place and surprisingly, very homy for me. Stayed at my aunt's house (and it was also the house where my father lived for years) and served with delicious ikan garang asem (the yummiest seafood I've tasted!) made me really want to get back there as soon as i left this city.

Tuban is also well known as "The Thousand Caves City" and "Kota Wali". There are many interesting and unique tourism objects there such as Kwan Sing Bio temple, Nglirip waterfall, hot spring, beaches, some caves like Ngerong and Akbar cave, Sunan Bonang's grave, and underground pesantren. The local government is in process of developing those objects, also the others, to support Tuban towards tourism-based city.

Here are some places that we visited there.

Kwan Sing Bio Temple

inside the temple

maquette plan of Kwan Sing Bio

Kwan Sing Bio is one of the most popular temple (and most visited) in Indonesia. It is located right across a beach, facing to the north, to the Java Ocean. People said that this position made the temple the best place to pray and make wishes. Kwan Sing Bio is also known as the only temple which uses crab symbol at the gate, while the other temples use dragons. The beach across the temple is also a tourism object, but it was just a small beach which sinks when the sea level rises. This beach is full of fishermen's boats at daytime, waiting the sunset for sailing.

can you see the beach?

This is Pantai Kelapa, another beach at Tuban. Also full of boats.

Beside the beaches, we also visit Sunan Bonang's grave and Masjid Agung, and the unique underground pesantren. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the pesantren. You can get more info here and take a look at the video here.

Well, in just two days there aren't much time to visit all objects there. But I hope there will be next time to enjoy this beautiful city. Somehow I feel connected to this place, and I know I can always call Tuban as my second home. By the way, don't forget to buy some shrimp or fish crackers and shrimp paste (kerupuk ikan/udang dan terasi!) if you visit Tuban. I found them as some of the best, beside the ones from Cirebon and Palembang.

Thanks for reading. Cheers :D

p.s. Forgive my poor grammar and vocabulary. Just trying to practice my English again :p