Surabaya

Surabaya is a city in Indonesia. It's the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, with a population of over 2,7 million. Surabaya is the capital of the East Java province. Surabaya was an industrial city with an industrial area named SIER, which now manly consist of warehouse, while the factory is majorly moved to another town near Surabaya (Mojokerto, Sidoarjo, Gresik). Surabaya have the biggest shipping and loading port in Indonesia, which is Tanjung Perak (means : Silver Cape). This port is essential to the trade in Indonesia, mostly for east Indonesia region. Surabaya is home to the Eastern Armada, one of two in the Indonesian Navy, and have its Navy Academy in this town and its main airport which is side by side with the commercial airport, Juanda Airport. Its strong maritime heritage is also reflected with the Submarine Monument, a real retired Russian submarine, called Pasopati, that was converted into a museum ship in the city centre.

This city is also known as "the city of heroes" due to the importance of the Battle of Surabaya in galvanizing Indonesian and international support for Indonesian Independence during the Indonesian National Revolution. The Battle of Surabaya was one of the most important battles of the Indonesian revolution. It was started after British Brigadier Mallaby was killed on October 30, 1945 near Jembatan Merah (the "Red Bridge") (picture above), allegedly by a stray bullet. The Allies gave an ultimatum to the Indonesian freedom fighters inside the city to surrender, but this was refused. The ensuing battle, which took thousands of lives, took place on 10 November, and is nowadays celebrated as Heroes' Day (Hari Pahlawan). The incident of the red-white flag (the Dutch national red-white-and-blue flag at the top of Yamato Hotel's tower that was torn into the Indonesian red-white flag) by Bung Tomo is also recorded as a heroic feat during the struggle of this city.

Legend said that two creatures  a giant white shark and a giant white crocodile fought each other in order to gain the title of "the strongest and most powerful animal" in the area where Surabaya is now. This legend came from Jayabaya propechy which its been said that's how the word Surabaya came from, which is from the words SURA or SURO (shark) and BAYA or BOYO (crocodile). These two creatures are being faetured as the city symbol and have its own sculptures in front of the Surabaya Zoo. Surabaya Zoo itself was opened in 1916, and was the first in the world to have successfully bred orangutans in captivity. Sadly, it begins to have many problems lately, from old and dangerous buildings that tends to fall apart to some of the animal's death. Until now, the city still try to rebuild this zoo to its glorious time.

On Wednesday, 10 June 2009 the Suramadu Bridge between Surabaya and the island of Madura; was completed and it is currently the longest bridge in the country. Madura can also be accessed by a ferry service that operates regularly from Surabaya's port, Tanjung Perak (which literally means: "Silver Cape" in Indonesian). As the main seaport and commercial center in the eastern region of Indonesia, Surabaya has become one of the largest cities in Southeast Asia. Today, Surabaya's population is around three million, and the surrounding rural area houses at least 7 million. The areas surrounding Surabaya include Lamongan to the northwest, Gresik to the west, Bangkalan to the northeast, Sidoarjo to the south, and Mojokerto and Jombang to the southwest.

Food
Surabaya is famous for its traditional food. People in Surabaya loves to eat. Its famous food that's an heritage from this town are Rujak Cingur, a local salad with brown sauce from shrimp paste and cingur (slices of cooked cow nose). There's also Sate Kelopo, which is a satay with coconut rasp. Another dish are Lontong Balap, Tahu Campur, Rawon, Tahu Tek, Gado-Gado and Semanggi. Surabaya is home to a huge number of restaurants - this is an eating culture.

Activities in Surabaya
There are few places to visit in Surabaya. There are some tourist spot, which are :

• Grand Mosque of Surabaya, the largest mosque in East Java.
• Cheng Ho Mosque, the first mosque in Indonesia built with Chinese-style architecture
• Jales Veva Jaya Mahe Monument, a large, admiral-like statue which commemorates the Indonesian Navy.
• Mpu Tantular Museum, has a large collection of ancient Javanese artifacts.
• Bonbin Surabaya is one of the famous zoos in Southeast Asia
• Heroic Monument is the main symbol and one of the attractive tourist destinations in Surabaya and Southeast Asia
• House of Sampoerna is a cigarette museum, and also one of the factory of Sampoerna brand cigarette. It also provides a City Sightseeing bus for free (Surabaya Heritage Track) which operates daily with the particular schedule. It also provides an English tour guide for the sightseeing.

Another activities to do is shopping. Surabaya has many mall all over the city.

• Tunjungan Plaza
• Surabaya Plaza
• Galaxy Mall
• Surabaya Town Square
• Pakuwon City Mall / Pakuwon Trade Center
• Royal Plaza
• Grand City Mall
• City of Tomorrow Mall
• Ciputra World Mall
• East Cost Center

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surabaya
http://wikitravel.org/en/Surabaya