Kalimas: Surabaya's Old Port

Kalimas, the"River of Gold," was indeed such for the merchants in colonial times. Sailing craft and barges unloaded directly into warehouse shop houses, much as in old Amsterdam. These Sino- Dutch edifices are now crumbling ruins, many occupied by squatters. In the mid 70s, I had occasion to to work in the area, loading cargo for an LNG project in Bontang, East Kalimantan. Four years ago, when we poked through the alleys and byways, there was little sign of commercial activity, but still a great deal to evoke what had been. The Chinese have moved to more properous areas, but signs of them remain.

Old Surabaya

I first saw Surabaya as a backpacker in 1970. The city was shabby, and like the rest of the country, still recovering from the excesses of the Soekarno years. Untouched by the Second World War, the buildings and housing stock of the colonial era remained, run-down, but enduring. I had steak and chips at the Olympic Hotel restaurant, and went to the bar at the Majajapahit. There was nothing on offer save flat orange crush. The liquor botles on display were dusty, cobwebbed, and empty.

By the mid 70s, when I returned in the course of business, there were a few semi-hi rises such as the Mirama(now Mercure) Hotel, but little else had changed. It was to a nearly unrecognizeable city to which Elly and I moved in 2004. We set out immediately to see and document what remained of the one-time Queen of the East. Not far from our house, in the Darmo Kali area, we found a rich store of Indische- style buildings.

The warehouses lining the south side of the canal are now largely gone; the old Hotel Dahlia was demolished and replaced with a pastel multi - story that might be in any large Javanese town.

We poked around an old factory where the guard told us that children of the Dutch family that once owned it came back from time to time for a bit of nostalgia. On the northern side of the canal are magnificent old homes that have been well preserved, many being used by businesses. These will be in another post.