First-time in Palembang: The Enchanting City of Heritage

Coming from Singapore, we made an hour flight to Palembang, the capital of the province of South Sumatra, Indonesia. But with the one-hour time difference and since Palembang was behind an hour from Singapore, the clock barely moved when we touched down at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport. The long Musi River came into view, surrounded by plains and plantations. Eventually, roofs and fish ponds appeared until we finally landed in the oldest city in Indonesia.

After going through immigration and claiming our luggage, we stepped out of the airport and was met by Haryadi Yansyah. He is the Indonesian blogger from the Kerala Blog Express Season 3, the same batch as with my fellow Negros blogger and travel buddy for this trip, Jojo Vito. I was part of the Season 4 so there was a connection among us three.

But first things first, we had to change our US dollars into Indonesian Rupiah. A 100 USD was over 1,300,000 IDR. Yes, we were millionaires there. Although I had about 350,000 IDR with me, surplus of my money when I lived in Indonesia in 2002, I found out at the money changer that those bills were already out of circulation and no longer accepted in stores.

Haryadi then brought us to his house, where we would be staying for two days and a night. He is part of the Couchsurfing community and he and his family has been hosting couchsurfers in their homes for quite some time. They had two separate guest rooms for me and Jojo, respectively. My room has a private toilet and bath inside.

Since we spent the morning traveling to Changi Airport, waiting for our flight and then flyng to Palembang, it was already beyond noon time. Haryadi’s mom prepared a delectable lunch of Indonesian food for us that I enjoyed and somehow missed, since I last lived in Indonesia 15 years ago. It was also the first day for me to revisit my Bahasa Indonesia and as I was talking with Haryadi’s family, I realized that I still kept my Indonesian language somewhere in my memory bank. It was high time for me to put it into good use.

Before I tell you where Haryadi took us for the next two days, let me tell you a bit about Palembang. I have heard of it before but I wasn’t really familiar of the place. It was only when I did some background reading that I learned a lot about this city.

Palembang is considered as the capital of the 7th century Srivijaya Kingdom, which has extended its boundaries to various parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in the Malay archipelago. Some documents point out that the name Visayas, a group of islands in the central part of the Philippines, came from Srivijaya. The tale of the 10 Datus and the Confederation of the Madja-as in the Visayan island of Panay, although considered a folklore, were somewhat related to the expansion of Srivijaya outside of Sumatra.

With its rich history, a visit to its museum was a must in itinerary. For those who plan a trip to this city, one of the oldest in Southeast Asia, here is a list of those we have visited and a few other recommendations. There are separate blog posts in this site for the attractions we visited.

1.) Ampera Bridge – the icon of Palembang is the Ampera Bridge, like its Golden Gate. It links the opposite banks of Musi River. Building this bridge started in 1962 and was finished 3 years after.

2.) Musi River – At 750 km long, the Musi River is the longest river in the island of Sumatra. And that part that is within Palembang is filled with lots of activities as many people converge by the river banks.

3.) Museum Balaputradewa – the state museum of South Sumatra was constructed in 1978. It houses many artifacts, including literature that provides a glimpse of pre-historic times and the Srivijaya Kingdom. Within its property is found the Rumah Limas, or the traditional Palembangnese house that is found on the 10,000 IDR banknote.

4.) Traditional Market and Fikri Koleksi Songket Factory – Songket is the traditional woven cloth in Palembang. It is a bit similar to batik, only that the songket has a golden or silver thread in its pattern.

5.) Jakabaring Sport City – In August 2018, Palembang will be one of the host cities of the Asian Games. Both Jakarta and Palembang are the main hosts for this big sport gathering. The Jakabaring Sport City will be the venue of many sports events for the Asian Games and preparations are already underway during our visit.

6.) Al-Qur’an Al-Akbar – The biggest Qur’an carved on wood is found in this small village in Palembang. There are five layers of wooden pages, each consisting a page of the Qur’an. And while only 6 pages per layer are seen from the front, there are even more wooden pages at the back.

7.) Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin Great Mosque – this is the largest mosque in Palembang. It has an interesting architecture, fusing Chinese and European style with local Indonesian design. Across the mosque is a roundabout water fountain that bear the flags of the ASEAN members.

8.) Kuto Besak Fort – situated at the bank of Musi River, the fort is a historical site where one can watch the ships sail by. At one point, this fort was a Royal Palace.

9.) Punti Kayu Forest Park – this is the only forest park in Palembang. Although we haven’t visited this one, it is popular among visitors of the city because of its proximity from the center. They have camping grounds as well as various attractions that offer different kinds of activities to those who prefer some adventurous experience.

10.) Sriwijaya Kingdom Archaeological Park – located at the Karang Anyar Village, this park hopes to preserve artifacts that provide modern people a glimpse of Palembang’s past, when it was once the center of the great Kingdom of Srivijaya.

But more than its colorful history, Palembang is also a great place to enjoy local food. Read more about it in my Palembang food blog post. Then from Palembang, we took an overnight train to Lampung (READ: First-time in Lampung, Indonesia). Palembang’s train station is quite clean, new, and modern. From there, it was a 10-hour train ride to Lampung.

This is part of my 12 Days in Indonesia journey that took me to four cities within this Asian country.