Malang and Batu
A Cool Colonial Hill City Holding The Best Preserved Dutch Modernist Architecture In Java, Beside The Riverside Kampung That Painted Itself Into An Attraction · Malang, East Java
Malang sits at four hundred and fifty metres and is COOL, which is why the Dutch built here and why Javanese come now. WHAT THEY LEFT IS THE BEST-PRESERVED MODERNIST COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE IN JAVA - the villas along IJEN BOULEVARD, the town hall, whole streets of 1930s NIEUWE BOUWEN standing in a country that mostly demolished this stuff, and almost nobody comes to look at it. THEN THERE IS JODIPAN. In 2016 university students painted a RIVERSIDE KAMPUNG in blocks of colour as a beautification project; it became an income stream, then a national template, and it is now copied in dozens of Indonesian cities - AND IT IS ALSO FAIRLY CRITICISED as poverty turned into a photo backdrop. Up the hill, BATU is apple orchards and theme parks and an entirely different proposition. The SINGOSARI temple nearby is what is left of a thirteenth-century kingdom. Trains run here on the main line, the evenings are genuinely cold by Indonesian standards, and the city doubles as the western road head for Bromo and the base for Tumpak Sewu - which is why most travellers sleep here without looking at it.
Malang and Batu, East Java, Malang, East Java, Indonesia
MALANG IS ON THE MAIN RAIL LINE with good trains from Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Jakarta, and has an airport; BATU IS ABOUT AN HOUR UP THE HILL by road. THE ARCHITECTURE IS FREE AND PUBLIC - Ijen Boulevard is a street, and walking or cycling it costs nothing. JODIPAN AND THE NEIGHBOURING TRIDI KAMPUNG charge a small entry that goes to the community; GO EARLY, RESPECT THAT PEOPLE LIVE THERE, and do not photograph into houses. BATU'S THEME PARKS keep daytime hours and are ticketed separately and are not cheap. SINGOSARI TEMPLE is north of the city with a small entry. MALANG IS THE ROAD HEAD FOR BROMO from the west and for Tumpak Sewu. It is cool at night; bring a layer.