My Journey, My Stories

"Den Haag.. Den Haag.. de weduwe van Indie ben jij..."   a Dutch-Indo song that always played by my grandmother resound in my head whenever I hear the word "Den Haag". Lots of Indonesian-Dutch family felt unaccepted and moved to Netherlands after Indonesia got their independence, and lived in Den Haag (DH). Den Haag is the seat of government in The Netherlands and the capital city of province of south holland. Funny fact about Den Haag is Den Haag has never traditionally had the city right (stadsrecht), so actually Den Haag is not a city, but only a village (dorp). However since the middle-age it has all the administrative institutions that a city have. A strong bond between Den Haag and Indonesia can be seen at Haags-Historisch Museum (When I went there, they have a special exhibition remembering when the first time Indo-Dutch people set foot in Den Haag). This museum also tells story about the history of den haag, like when and where gebroeders de witt (Johan an...

Delft a city in the province of South-Holland, well known for canals and historical story of Dutch Royal Family (House of Orange-Nassau), a city where Willem van Oranje got killed. Delft is also well-known as student city (Delft University of Technology), and home of the famous Delft Blue Pottery. There are lots of interesting things that you can do in Delft, like visiting museums, boat tour, or just even walking around the city and enjoy the view. I've visited Delft a couple times, the city it self is not so big, so a day trip would be enough to explore Delft. One of the most interesting museum in Delft is Het Prinsenhof . This place used to be a monastery and where Willem van Oranje used to live. This museum tells you story about Willem van Oranje and his role in creating Dutch republic, and you will also see the most important figures of the Netherlands Revolt. This place is also the place where Willem van Oranje got killed. You probably wondering who Willem van Oranje is. Will...

Nope, I didn't mistyped. It's Hoorn, not horn.. Hoorn is a city in the north part of Netherlands. It is located on the IJsselmeer, 35 kilometres north of Amsterdam, and acquired city rights in 1357. The area of the municipality is 52.49 km² (32.62 km² consists of water, mainly the Markermeer), and consists of the following villages and/or districts: Blokker, Hoorn, Zwaag, and parts of Bangert and De Hulk. Yup, here's the town where Jacob Blokker in 1896 open his first Blokker store. Nowadays Blokker has 600 store throughout Netherlands and 220 store in Belgium. Hoorn was an important home base for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and a very prosperous centre of trade, which is another interesting fact. So the boat that came to Indonesia long-long time ago, was started from Hoorn. My visit started from the train station, we walk across the city to reach the city center, it was Sunday, so all stores were closed. The city looks like typical dutch city, with old buildings ...

Huh what? Jakarta? But why? I thought this blog is about eurotrip.. Well in this special edition, I'll write about my hometown, kampung halamanku, my beloved Jakarta. Jakarta or officially known as Special Capital Region of Jakarta (Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta), is the capital and the largest city of Indonesia. Most people questioning why you would go to Jakarta, with its traffic jam and pollution. I have an answer, it's because of the FOOD. Yup, you can go anywhere in Indonesia, but if you want good food you have to go to Jakarta, you can find pretty much anything here, from traditional food to European fancy cuisine. The price also varies, for a full meal per person it cost from Rp 7.000,- (or around 50eurocent) to unlimited (I mean, we also have super expensive fancy restaurant here in Indonesia, I've never went there so I don't know how much it cost). The main reason why I'm in Jakarta this time is to attend my brother's wedding (which was great). When I ...