2013 Year-End Short Trip

It was my first time having solitary backpacking trip to Kudus & Ungaran. With the help of GPS and frequent check on reviews from Google, I managed to arrive at destination safely. I stayed at my friend's house, Chira, who has been living in Kudus for about a year.

Kudus is a small town at Central Java that is widely known as the birthplace of Kretek, the legendary sweet, spice scented Indonesian clove cigarettes that has become world renowned. To explore the history, we went to Museum Kretek, the only cigarettes museum in Indonesia that displays fascinating collections from early development of cigarettes industry. There are various of traditional equipment and machinery used to make modest (klobot) cigarettes, not to mention other kinds of modern technology used to produce cigarettes filter. Also, there are collections of expensive promotional materials used to promote the brand. It shows how cigarettes business took major role in local civilization.

Kudus also played a pivotal part in the spread of Islam in Java cultural history. It is said that Kudus is the only place in Java that has permanently acquired an Arabic name 'al-Quds'/Jerusalem/The Holy (City). One historical landmark that still remains to date is Masjid Menara, an old mosque that preserves the tomb of Sunan Kudus, one of the nine Islamic saints of Java/Wali Songo. When we got there, the place was crowded with pilgrims, we couldn't enter the cemetery so we took pictures of the tower only. It preserves pre-Islamic architectural forms, combining old Javanese split doorways with ancient Majapahit style red brickwork and three-tired pyramidal roof.

Soon after we continued to the next excursion, Monthel Waterfall, which located at Colo. It's hidden in precipitous terrain in the mountains of Muria. We had to walk on foot for about 1.5 km to reach it from the parking point. I had to say the track is not safe, it's treacherous, narrow and slippery, some parts of it are directly facing to the cliff underneath. However, the scenery is quite pretty.

Our next destination was Bandengan Beach in Jepara. We thought it wouldn't be much far from Colo, but surprisingly our driver took a detour. Instead of going back to Kudus (which is nearer to Jepara), we drove to Pati which definitely three times more distant. It took 4 hours driving to eventually arrive at destination. Luckily we were happened to pass kinds of breathtaking view along the way. We saw beautiful fields of sugar cane and stopped by to take pictures.

Kudus is a lovely small town I absolutely want to visit again someday. Tips: if you're planning to visit Kudus, remember to try local cuisines, such as Soto Kerbau, Lenthog and Garang Asem. They're savory!