Java Jamboree: Not Quite a Temple!

Immediately after landing in Surabaya, it was off sight-seeing. Our guide took us to a little Chinese temple and hey, wait a minute, it wasn't a temple -itwas a mosque! It was Cheng Ho Mosque, which incidentally was the first mosque in Indonesia to be built with Chinese-style architecture. Long before Surabaya became a sultanate in the fifteen century, Chinese had already set foot in Surabaya. The earliest record of Surabaya was in a 1225 book written by a Chinese by the name of Chau Ju-Kua. Then, Surabaya was called Jungala. The famous Chinese admiral, Zheng He only visited Surabaya in the early fifteen century. Ma Huan who accompanied him wrote in his 1433 book Ying-yai Sheng-lan about Sulumayi which actually was just another name for this second largest city in Indonesia, Surabaya...

Visiting a mosque in Surabaya...

Traveling Tip: Visit places of worship!