Semarang

Coming from the frantic traffic, noise, and dust from Yogya and Solo, Semarang felt like a breath of fresh air (quite literally - the air quality had been terrible in the Yogya / Solo area).

Ostensibly a city of 1.8 million people, the main areas of interest to tourists are quite compact. In the north, you have the old town (Kota Lama), and 2.5km south you have the business and commercial district.

Kota Lama is a halfway gentrified district, prone to frequent flooding and popular with Indonesian tourists. Expect a real mix: there are gourmet coffee shops, selfie props, and restored old buildings that have been lovingly turned into bijou art galleries.

There's also non-restored, crumbling buildings that probably should have been condemned, but which are still home to desperately poor people, who will probably have no where else to go, when the gentrifiers come for their house.

And what appears to be a massive multi-storey car park going up almost next to the famous church, because of course there is.

Ten minutes walk south of the old town, you find Chinatown. There is apparently a sizeable Chinese minority in the town, and the neighbourhood boasts a large night market that fills Jalan Gg. Warung with food stalls every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening.

Twenty minutes further south (also spreading SW), the commercial district offers shopping malls, good value hotels, a village that turned itself into a rainbow to attract tourists (if you visit, please ensure you buy food or drinks from one of the little shops or cafés in the village)...

... and Lawang Sewu, the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Railway Company.

Meanwhile the city boasts an extremely confusing bus system, good pavements for walking, and a very friendly population who don't see that many Western tourists.

I liked the city.