Spa on The Sky

Tranquility at its best.

 

Isaiah 26:3

”You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

It was not a perfect peace but it was nearly as close as peace. Sometimes, small things can give you a sense of peace that you have never expected. And the story goes like this…

Lawang Sewu

Doors or windows?

This place is actually the only place I know about Semarang. A lot of my friends visited and talked about this place. There’s also famous local reality show, Dunia Lain (The Other World) that set their show here. So, when we were planning to go to Semarang, this is the first on our itinerary list.

The name Lawang Sewu means Thousand Doors, but  among the local Javanese the name conotates an eerie haunted house with a tragic history.  This Dutch colonial building was built in 1863  by C. Citroen. It was the branch office for the Dutch Indonesian train company but when the Japanese invaded in 1942, they used it as a gruesome interrogation headquarter where they jailed and killed a lot of Indonesians.  Long standing reports of multiple ghost sightings in this building has turned it into a local destination for young  students & tourists who would make their  visit on weekend nights to experience this legendary haunted house.

Well, there were no thousands doors there. But, yes, this building was built with lots of high and wide windows that locals called as doors. We went there around 4PM. Lucky us! Because I am not sure we have enough courage to go there when it’s getting darker. We have to pay 10 000 IDR for the ticket and another 30 000 IDR for the guide. You better get a guide and leave your i-know-it-all attitude behind. You don’t want to get lost in one of those doors, I am telling you!