Hello friends of FlyerTalk!

Welcome to one of my reports. Firstly, as usual, I apologize for my bad English and not-too-good quality photos.

Before to the main story, I will recap all my reports written here.

First Time & Last Time by Air France, Singapore-Jakarta
An Indonesian Domestic Flight with Garuda Indonesia, from Jakarta to Pekanbaru
A Short Trip to Malaysia & Singapore with KLM (B77W) and Indonesia AirAsia (A320)
Jakarta, Medan, Aceh, KL, and Malacca in 4 Days
A Journey with Jetstar and KLM + trip to Genting
Malaysia Airlines + KLM + Overland Trip to Thai Border
Another Indonesian Domestic Flight with Sriwijaya Air
5th freedom route of KLM (once again) + Malaysian overland tour
Kuala Lumpur in Half Day
Family trip to Bali & 1st Indonesian domestic flight with 777
2017 ASEAN Para Games KL + Short Trip of Sumatra

On this thread I will tell you my story in October 2017, when I had a short trip to Semarang. It is capital and largest city of Central Java Province, the province where Borobudur and Prambanan Temple are located. Semarang is an unique city with a mix of Javanese and Chinese culture. The Chinese people, especially from Fujian and Guangdong region, had been living in Semarang and surrounding areas in Northern Java for more than 6 centuries. They have been assimilated with local Javanese people, making a new identity culture like the "Peranakan" in Singapore, Malacca (Malaysia), and Jakarta. One of the result of the culture mix is a popular food of Semarang, "lumpia" or "loenpia", a Chinese spring roll with local Semarang taste.
Semarang is not a tourist city like Jogja or Solo, but many tourists make it as a starting point to Jogja, Solo, Borobudur Temple, Dieng Plateau, and Karimunjawa Islands. But the city itself has interesting sights, especially Chinese temples and unique foods.

For the Jakarta-Semarang route, I chose to fly with Nam Air. It's Sriwijaya Air's subsidiary. Both even fly together and share same ticket prices on many routes, like our route this time (Jakarta-Semarang), but there are also routes served only by one of them. The main difference between them is their fleets. Nam Air has only 2 airplane types: Boeing 737-500 and ATR 72, while Sriwijaya Air has Boeing 737-300/500/800/900 and recently orders 777-200 for long-haul flights. But inside the cabin their service are almost 100% similar. The similarities between them make many people, including me, quite confused.
The "NAM" name is derived from the Chinese name of Sriwijaya Air's owner (Mr Chandra Lie)'s father, Lo Kui Nam. It's focusing in domestic flights, but it also serves an international route from Bali to Dili, East TImor, v.v.
I was so curious about this carrier, so I chose it for my flight. The ticket costed IDR 340,000 (about USD 25.00).

I arranged to stay in Semarang for only a night, then returning to Jakarta on the next day. With my tight budget, I chose to return with an economy class express train.

PARTS OF THE STORY

Part 1: Jakarta - Semarang by Nam Air (IN 222), Boeing 737-500
Part 2: Day 1 in Semarang
Part 3: Day 2 in Semarang
Part 4: Semarang - Jakarta by "Tawang Jaya" express train