Magelang Chinatown

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A. Overview

Pemuda Street is often dubbed as the Malioboro of Magelang. It is a pecinan, Indonesian term for Chinatown and a shopping and business center in town. On the left and right sides of the 1.5 km street, there lines up shops, minimarkets, and restaurants.

The street has two segments. The first one is a one way road for four-wheeled vehicles and the other is a slow-speed lane for pedicabs or two-wheeled vehicles. The latter used to be a railway.

This Chinatown is one of the landmarks of Magelang. Along the street, there is hardly an empty space as people have built shops here and there. Since a long time ago, Pecinan has been the center for economic activities in the town. Back in Colonial time, Magelang’s status as a residency (greemente) obliged the town to have accommodative transportation and economic infrastructures. Pecinan, is one of the Colonial-inherited infrastructures still exists until today.

In the area, people can shop in the stores and stalls. Here people can get household necessities, food, tools, and other goods. The food stalls also provide Magelang special delicacy and some other food from other areas such as kupat tahu (rice-cake and tofu) Magelang, gudeg Yogyakarta, Padang food, and Chinese food.

B. Features

Magelang people must be familiar with Petukangan Market or Pecinan Market. This market is unique for it makes use of the alleys and narrow streets around the area as the trading places. Many people come to the market everyday since there are relatively complete kinds of goods, some of which cannot be found in other traditional markets.

As the center of Magelang, Pecinan area offers many variations of shopping activities, from traditional to modern. And like in other traditional markets, you can always bargain with the sellers to get as low as possible price.

Visiting Pecinan, you can get a package of tours. Aside from shopping, you can enjoy the Colonial architecture and the scenery of Tidar Hill. Not far from the market, there are Magelang Grand Mosque, the city square, Magelang Temple, Kamar Petilasan Diponegoro Museum, BPK Museum, Bumi Putera 1912 Museum, Kampong Kauman, and another landmark, the water container.

C. Location

Pecinan is situated on Pemuda Street, Magelang, Central Java.

D. Access

To get to the area, you can take either public or private transportation. Using public transportation from Yogyakarta, you can start from Giwangan Bus Station or Jombor Bus Station and take a bus heading for Semarang. The bus will take you to Tidar Bus Station, Magelang, from which you can continue your trip using minibus (usually blue) and stop at Alun-alun Kota (the town square) of Magelang.

For you who use private transportation, you can go straight through Magelang Street to the town square, which is located on Tentara Pelajar Street. From here, you can go to Pemuda Street on the east of the square.

E. Ticket

There is no admission ticket applied in this area.

F. Accommodations and Other Facilities

The place provides enough facilities for tourists from hotels with tariff ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions rupiahs a night, to modest guesthouses with tariff of Rp 20,000 per room for a night. You can find these lodgings around Pemuda Street.

Besides, tourists can also find lots of food here, from angkringan (sidewalk food stall) local food, gudeg, fried rice, vegetables, Chinese food, fastfood, or Western food offered by the restaurants and cafés.

There are also information center for tourists, tourism police, houses of prayers, money changers, ATM booths, phone rentals, internet cafés, and spacious parking area.

Text: Adi Tri Pramono
Photo(s): Collection of Jogjatrip.com
Translation: Reza Daffi
(Primary data and various sources)

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If you are from outside Yogyakarta and want to visit this place by travel agency services,
please contact:

Maharatu Tour and Travel

Jl. Sisingamangaraja No. 27 Yogyakarta.
Telp. +62 274 8373005. Fax. +62 274 379250
Email : maharatu@maharatu.com -maharatu257@yahoo.com
Website : www.maharatu.com

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