Travel Tips

In 1964 this was the first impression of Salatiga for a visitor coming from Semarang along the main road, Jalan Diponegoro. The economy was at an all-time low, which partly explains the lack of traffic.
The signboard points to the entrance of Satya Wacana University campus. The university counted only a few hundred students, the campus consisted of a bare field with a few scattered low buildings.

Present view of Jalan Diponegoro from the same viewpoint. The grassy sidewalks have been paved and fitted with plant-boxes.
Traffic is dense, so much so that at the campus entrance all day long a couple of traffic wardens are on duty to assist pedestrians crossing and motorists entering or leaving campus.
Enrollment of the university stands at about 13,000 students, who follow lectures in high-rise buildings.

1 km further south Jalan Diponegoro joins the main shopping street, Jalan Sudirman, at a roundabout.
Here is a 1964 view from the roundabout back in the direction of Semarang. Only low colonial buildings lined the street at that time. Of these number 10, at extreme right of the picture, is most easily recognized.

Present view along Jalan Diponegoro to the north. Number 10 is still there, but hidden behind the trees at the right.
At the left the street is now lined mainly by new or renovated office and bank buildings.

Here is a 1977 view of Jalan Sudirman, then as now the main shopping street, seen in the direction of Solo from the roundabout.
The occasion of the picture is special: the 1977 elections or 'celebration of democracy' as they were called. Approaching the photographer - preceded by a police officer on motor cycle - is a propaganda procession of the PDI (a political party). The PDI is the heir to Sukarnoism, but at the time it was a small opposition party.
The trees at the right are in the grounds of the mayor's residence, in the distance the slope of Merbau mountain is just visible.
At the left was a petrol station and a minibus terminal, further down the road was the market. All the shops were one-storey buildings.

Present view of the shopping street. To assist the flow of traffic a median strip now runs along the street axis.
The petrol station and bus terminal have made place for a row of two-storey shops, farther along the street there are new high market buidlings.
On the right the trees in the mayor's garden seem unchanged, and so is the slope of Merbabu mountain in the distance.
At the right, but hidden by the trees, is Quality Hotel Wahid. In the distance, in line with the median strip, the white lift tower of Hotel Beringin can just be discerned.

Looking back along Jalan Sudirman from the other end. Here on the left used to be a primitive market annex station of pack-horses.
Horse-drawn carriages (dokar) were a main feature of traffic.
On the right a typical shop-building, which still exists: Toko Menara.

The same view today.
Toko Menara is hidden by the two-storey building on the right.
The horse-station on the left has made place for a row of shops, behind the palm trees.
It is Sunday morning, therefore the traffic is relatively calm.