Surabaya, Indonesia

Surabaya is locally believed to derive its name from the words sura or suro (shark) and baya or boyo (crocodile), two creatures which, in a local myth, fought each other in order to gain the title of (the strongest and most powerful animal) in the area according to a Jayabaya prophecy. This prophecy tells of a fight between a giant white shark and a giant white crocodile. Now the two animals are used as the city s logo, the two facing each other while circling, as depicted in a statue appropriately located near the entrance to the city zoo. This folk etymology, though embraced enthusiastically by city leaders, is unverifiable. Alternate derivations proliferate: from the Javanese sura ing baya, meaning (bravely facing danger); or from the use of surya to refer to the sun. Some people consider this Jayabaya prophecy as a great war between Surabaya native people and invaders in 1945, while another story is about two heroes that fought each other in order to be the king of the city. The two heroes were Sura and Baya. There's no denying that Surabaya is big, noisy, polluted and intimidating. As Indonesia's second-largest city and the home of the country's navy, Surabaya is a colossal port peppered with cranes, corporate buildings and crowded spaces. Against the calm of rural East Java, it is pandemonium writ large. But while Surabaya has all the trappings of a modern city, it too has its contrasts. Brightly daubed becak still cut blindly through the waves of Japanese saloon cars, and the claustrophobic streets of the city's old town hum with the sights, sounds and smells of earlier times.
For most foreign visitors, the city is merely a place to change buses or trains for Bali. For locals, however, Surabaya is closely linked to the birth of the Indonesian nation, as it was here that the battle for independence began. To them, Surabaya is Kota Pahlawan (City of Heroes), and statues commemorating independence are scattered all over the city.