Sam Poo Kong Temple, Semarang Ancient Building

The Admiral Cheng Ho were sail from China, he went for peace mission to Asia and Africa with fleet consist of 200 ships and 2.700 crews (this remind us of 'Red Cliff' movie). In the middle of this trip, his crew was sick. So the ships anchored, and the Admiral with his soldiers and crews spent the night in the village. Admiral Cheng Ho found a stone cave in that village, and then he used that cave as a place for meditating and praying . He decided lived there for a while until his crew- who was given some medicinal herb which got from that village - get well again. There were many crews married with local women and finally they lived as permanent citizen there. Admiral Cheng Ho gave much knowledge of agriculture and morals. When Cheng Ho was going to leave the village, the people of Simongan glorified and worshiped him. They worshiped him shown their thanks for his goodness. They adored Cheng Ho as a man who deserved to get honor and adoration and as an address to ask blessing.

The temple of Sam Po Kong is very large and consists of some buildings. First building is a hut which selling burn incense for praying. In the other hut, they offer guest to have a photo shoot in a traditional Chinese dress. The main building is the temple itself. It has several rooms. Please be aware about schedule for visiting the Sam Po Kong's temple. It is from 8.00 a.m to 8.15 a.m and from 11.00 a.m to 11.15. a.m. This schedule is very strict. We was prohibit to enter the temple during our last trip, because we were late about 5 minutes. People may enter the temple just for praying purpose. It is easy if you want to pray at this temple, just buy some burn incense that were sold there.

According to the information from Semarang Government's web site (www.semarang.go.id), there are some places often visited for praying :
1. God of earth altar (Fu De Zheng Shen / Ho Tek Cheng sin Hokkian)
2. The tomb of Admiral Cheng Ho's captain known as Kyai Juru Mudi.
3. The place where the statue is worshiped as admiral Cheng Ho, who also known as Sam Poo Kong. This place is the central of worship in the Stone Building (Gedung Batu ), because in this place visitors praying for their salvation and their health and thingking about Sam Po Kong's goodness in the past. In this place there is a cave with a spring water in it.
4. The place where it used for worshiping Admiral Chen Ho's crew, Kyai Jangkar.
5. The place where many kinds of weapon of Admiral Cheng Ho had been put. It had been called Kyai Cuntrik Bumi.
6. The place where Kyai Tumpeng and his wife had been worshiping. There had been laying a tomb with ancient inscription on it. The visitors meditating and praying in this place.

In the middle of the temple there is a large yard, some statues standing there. And in the back yard there is a very big gate. We will find some of big candles with the donor's name on them. Those candles being light on. No entrance fee to enter the temple. Parking fee inside the temple is Rp 3000 (USD 30c), and Rp 2000 (USD 20c) for outside of the temple's area. We found the Ccndition of the rest room in this temple is not good.

Interest to visit Sam Poo Kong Temple ? Your journey to Semarang will not complete without visiting the Sam Poo Kong Temple.