Late night visit to the tomb of Sunan Ampel

Continued from Flying from Sepang to Surabaya.

From the airport we entered the city of Surabaya where we stopped by at the tomb of person known as Sunan Bungkul. But our main destination in Surabaya lies at its northern outskirts, at place called Ampel. That's where we decided to check in at a budget vintage hotel. Late at night I decided to take a walk while the wife and kids rest.

You see Ampel is very famous due to a certain major saintly figure.

Unlike Sunan Bungkul, his name is so well-known throughout South East Asia.

But like Sunan Bungkul, he is also known after a place, in this case Ampel.

Notice the list of tombs? Tombs are called makam in Malay. Guess which one I was headed for...

First a quick look at the mosque.

The mosque was built when the personality concerned was alive some 600 years ago.

Entering the compound of the tomb of Sunan Ampel...

He is known as the leader of the group of 9 major saints of Jawa called the Wali Songo.

Upon entering the gates that's when I realised how alive this place is.

There's still another gate to go. That's when I realised that the tombs of well-known major saints in Java especially that of Wali Songo are visited 24 hours round the clock.

I decided to find a quieter corner first. Here is the tomb of a follower of Sunan Ampel who became a saint himself!

Inside the main area which contains the tomb of Sunan Ampel. Notice the people facing the tomb ahead.

Going outside again I noticed these crocks for drinking water.

The water came from a well dug by Sunan Ampel.

Sunan Ampel is known for many miracles. But I won't list that here. Find out yourself...

A look inside the main area again. This is the best picture I could get of the tomb area as whenever I tried to take pictures pointing at the tomb I was stopped by the caretakers.

No one is allowed to take pictures of tomb of Sunan Ampel, not even from far away. With that I decided to head back to the nearby mosque.

At the opposite side lies the tomb of another follower of Sunan Ampel. This is the tomb of Mbah Sholeh the caretaker of the mosque who is said to have lived and died nine times! It is said that the first time he died no one could take care of the mosque the way he did. This lead to Sunan Ampel wishing out loudly for Mbah Sholeh to be around.  By God's will immediately the caretaker reappeared and did his job.

After a time Mbah Sholeh died again and the mosque became unkempt. Again Sunan Ampel wished the man was around and again he reappeared. This happened for a total of nine times, until Sunan Ampel himself passed away and the miracle just disappeared. For the record this is the 949th article in this blogspot.