Welcome was written on the gate in Indonesian, Arabic, English, and Chinese

I was heading south towards the market on Jalan Siliwangi, a street stretching through Cirebon. The street is a large, wide street, but the atmosphere is peaceful. There were bicycle cabs mixed in with the cars, but there was not enough traffic to make it difficult to cross the street.

As I walked along the street, I noticed a large gate at the entrance to a side street. Above the gate was written in large letters, "SELAMAT DATANG". This means "Welcome" in Indonesian. I wondered what the words underneath it meant, and I found "Welcome" written in various languages. "AHLAN WA SAHLAN" means "Welcome" in Arabic. Next to it was "Welcome" in English, and on the far right was "Welcome" in Chinese (though not in Chinese characters). This gate made me realize that Cirebon is said to have a mixture of Chinese and Arabic cultural elements.

The multilingual pillars of the gate were painted in red and white, giving the gate a very festive look. It also said "Welcome" in several languages. There must be something at the end of this road. So I went through the gate and entered the side street. But as I went on and on, all I saw were rows of dwellings, and I didn't come across anything interesting. I wondered what the big sign that said "Welcome" was supposed to lead me to.

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