Bali day 3 and Surabaya day 1 January 9, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip, food, hotel review.Tags: bali, hotel review, indonesia, JW marriott, lombok, rawon setan, surabaya
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Today we r leaving bali for surabaya, the capital city of east Java province.
the Ngurah rai airport can be reached within 20 mins from the hotel. but since hotel breakfast sucks we just go early to the airport (ard 3 hrs early). luckily there is the free assisted baggage handling and check in if u have the BNI platinum credit card which mom has. so we dont have to wait for our baggages to be checked in, someone else is doing it for us.
but then we had to plastic wrapped the honey which cost 50000 IDR. what a waste, some of the honey spilled out too
here is photos at the denpasar lounge. very big which has quite huge varities of food although still not as good as the surabaya lounge. the food in the pic is called Bubur Madura (Madura porridge). It is a kind of dessert made from different flours with different textures and combined together and with Gula Melaka (gula jawa we called it ) and it taste really good.
and then we took Mandala airlines from Denpasar to Surabaya.
some pics we took onboard the plane
within one hour we landed at the brand new Juanda airport in Surabaya
then we tried to call our favourite hotel the sheraton surabaya, it was fully booked and crazy amt is charged although not as crazy as Bali prices (ard 1 mill rupiah per nite)
and then we went to book through KAHA tour (they have a counter at the airport) we are staying at JW Marriotts.
the hotel is located very near Tunjungan plaza (sheraton is just next to it) and the hotel provide shuttle service to the plaza every half hour. we went to the plaza almost everyday to buy mineral water and to eat too.
for lunch we have rawon setan (ghost soup) rawon is a kind of of black soup which has meat and taste nice. usually comes with small tauge and belachan chilli. the history of this ‘ghost’ food is actually varied.
the less spooky one is that they used to open at night only and was located next to a nightclub and ghost also come out in the middle of the night only so they make that connection
the more spooky one is that they were used to be located behind a hospital, so those unidentified dead bodies might be thrown to them to made into rawon thus the name ghost rawon.
it is supposedly one of surabaya’s favourite eating haunts n indeed it is quite crowded at all times we know because our room faces the street. and rawon setan is located just across the street.
btw that Kaha tour price is quite reasonable the marriott room cost only 550000 inclusive of breakfast for 2. and the room is quite nice with 2 queen size beds in the room and complete shower amenities with bathtub too.
in the afternoon, we went for christmas mass at the oldest church in surabaya is called Gereja Kepanjen. the architecture is famous everywhere and it is indeed majestic. too bad I dont have pictures so here is some pics taken from the net
photos taken from mimimama.multiply.com
there are other unique surabaya architecture too in that website. as well as the famous ice cream zangradi (exist since the 1940s) mom used to have dates there. maybe my sis too if she really attend universitas airlangga like mom used too.
anyway at night we eat at Pondok Tempoe Doeloe ( House of Yesterday pardon the translations). but being christmas night, they ran out of almost everything, leaving us to just eat fish, vege and usual stuff. their fried chicken is their speciality. actually this restaurant is available everywhere even in Jakarta so no pics
lastly here is some pics of Marriott Lobby , as expected it is very grand and nice
and the super huge christmas tree sssss
and the bathroom pics
no room pics sorry but they are nice and well furnished so yeah well recommended esp if the price is right
Bali Day 2 January 9, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip.Tags: bali, flight, hotel review, indonesia, lombok, merpati, surabaya, travel
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Today we are going on a cruise, I didnt have breakfast in the morning because the cruise people promise there will be breakfast, in the end it was only crackers and watermelon.
anyway here is some view of the harbour. the harbour is located at the southern tip of Bali called Benoa. other cruise operators also start their cruise from here
and on we board the ship. before that there is a photographer taking family photographs with Bali dancer but my family decided to skip it.
we took some photos onboard the huge ship
the views from the ship
thats my sis still enjoying herself before she also feel nauseous
The journey towards the pontoon (floating house)was ok, i didn’t feel nauseous and was looking forward to enjoy all the activities such as banana boat, snorkelling, water slides and village visit, semi submarine and such.
however, it was raining and the boat was being rocked around heavily, then I feel very nauseous and throw up, after that I took lunch and rest for the whole time.
what a waste I know but the water is really crystal clear and I did see some beautiful fishes.
on the island, what i heard from tour operator is that there is a seaweed farmer we can buy seaweed from them and then we can cycle around the island
anyway, there are several tour operators in Bali. we took Bounty Cruise it cost ard 450000 per person but me and sister counted as half price cos mom said we r 16 n 12. but food in this cruise sucks although they were saying the pontoon and other facilities is good. and then there is the quicksilver (fully booked ) not sure why
there is also Bali Hai but smaller ship although better food (they provide more expensive seafood and better taste too)
there is also the cheaper island explorer, they dont have pontoon nor beach club, not sure about food too.
I really regret not taking sail sensations, from the pics it looked very good and the best part is that they own a beach club on the island which means we dont have to be rocked on board the ship all the time. even the food is served on dry land.
after the sickening cruise, we went to eat at Impala, supoosedly one of the best seafood restaurant in Kuta Bali. Located nearby the Discovery mall on Jalan Kartika Plaza
Sis ordered the Chicken cordon Blue,
I ordered the Seafood Kebab
Mom n dad ordered vege and some fish I forgot what
Impala interior , pardon the lousy pic, too sick to take nice pics, I dont even bother with the food pic
anyway after that we r tired and went back to hotel.
tomorrow we will be in Surabaya
Bali day 1 , Lombok day 4 January 5, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip.Tags: Discovery Mall, kuta beach, Kuta Beach Club, Novotel Lombok
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Today we will be taking the 11 am flight from Mataram to Denpasar, the capital of the Bali province.
One last look at the beloved Novotel Lombok, this view is directly taken from the lobby. we will miss the excellent and very courteous and extremely helpful staff there. Indeed a hotel is nothing without their excellent staff and with the new Lombok international airport being built very near to Novotel, in 10 years Novotel will be the no 1 in Lombok I am sure.
another an hour plus to the airport, btw novotel gives free airport transfer in a comfortable Kijang Innova, pretty nice gesture.
Our baling-baling Merpati plane. baling baling bambu (bamboo spinning wheels) is the main toy that Doraemon (that magical cat in Japanese anime) has. well little fearful taking such a small plane (only 56 seats inside 14 rows of 2 on each side ) with the air crew, perhaps only 60 persons inside.
but all is good and here is some pictures of the short 20 mins flight, we didnt go high, can definitely see the Lombok strait
And we are approaching Bali
the takeoff and landing is pretty smooth so nothing to complain about.
Upon reaching the Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar. we bought a taxi coupon to our hotel the Kuta beach hotel.
the super duper irritating taxi driver, brought us to the wrong one, thought we stayed just opposite hard rock hotel at inna Kuta beach but we didnt we r staying at a lousy Kuta Beach Club hotel. Damn irritated at that stupid taxi driver. moreover my ever benevolent dad tip him alot.
and that driver let out a huge sigh all the time when facing just small traffic jam. damn irritating. so the huge tip here is whenever u r in INDONESIA only take BLUE BIRD taxi, not others no other brand is as reliable as that taxi company.
and I saw the Bali Bomb memorial while driving round and round Kuta for that hotel. sadly after that we cannot find it again even though we walked round Kuta for our lunch cum dinner after we checked in.
well we finally arrived at the Kuta beach club, very mediocre standard 3 star hotel.
a very large compound though , after a long walk from the lobby……
Here is the pool
and further long walk…… we reached our tiny room that cost almost the same price as the 5 star NOVOTEL lombok, how disappointing, and 500000 more we can get a villa at NOvotel Nusa Dua, the new Novotel in Bali. darn irritating hotel
sorry no pic of the already super small with lousy and hard extra bed and eery bathroom and everything lousy duh
anyway we went out for lunch, after a walk at this Kuta Discovery mall, there is huge international brand inside. we ate lousy food at the foodcourt.
and we walked around, had blackforest drink from Coffee bean and ice cream from Baskins Robbins
and the mall is overlooking the beautiful and legendary Kuta Beach, very famous for its wave, the heaven for surfers
and mom met her long lost friend inside the mall, and we walked around some more, bought some souvenirs, well in Bali what u buy is usually t shirts, and Sarongs to wear to the beach. very cheap and very comfortable.
the sarongs can be tied in many ways depending on ur creativity, can be a tube, halter so on but we didnt buy and only bought the t shirts
tomorrow is cruise day, we booked a cruise for us at 1,300,000 iDR for us to visit the crystal clear water off Nusa Lembongan island
Lombok day 3 January 5, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip, food.Tags: cycling, exploration, food nearby, Novotel Lombok
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Today is spent in the hotel, eat a full breakfast and then laze till afternoon when we rented a bike, 2 bikes to be exact those tandem bike to explore the surrounding area. while biking of course pic taking is limited
we went to eat mainly at the nearest decent restaurant from the hotel ard 2 km away called anda restaurant. i cannot recall what we eat nor took pics and it wasnt impressive at all so yeah just cheaper than hotel thats all and food standard quite the same
and then we biked on n on till we found a small cave , wanting to go in, my mom n sis in a bike speed through but sand blocked them and they fell. sis eyes got hurt so we didnt go inside the cave instead went back to hotel.
then mom n me in the same bike. we bike ard the hotel compound for a while and then we went back to the room
this day is also the 10th anniversary of Novotel Lombok. but BOOOOO guests r not invited very sad.
anyway we went canoeing in the late afternoon and here is more pic of the beach
quite fun canoeing among the rocks, because there are several huge hills surrounding the hotel sometimes the hotel also organised a highland trek but we didnt join in
anyway tom we will be leaving for Bali, the island of Paradise
watch out for tom’s report
Lombok day 2 January 4, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip.Tags: bebalung, lombok, songket
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Today we are going on a drive around Lombok, the day before we booked a car with an experienced driver for 8 hours costing us 680000 IDR inclusive of everything, of course we tipped the driver a token amount like 20000 IDR and give him lunch
so we set off at around 9 in the morning to visit some of the most famous attraction in Lombok.
before that,we woke up pretty early after an early night the day before, woke up at 7 for a walk around the beach and then for breakfast, they have quite a good breakfast spread and very nice juices.
The beach in the morning
anyway first stop is the traditional sasak house. the house they build is simple with leaves as cover and buffalo dung as flooring. they use buffalo dung to strengthen their house. their house is usually consist of 7 steps and inside there is usually no electricity. and next to it is the weaving area or the rice storage place. they also keep chickens or cows
some pictures
inside the house
Preparing to weave
The shop my sister bought songket (traditional cloth) from, the songket and the table cloth both together cost 130000 IDR around 20 SGD
The parking area in front of the traditional houses, with flowers on the floor after being blown away by the strong wind makes a wonderful view
and this is the place where they store rice after being harvested.
after that we proceeded to the real weaving centre where real songket handwoven by hand is sold, but they cost almost 7-8x as much so we didnt buy any, anyway the one we bought is equally nice and bought only for keepsake and souvenir for people not for us to wear
anyway on the way there we saw groups of buffaloes again, engulfed in mud, they look menacing yet cute at the same time
Mount rinjani is somewhere in the distance
we reached there and saw
girls weaving
me and my sister tried weaving but after 5 mins we give up, the back hurts like hell for being strapped with the weaving wood and need patience to be able to sit down like that everyday because real songket took a month or more to finish. Can u tell the difference? this pic and the earlier one?
well I cant the cloth that is handwoven is indeed thicker and the thread can be easily seen but the machine made one is shinier and thinner and give u that whish whish sound when u walk gracefully in it
the traditional sasak costume, u can wear it and take a pic in this place for a token donation but we didnt do it
some paintings
and the kind of 4 poster bed that I would like to have.
Other wooded stuffs that they sell, they sell almost everything from hat to bag to shoes to cabinets and furniture. Sis bought a woven bag from here made of sugar cane fibres. too bad no pic of our hauls as usual. Mom will think I am made to take pic of everything though it is in the name of journalism. Anyway it is just a simple bag but cost 50000 IDR which is around 8SGD
Next up is pottery, the famous stuff from Lombok is weaving, pottery and of course food. well we didnt buy anything from the pottery store, cause nothing interesting and where to put and mom already had a huge collection of breakables.
and up we go to the town itself and to the most famous beach in LOMBOK the sengigi beach, a very long stretch of beach and short ferry ride away is the Gili islands, frequented very often by celebrities due to its secludedness, privacy and of course the crystal clear water very suitable for snorkelling and diving. but sad to say, we didnt cross. Mom n dad is not very adventorous to do so such thing. they just take alook and they be contented. so here is some pictures from afar, or shld i say from the car. but trust me the real thing is thousand times more beautiful
after that is time for lunch
lunch is at Taliwang Irama, meaning the melody of Taliwang. Ayam Taliwang is the most famous dish here. it is chicken grilled with honey and lots of chilli, btw Lombok means chilli in Javanese language. the restaurant is quite huge. there is tables and lesehan (floor seating, very cosy and comfortable) but we sit at tables
here is the view
and the simple menu that says everything, but they do sell mangoes too as well as crystal honey which my dad had a taste of and vowed to buy
Besides the chicken we also had Bebalung soup, which is a special soup consist of bones of cow, very tasty
also we have plecing kangkung which is very large kangkong, only grown in Lombok topped with special chilli combination, super tasty.
the keropoks assortment, it is common to place plates of keropoks or even side dishes like fried tofu and tempe on the table and they will come and ask how many we consumed later before the final bill is made.
we also have chicken feet keropok, some mangoes, my drink is coconut with crystal honey. crystal honey is white in colour. My dad bought 5 litres of it to give away and drink some. it is a little sour in taste but still very delicous
after lunch we stopped at the souvenir shop, the shop sells the stuff that lombok is most famous for namely cyrstal honey, pearls (never buy any though looks super beautiful) and seaweed sweets (dodol) and other stuff like soursop sweet and tomatoes sweet the sweets i mean here is like jelly and is actually made of preserved fruits. quite nice but rather ex. My sister bought some for her friends but she said in Cirebon (ard 5 hrs drive from Jakarta ) she can get real soursop jelly for 1/3 price. this one might have preservatives inside, not sure. No pics but we bought the ones produced by Phoenix Food lombok.
and then my dad dont find the honey good enough so asked our driver to bring us to another honey shop.
After that we drive around mataram town before reaching the hotel at around 4, 6.5 hrs later but not before taking away some chicken for our dinner.
well we paid extra hours for nothing but its ok.
sis n mom went for cycling. Dad went for volleyball and I just laze on the chair for the afternoon sunset.
mom came back hurt but she said it was fun.
On the third day we decided to stay inside the hotel. more tomorrow
P.s: the guide told us that lombok also sell bebalung kuda meaning the bone soup that we had for lunch instead of beef they cook horse instead. there is also susu kuda liar which means wild horse milk but we didnt buy because it has preservatives inside. the real fresh one had to be bought from sumbawa, 3 days drive away.
Lombok Bali , East Java December 2007 trip January 4, 2008
Posted by ferreroroche in Indonesia Travel, Lombok Bali Trip, hotel review.Tags: airport lounge, lombok, mataram, mount rinjani, Novotel Lombok
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So mom n dad n my little sista decided to be a domestic tourist this year, our plan is to visit grandmas, who are old already and visit some other relatives as well as to visit some of Indonesia’s most famous beaches.
SO on the first day, 20th December 2007, at 810 am we boarded a plane to Mataram, with a short transit at Surabaya the capital of East Java province.
Here is the super long que just to check-in, domestic air travel in Indonesia is really a huge market, linking many towns to others. Previously whenever we visited grandma we have to drive 12 hrs plus, but now with flights as many as 40x a day, we hv a grand selection of flight timing.
Anyway after we check-in, we went for breakfast at the lounge. The lounge food is usually simple, like fried rice or porridge with some light snacks and soft drinks on free flow basis. To get the lounge priviledge, usually you have to have a platinum credit card or some kind of priority membership with the leading banks in Indonesia. One card may admit one or 2 person, so my family already have credit cards enough to admit 5
here is some lounge pic
the lounge in terminal B (domestic flights) has sucky food but with fast internet connections so I researched a bit on my destination place, Lombok in the West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB).
Usually, I do lots of research before going somewhere especially if it is on free and easy basis but my home has very slow internet so i dont bother.
anyway here is some facts
Mount Rinjani, the second highest mountain in Indonesia is located in lombok, not sure if I have some pics of Rinjani peaks from far far away.
and in the midst of the mountainous ring there is a very famous and beautiful lake called Anak Segara lake. But we didnt visit any because the climb up there takes 3 days of hiking and camping.
so we boarded the plane, by walking of course….very hot but its cool, feels like the budget terminal in Singapore.
and here is some view
Landing at Surabaya, proceeeded to the transit desk and rushed to the lounge again, because lounge in Jakarta has sucky food and budget airline (all airline except garuda are budget airlines) dont give food.
the lounge in Surabaya is huge and served very good food, of all the lounges I visited during the trip, this is the best lounge.
we filled up very quickly because the plane gonna leave soon, our names were called on the announcement. so Sista quickly packed her peanuts and board the plane again
Soon we arrived in Mataram. greeted by this beautiful view
and then get shocked because there is only one belt serving the luggage and the belt stopped abruptly after a meagre 5 metres and dropped the luggages to the floor.
then we were met by our hotel transport, the Novotel Lombok at Kuta beach.
the journey from airport to Novotel took almost an hour of mountainous road and sudden braking because some dog, cat, chicken and even buffaloes cross the road.
Fun huh??
and then we found out that although Novotel is located at the beachfront of a beautiful beach there is no one selling food around, the nearest is almost 2 km away so we have no choice but to lunch at the hotel at exhorbitant prices
The Novotel outlook
The room inside (we took a room not a villa it cost 785000 IDR with an extra bed) The room is small but quite comfortable. Dad thinks is expensive but I think its nice and the price is good for a high season time such as this.
band theathroom. the bathroom door is coated by mirror on both side, giving the feel that the bathroom is large but actually is tiny. very nice
the hotel provide bottled water plus galoons outside so we saved money on buying water, which is perfect cause near the hotel there is nothing except coconuts and the occasional buffaloes.
so we took our lunch
The restaurant inside, all very ‘back-to-nature’ feel, the room the surroundings and everything else
Next to the restaurant is the Papaya bar, which is quite fully used because lots of the guests staying are actually expats working in either Jakarta or Surabaya, they loved to while the night away in this place, very nice place overlooking the beach
Next to it is the swimming pool, they build the swimming pool high up, and has to climb stairs to get to it, they also have the garden pool which was just in front of my room (my room in 2nd floor so maybe downstairs my room) but the pool is kinda not tended to well , some insects inside so we didnt swim there
there is also the wading kiddie pool, very fun to wash feet after walking at the beach at (oops dont tell anyone)
and the jacuzzi cum beach pool just downstairs of the main swimming pool located atop, infront of the pools are the beach volleyball court. and then its the beach.
me and sis had Bebek Betutu, which means Duck cooked in some kind of spicy sauce. not bad
Mom n dad had Sop Buntut which is a BeefBone soup. Standard is ok only
Some early view of the beach, we have others later because we are staying here for 3 nights
At night, everyone was tired so mom and I took our dinner first, I had the Nasi campur Mandalika and mom had some fried rice with some fancy name, I think by the time we left, we tried almost everything on the menu. the restaurant is called Kafe Chilli, well it is the only restaurant in Novotel anyway. they served international buffet every night with different themes but the food is almost the same.
tonight they have Traditional Sasak dance for entertainment accompanied by Gendang Belug which is a kind of traditional instruments. Sasak is the name of the people who live in Lombok, almost everyone is from suku (race) Sasak. the people are black but strong and the women exudes the same personality, hardworker and strong. they love to wear black therefore it gives a mystic feel.
Some pics of the dances, there were many presented, I just do not get a good view and my camera, the latest Lumix is more built to capture great landscape not this kind of moving and night shots so pardon the shots.
Some food pictures,
Notice the plates, they are all made of clay and they are super duper heavy
at night Dad and sis finally wake up and eat dinner just before the restaurant closes. there is also a small night market at the beach front manned by locals around and it is quite cheap to buy from them as souvenirs to give others.
Thats all for day 1, I will be back with more pics for day 2, and 3 in Lombok
