VISIT to SURABAYA
Last Friday Nov. 24
I
flew to Surabaya to meet my friends Andi, Yong Fu and families. I have
not been there for just over 2 years.
Since I was last there
Andi and Listiani, Yong Fu and Linda have both had babies.
Young Fu
and Linda have a girl, Amanda. Linda is expecting again in early January.
Andi and Listiani
have a boy, Joseph |
Andi's Boy
|
I flew up to Surabaya
with Garuda on the last leg of my Australian ticket that I bought from
Yong Fu. He ticketed me SUR-DPS-MEL- DPS-SUB as this ticket is cheaper
than from Denpasar (tourist price) YF sold me a single return ticket to
Denpasar at cost.
SURABAYA SHOPPING
Whilst in Surabaya I spent
a deal of time shopping, the prices are cheaper than Bali and there is
a far greater range. I visited Surabaya Mall shopping centre which has
the entire top floor devoted to computer shops. You can buy almost any
CD computer program you want for $4 per CD. The centre also includes 2
excellent discount department stores. Later I went to Pasar Genteng
translation
Roofing
Tile Market. This place is known for it's myriad of
| electronic
com- ponent shops. There I bought a Radio/Tape recorder for the staff room
at the KHO. Deni is wrapped. |
Jamal's Brother Deni
|
WINE HUNTING in BALI
There is a bottle shop
near the KHO that opened 6 months ago. They have a very good selection
of wines and spirits albeit expensive. At the moment they have a French
red & white table wine Chevaler de France on special for $9.60
per bottle. Very cheap for here, a bottle of Jacob's Creek can set you
back $48. A litre of James Hardy flagon wine costs $27 at Melody's now.
The specials usually don't last that long so the other day I bought a dozen
of white and a dozen red. So now we have a small wine cellar in a wardrobe
(closet cellar).
FESTIVE HOLIDAYS
This year the Muslim (Christmas)
occurs 2 days after Christmas day.
Jamal will return
home to Bandung for the festivities. He has not
been home for Idil
Futri for years. Deni will look after the house
and Jamal's youngest
brother will come and stay with him. We don't
Jamal
|
yet
know if Jamal will be here for New Year. He wants to, but it depends on
if he can find transport back here. |
I will be arriving in
Melbourne on the 21st of December. I will return here on NY eve.
I will spend Christmas in Leongatha.
|
WEATHER
Rainy
Season is upon us, with fabulous tropical thunder storms. The last few
days have been very windy and overcast, so apart form the temperature it
feels like a Melbourne winter. Will be nice to come to Melbourne for some
summer weather. |
|
SURABAYA
Surabaya is on the north
west coast of Java, it is the second biggest city in Indonesia with a population
of about 3 million. It is a port city and the home of the Indonesian Navy.
Travel time from Bali
45 minutes by air or 12 hours by road.
HISTORIC BUILDING
While I was in Surabaya,
Yong Fu took me to lunch at an interesting old building close to the city
center.
The place is called
Balai
Sahabat which translates as Hall Friendship. As the name implies
it is an over 100 year old hall. The place is a little run down but very
original. The main hall has a fair size stage and 2 levels. There is an
unused projection room indicating that they must have used it as a cinema
years ago. The hall is used for functions and every Wednesday they have
old time dancing. To the right hand side of the main hall there is an art
deco restaurant and bar where we had lunch. The food is Chinese and very
reasonable. Yong Fu explained that his father in-law first introduced him
to the place. It is hoped the building is never pulled down and that some-
one may have the foresight to restore it one day. Unfortunately it is in
such a prime position it is probably doomed to become yet another shopping
centre. We enjoyed the place so much, we returned there for dinner on may
last night in Surabaya.
SEMUT KALI HOTEL
Once again I stayed at
the Semut Kali Hotel translation Ant River Hotel. Most of
the original staff are still there. Hamid our friend in reception has now
had a baby girl with his wife. The courtyard now features a huge bird cage
with a selection of birds and Rabbits.
NEW SOUND SYSTEM
The KHO jeep is now sporting
a new sound system. The radio cassette it came with was so bad and
the tuning would not stay on an FM station for long at all. The speakers
in the rear door were rusted and distorted. Whilst I was in Australia,
Joe was kind enough to give me an old Pioneer Radio/tape that he removed
from a previous vehicle. It has 4 speaker outputs and is still in good
condition. Also Joe gave me 2 speakers I installed the new "tape"
and speakers in the back door.
A drastic improvement.
Whilst I was in Surabaya I bought 2 x 6" speakers for the front of the
jeep. There were no front speakers before. Fortunately the Jeep is fitted
with speaker cut outs with a dummy plate under the dash on both sides.
So the installation was relatively easy.
CHE' in MELBOURNE
|
Denny's nephew Che', who recently migrated
to Australia with Denny's sister is now living in Melbourne. Denny has
been showing him the sights of the city and Prahran |
|
Joke from Jacy:
The Japanese have sent
400 tons of Viagra to the US, with a note to say "Sorry you have problem
with big erection" |
