Surabaya
Travel Blogs from Surabaya, Indonesia
*Day 53: Ary's Hospitality
... first stop was Surabaya's Chinese mosque. Strangely, it was a Chinese explorer from the Ming dynasty who spread Islam across Indonesia and there are several monuments to him scattered throughout the city. The mosque itself wasn't more than a small ...
Lombok to Surabaya
... 3 hours earlier than we were led to believe. The bus station clock says 5am and we reaslise that in the travel timewarp that is Indonesia we're back in a GMT + 7 zone. A metred taxi drops us outside Paviljoen Hotel in Central Surabaya where we stayed 2 ...
Jakarta to Surabaya
... have used their coins and he doesn't fare so well. Surabaya, with a population of 2.4 million is the second largest city in Indonesia, and the capital of East Java. It also has an enormous port and is home to the Indonesia Navy. Near the harbour ...
From Bromo to Surabaya to Pontianak
... their time between Indonesia and the USA. Both of their children studied and live in the US and have no intention of returning to Indonesia. I liked Henny and Djoko's house as it reminded me very much of Frank Lloyd Wright. Lots of open space and the ...
After one month of traveling: We're Ready for Bali
... are awesome and unique and beautiful and also can be frustrating for us -- we've really enjoyed our time in Indonesia -- buuuut, we've been traveling away from home for more than a month, consistently encountering language and cultural barriers, and are ...
The fun begins
On Friday, a goodbye- banquet was held for the Philippine students. The two schools each did some kind of performance. Widya Mandala (the indonesian school I'm volunteering at) did some traditional dances and songs and stuff. It was all ...
Exploring the city
... and in ruin. Such an interesting city. If you’re rich, it’s a nice place I guess. Apparently Surabaya isn’t a big tourist spot. Bali and some other beaches are the tourist spots, I guess, so I’m literally ...
Not much to write home about...
Well the bus here wasnt too bad, managed to get a bit of sleep and eventually found a hotel when we arrived (more exoensive and not as nice as the one in bali) spent yesterday wandering round and went to the cinema in this big shopping mall, then today ...
What a long day
... , we have since realised that any time of the day is rush hour traffic. For some reason, I never really thought of Indonesia as being heavily populated. I was absolutely dumbfounded to realise that the island of Java alone has a population of nearly 130 ...
I'm just a little busy
So, in case I didn't mention this, the university I'm working at is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. They're having an event on Friday to celebrate it, and I'm the keynote speaker. No pressure or anything. So I'm a little busy, and ...
Gogyakarta -> Mt. Bromo
Salut tout le monde, Nous allons bien (ma phrase favorite) Nous devons vous faire un resume de notre disparition vers le Mont-Bromo. (pas d'internet bien entendu les volcans font sans doute des signaux de fumee donc pas besoin d'internet. hihi) ...
Looking for a boat...
Surabaya is one of the biggest port in Indonesia so I thought I come here and look for a boat going to Flores, but unfortunately none are leaving soon :( I now already bought a train ticket for tonight going towards Bali and from there I'll have ...
How do you get an aircraft carrier on speed dial?
I just had an amazing lunch with a Norwegian business man, who knows some of the people I met here. So here's the cast: There's a Doctor (Indonesian), who worked at UC Berkley, at the livermore labs. Her Daughter was born in California, and ...
My first talk
Well, Today I gave a talk about volunteering for 150 people. They have a group of faculty and students from the Philippines over this week, so I was one of the speakers for their events. I didn't have much time to prepare, and afterwards I kept ...
I love Indonesia, but...
... , but here are some problems I've noticed. However, I also don't want to give the impression that it sucks here. Indonesia is a great place, and I'm having lots of fun. But here are some thing's that I want to share: Infrastructure The ...
Sorry for the monotony
... thick of the volunteer part. So I gave talks all week and didn't really get out to do much. Just stuck in Surabaya for the moment. But this weekend I'm going out to do white water rafting! I'll have something exciting to post about that ...
Tsunamis, volcanoes and jungles
... layers of ash. All of the trees in the area were blackened and stripped bare, leaving the area looking like a baron wasteland. Indonesia definitely seems to serve as a firm reminder that nature can be very destructive when it wants to be! On the morning ...
Last Post of the year: Holiday treats!
... to go through the program with you on this one. But, I keep leaving the program behind. So, there is Surabaya Symphony Orchestra who holds an quarterly concert. The concerts are about 4 hours long with 20 different songs by different ...
Road to Yogya: Top Moments in SE Asia
... and Monkey Forest, where a felled tree was chainsawed away to allow us passage. 19) Gili Air, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia: Getting Engaged on a Tropical Island: Enjoying our last dive on Gili Air seeing some unique fish, Mary and I ...
Finally got here
So I have arrived safely in Surabaya, and I'm at the place I'll be staying at the whole time. I woke up at 4 AM on the 8th. Was traveling nonstop until what was 8:30 AM our time. 28.5 hours, with maybe 2.5 hours of sleep, and lots of ...
7 piece French F1
... shopping was the order of the day after a good nights rest and we proceeded to spend a 'very pleasant' 5 hours shopping in Surabaya Mall. I 'really enjoyed it'. We purchased a selection of ladies things which were placed in a designer bag and we also ...
Nothing
The reason I haven't posted in a while is because nothing happened for a while. I woke up, gave talks, went to the gym, and just worked. It was boring, and I was getting tired of it. Then I went on a trip to Manila and Singapore! ...
The hard part is over
So, my talks went well. I'm glad I was able to practice a little before the big one on friday. I had one on thursday just as a guest lecturer for a class, and apparently everyone wanted to come because we ended up filling the ...
Leaving for bali today!
So two other students and I are leaving for Bali today. Bali is the tourist beach area of Indonesia. So I'll have a couple days to kick back and relax. Oh, also there was a 6.6 earthquake there this morning. Should be fun! ...
Of Surabaya and Sucky Movies
... had a craving for Indian food. Once so plentiful in Malaysia, there has been a serious dearth of saag paneer and chicken biryani in Indonesia. We asked the hotel for a recommendation and off we went in a cab, with just an address in our hand. The cabbie ...
The beginning of the end
Well, I'll be leaving for Australia on the 22nd. Sadly, that means that most of my trip is over. I'll have three weeks of adventures in Australia and New Zealand, but the time will fly by. Still, I consider these next few weeks the real ...
Mind If I Climb Into This Smoking Crater?
... part of town. We learned soon after that, from what we saw, there was nothing but rough parts of town in Surabaya (2.4 million people) with one exception, that great western haven of comfort and capitalism........the mall! Yep, I'm ashamed to say that we ...
Mount Bromo
The first volcanoe I visited. We began our journey around midnight with sleepy eyes but energetic heart. It took 3 hours to reach the first stop to change our vehicle to Jeep. The older style Jeep like the ones we see in the Indiana ...
Marche au Mt. Bromo
Salut tout le monde, Nous allons bien (ma phrase favorite) Nous devons vous faire un resume de notre disparition vers le Mont-Bromo. (pas d'internet bien entendu les volcans font sans doute des signaux de fumee donc pas besoin d'internet. hihi) ...

