Mercure Grand Hotel Surabaya

... where were assembled about a dozen staff from the apartments!.........cleaners, receptionists, security staff, engineering + the manager and deputy etc. bearing gifts and flowers and armed with cameras.....see the result herewith!<br>Then after a lovely lunch and a fabulous spa visit, we got ready to go out for the evening, but didn't get very far.....on emerging from ...

... of Lombok aboard motorbikes. The three of us found shelter amidst the torrential downpour at Monsoon Point and drove through the mountains 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 ...

... plus ni avancer ni reculer. Une chance, le brave Rejean, a pris la situation en main. En fait il a du me pousser pour que je continue. C'etait vraiment pas drole. J'ai eu vraiment la frousse. Sur la crete a 4 pattes, Rejean a bien rigoler dans mon dos parce-que je ne pouvais plus me relever meme si le sentier est revenue a presque normal. Nous avons pris un repos pour regarder le couchee du soleil sur le pourtour du grand cratere. Nous avons refait le 8 km pour revenir, il ...

... a school and donors. The concert starts out with the little kids singing with the orchestra. Then they have the adult choir singing. There was a traditional Chinese orchestra with traditional instruments. I wish I had my camera and took pictures for you! They played two traditional Chinese songs and then played jingle bells. Then my favorite part, there was a four women group singing two songs. It didn't seem like a big deal ...

I was happy to travel in a fast train this time, with comfortable executive coaches. After changing to dry pants I got a tasty bami goreng for lunch, served from the board kitchens. In less than 6 hours it brought me to Surabaya in all comfort. Fields with and without rice peasants and other rural life again floated by leisurely - metaphorically speaking, thanks god. The music which swam through my mind was that of "Promenade" from Mussorgsky's "pictures of an ...

... I was to see this. How this is exactly what I wanted. I started to feel the happy tears well up in my eyes. I do complain about Surabaya and some days I am very homesick. But, I am so grateful for this experience and feel like this was exactly what I needed and wanted. I am seeing such a different part of the world and life. I truly feel ...

just a couple more pictures - one for Jill and Larry of our display unit - no, don't look at the bottles - at the top is our much loved and admired trophy for the Gale/Dunckley tennis tournament "in perpetuity".....the second photo is to prove we don't eat out ALL the time....although last night was quite an experience when, in the Chinese ...

... the top of the crater and felt that I had escaped the grasp of hell. As I was walking back down I met a family of tourists and as it turns out they are from California. It's rare to meet Americans since their idea of traveling is going to Hawaii or Cancun. We chatted as we walked down together. They had two little girls with them and I wonder why they would bring them to place like this. Suddenly, one of the girls cut in front of me and fell. I was in the middle of my ...

... but retained a very strong, distinctively local flavor. One feature of their religion is that doing bad things not only gives the transgressor bad karma, it also gives bad karma to all the transgressor's descendants! The people are thus extremely honest. We left a backpack at a rest stop, and when we discovered that an hour later and 50 km away, the bus people said, "oh, no problem, we'll just pick it up tomorrow and bring it down." We asked if we ...

... Hotel Paviljoen in what I would, upon arrival, classified as a rough 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 killed several hours wandering the mall amidst other capitalist pig (so to speak). Cell phones, McD's, KFC, DQ, escalators ...