Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya

Today is my last day in Surabaya, I have purchased my train ticket to Semarang. Prices are still up and I had to pay for the full fare to Jakarta. The ticket for executive class from Surabaya to Jakarta is 440,000. I am told that the prices will be going down on October 4th!!!

... you connect to them via local buses. On the local buses apart from encountering the ubiquitous buskers they are also plied by hawkers selling drinks or food but in Surabaya they offered a new twist, plus a much greater range of items to buy. Within five minutes of being on the bus a hawker got on and started placing packets ...

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) Nous avons quitte Gogya le matin (2 janvier) pour se payer un petit trajet de 11 heures de bus. Nous sommes arrive tres tard a notre guest house. Tres mignon, genre chalet non insonorise et non isole. Donc nous avons eu droit a un taux d ...

... I will be taking it easy friday night. I fly into Kuala Lumpur. I imagine that room service and a good nights rest will be all I want. But, who knows? My flight the next morning is at 7:00 am and I land at 8:00 am. I imagine there is a time change that I don't know about. The first thing on my agenda is to pick up the race packet. Then I will head to Angkor Wat to explore the temples ...

... was almost more shocked by the conditions than the suffering. Hygeine was very questionable, structural deficiencies were visible and I doubt it has been re-painted since it was opened. There is, of course, no air conditioning and the ceiling fans are pretty useless. There are insufficient nursing staff, so at least one parent has to be with the child 24 hrs a day, so they sleep on the floor beside or beneath their ...

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 Jones movies. We traveled for another 2 hours to reach the mountain top . We supposed ...

Holiday finished, back to traveling. 17 hour bus ride from Lombok to Probolingo then a 2 hour bus ride up to the volcano. The bus ride included two ferry crossings, the buses drive right on to the ferry and cross with you on the boat, passengers either stay on the bus or get off depending on the length of the ferry. Indonesia is connected by these ferry points that run 24 hours a day. The buses idle whenever you stop ...

... put on new clothes. I wanted the smell to still linger. I lay down on my bed to rest. I closed my eyes and tears started to roll down my cheek, the sulfur made my eyes watery and a part of me cried for their struggle. I admire these workers for their perseverance. They've taught me hope and human triumph. Then I fell asleep. I am leaving tomorrow morning to Bali. I might be there for a week or even longer. I will rent a motorbike and tour the whole island. P.s. I finally ...

... went to have lunch at this amazing Japanese place, suddenly everyone appeared! They dropped us off, and then my other aunt took Kyle and I to the Sheraton hotel for dinner. It was so swank we didn't realize it, so we were dressed like bums. My aunt wanted to spend more time with us so she took us next door to the mall to buy cds.

... It gets easier, but probably not much safer. Unfortunately, we had arrived there on a weekend so the things we wanted to do were impossible, mainly booking a ship to Sulawesi. So first thing Monday morning we went to the Pelni Office (government ferry service) to book the three o'clock boat. "Sorry, boat cancelled." "What? Are there any others?" "Fudi." "Fudi, what's a Fudi? When is a Fudi?" "Eleven o'clock. Not much time" (It was currently ...