The city of Jambi, Indonesia

Arriving in Jambi was like a step from boot camp to a Best Western Hotel chain. It is always pleasant to check into a new hotel even though the hotel lacked certain standard offering like a hairdryer! Otherwise, after where i came from, this was like Holiday Inn in comparison. The hotel Abadi Suite is a new hotel that is located in Jambi City Centre, a stone's throw from Novotel Jambi, a much older hotel. The Abadi Suite was still in its Pre-Opening phase, and thus, there were a number of inconveniences that hopefully would be sorted out after a while, eg. lights that wouldn't turn off, and shone the entire night, no internet connection, and several structural defects in the rooms. One could easily be fooled to think the view I get from my corner suite was quite pleasant until you gaze just right under my window, and lo, the sight of poverty lurking amidst the irony of a satellite dish that rose obstrusively out of the slums.

Road to Tebing Tinggi, Jambi Indonesia

Batavia Air - from Jakarta, my associates and I boarded the worn out aircraft. The plane took off and flew for about 15 minutes; then we heard the pilot announce in Bahasa Indonesian that there was something wrong with the plane, and thus, he was not able to climb more than 10,000m. He decided that it was better if we headed back to Jakarta and change aircrafts.

We returned to Jakarta and waited for about an hour and half and was relieved to be put on the 2nd flight of the day.

We landed in Jambi Aiport, a simple 2-jet facility that had no aerobridges.

Jambi was a unassuming city, with little sophistication, but boast of the popular Pempek snacks. Pempek is apparently a Chinese-owned eatery selling fish based products, such as Otah Otah, that were made without tumeric or curry powder, tasting very much like fish cake, fish balls, fish cakes, and several other fish crackers.

What was commendable was the hygiene emphasis that the restauranteur had surely made obvious, especially in a country not always known for such sanitary standards. All the kitchen staff donned masks while preparing the dishes and foodstuffs, at least they did attempt to demonstrate compliance to this standard. A few careless kitchen staff was seen using bare hands to prepare the food. Most of the staff had their masks worn below their chins.

We stopped by another restaurant on the way to Tebing Tinggi for lunch - Aneka Rasa. They served Javanese cuisine.

What a treacherous ride from Jambi, a small city in Indonesia, to Tebing Tinggi. The road wasn't exactly gravel, but it felt like it, with numerous potholes. Tebing Tinggi was where one would find the Lontar Papyrus Pulp & Paper mill, a major paper factory that was possibly one of the vicinity's main Employer for the residents.

It was so faraway from civilization as I know it that there wasn't even a hotel / motel operating in the area. Thus, it behooved the factory to operate their own Guest House to accommodate visitors, and guests of some of their expatriate employers. Most of the expatriates were from Taiwan and China.

The lobby wasn't exactly the Shangri-La, but the chequered floor was a nice touch to bring some form of designer feel to the rustic lodging. The public toilet by the check-in counter was quite deplorable. I suggest all patrons wait till you get issued a key to your rooms.

A number of neatly lined terrace units were built for the Chinese expatriates. They were decent enough lodging. A nice canteen serves all meals to the guests. USD22/night gets you full room and board, i.e. a clean bed, a simple bathroom with hot water, pink toilet, closet space, a white bathtowel, a little bar of soap, even a toothbrush set, and all 3 meals served at their canteen. They even serve spaghetti bolognaise, fruit in their complete buffet meal.

To add to the charm, they have a full sized swimming pool with a gym and sauna.
The return road trip was a little less demanding, even though as the picture below shows, it was quite a dusty trail with visibility reduced to less than 2 metres. Careful examination of the photo will reveal that our car was actually trailing behind a sizeable green truck.

Marriott Mayflower Executive Apartments Jakarta

This is a new accommodations option for visitors to Jakarta. True to the Marriott brand, it's quite a good choice to stay in.

Being less than a year old, you must tell the cab driver that you want to get to Plaza Sudirman, or will end up driving round and round and possibly land yourself at JW Marriott hotel, a rather grand and mighty hotel just a couple of kms away.

However, Jakarta traffic being as it is, you would not want to be a couple of kms away from your actual destination.

After much distress, my hostess and her driver finally found the place, and I checked myself into the apartment building. The lobby was located away from the Plaza Sudirman, so you must tell the driver to drive to the back of the building when you spot Plaza Sudirman.

Marriott Mayflower is made up of 8 floors of 96 apartments at the upper floors of this 38 storey high building. I understand the Marriott bought up only 8 floors, but not the last 3 or 5 storeys of the building. Nevertheless, you'll still get pretty spectacular view of the city, if you like city views.

The apartment has a washing machine with built in dryer, a pantry area, you very own purified water cooler so no need to buy mineral water.

Broadband internet is complimentary.

Verdict - I'm glad the major hotels are all booked up. If not, I wouldn't have discovered this great find! Stay here for the sheet elegance of having a bachelorette pad away from home.

Back to woManila

Ironically enough, I just read The Star, the local Philippines newspaper, and one of the article caught my eye; that of Philippines being ranked 6th in gender equality. Perhaps if they renamed their capital to Womanila, they just might move one notch higher and dislodge New Zealand from the 5th place. Sweden ranked 1st, Norway 2nd, Finland 3rd, and I can't remember the 4th place. But Singapore ranked 77th! Hm...I don't think renaming our CDB is going to help any!

Well, I had to stay in the Traders Hotel this time, and this merchant inn from the Shangri La group certainly needed much sprucing up. Considering the rate they were charging, it was certainly not value for money. I was even given an upgrade to the Club Floor, and paid USD180/night for that. The view from my 18th floor room was not bad indeed, and the Club floor lounge at the 19th floor afforded a better vantage point to take in the ocean view.

Unfortunately, the view did not compensate for the deplorable, dilapidated condition of the fixtures and finishings in the room. This hotel must be more than 20 years old, or older. Having stayed at the Traders in KL, methinks the hotel better start their refurbishment program.

Pictures do lie. The room looked a lot worse for wear than what you see.

Yes, the toilets were old too. And what was a greater disappointment was the hotel's unwillingness to improve on their shower facility. That, to me, is the least of what any hotel should do. All other amenities are not as important to a weary traveller than a good bed, and a good shower!

When I first checked in, the showerhead holder was incorrect for the showerhead, and the showerhead almost hit me on the head when I turned on the shower. After my complaint, the maintenance crew replaced the holder, but neglected to do anything about the leaky showerhead. Sigh...a bad shower makes for a grouchy guest!

Yes, this it how the entrance walkway to the bed. Even the lighting couldn't hide this ancient finishing.

Ok, so after that poor experience in Traders, I opted to try a newer hotel - a boutique hotel that opened in Sept 2006 and fully Filipino-owned. It's called the G Hotel.

The lobby is Panda-like; black and white. It's chic, and reminded me a lot of the Hangout Place in Singapore in its quaintness. The room key is something else though, somewhat of a nuisance to lug around with this heavy plastic encasement. I suppose the quest for uniqueness has its price.

The bedroom was pleasant enough, but for a one-year old hotel, it sure hasn't been too well maintained. The locking device has a homely feel. Remember not to forget to lock up before leaving the room because the door wasn't self-locking. It does remind me of home, of Mercure Hotel in Pattaya, and reeks of budget hotel offering. The rate was hardly budget hotel, though I'm not too sure if that's really the going rate for most hotels in Manila. Accustommed to KL and the low hotel room rates for quality standards, I guess Manila hotels rival Singapore hotels in terms of rates, but the city is certainly older than Singapore, thus, even the established hotel chains have seen better days.

The bathroom is rather sparsely furnished, minimalistic you might choose to describe it. I long for the Asian showers, with their detachable showerheads. Sure would love a good powerful shower with reliable hot water, and detachable showerheads! I narrowly escaped a nasty fall with the "anti-slip mat" provided in the bathtub/shower. They could really be in for a terrible lawsuit by other less forgiving guests. Awfully poor anti-slip property!

The hotel is not very conveniently located for a single woman traveller. There are no safe and closeby amenity or decent restaurant. Thus, one is left with only the hotel's own Cafe Noir. The price of the food is not reflective of an apparent budget-type hotel for sure. But the quality of food was commendable. My full 3 course dinner cost me 1,130pesos; Capuccino mushroom soup, with 2 pretty nice hot buns, grilled grouper fish with olive oil and vegetables, hot chocolate cake ala-mode. Oh yes, I had a glass of calamansi juice. The presentation was worth a mention.

Verdict - I'm heading for Renaissance Makati the next time round. At USD145/night, I think that would have been a much better value for money and more suited for the business traveller.

Divine protection in Hotel Plaza Sutera Biru

He gives His Angels charge concerning me, to guard me in all my ways. They bear me up in their hands lest I strike my foot against a stone! I experienced this very divine protection up close and personal during my stay in Kuala Belait.

I'd just woken up and was washing up at the wash basin in my slippers and shorts when suddenly, the granite slab from the bottom portion of the wash basin came crashing down at my feet. The slab broke into three pieces on impact, barely missing me by a centimetre. Each piece was very heavy. I tried to lift one of them without any success. I realized how blessed I was to have escaped this grave injury. I shudder to think what would've happened had the slab hit my feet.

This was a brand new hotel, and it was obvious this was a serious defect caused by poor workmanship. I reported this to the reception on check out, and after inspection, they were most apologetic. I am truly thankful for this divine protection.

Plaza Sutera Biru, Kuala Belait

A new hotel, barely six months old, with less than 21 rooms available. It re-defines Kuala Belait for me. I had spent quite a bit of time in Kuala Belait, Brunei, and so far, it has been

far from worth writing home about. Every hotel that I've stayed in reminded me of cheap chalet accommodations that I'd stayed in when I was a teenager having a bbq down at the beach.

The Plaza Sutera Biru was quite nice. The smallest room was bigger than a single business traveller would really need to manage. Nonetheless, the rain shower, the big comfortable king sized bed, the ample sitting area, and of course the sheer newness of the place made for a rather pleasant experience, save for one incident that gave me reason to thank Daddy God for His ever present protection and Faithfulness in giving His Angels charge concerning me, to guard me in all my ways.

The view from the Hotel, if you are fortunate enough to get the room facing the river, is fabulous.

The picture below shows a typical view you'll get of the river.

Museum in Jakarta

Really! I wouldn't even bring myself to my own National Museum back home...and to think I am visiting the Museum in Jakarta! But, I suppose it would be good to understand the type of exhibits that each country regard as part of their cultural heritage.

This rather foreboding sculpture was made out a solid tree; tens of intricately carved figurines, most of them quite eerie by my standards, and reminded me of demonic images from nightmares.
This was the entrance to the museum exhibit. The charge for entry was 10,000rp, I think, plus another 10,000rp if you wanted to bring in your camera. Hm.
The bust was that of Mrs Sukarno, the very first, first lady of Indonesia.

The Museum looked empty and lacking because of the sheer size of the rooms, and thus, there was a crying need to increase the number of exhibits if only to fill up the echo in the dimly litted rooms.