pork kee was located on hr muhammad, pretty close to leko. like its name, pork kee was a pork specialist restaurant. so, if you were moslem, you might want to skip this one. if you have ever been to bali and tried nuri's steak, pork kee was a dupe for nuri's. everything from the menu was a copy from nuri's. but, the portion was smaller than nuri's. and of course, nuri's tasted better. but if you had cravings for nuri's, this might be your best option in surabaya.
i forgot what i ate there, but i was sure my husband chose the pork ribs. he said that it was okay, but nuri's was way better. my mom and dad tried their baikut sayur asin, and it was a bit salty for their taste, but it was okay. overall, if you wanted nuri's so bad, you should try it.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
it's been a year already
fiuh.. it's been a year already! i almost finished my "magang", and a lot happened.i understood more about hospital management and stuff. but i also had to acknowledged some help from my classmates and hospital staffs. without them i wouldn't be able to finish all the tasks.
at first, i was desperate, knowing that i was 3 months behind due to my maternal leave. i didn't know anything about what to looked for and what to write on the report. i asked some friends, and i begged for their report so i could learn about it, and i had some clue. at least, i knew what to looked for, and i studied fast. every hospitals had their own policy, so i had to learn the best way to persuade them, and gained benefits for me and for the hospital. and the first seminar was a shock therapy for me. though my lecturer said it was okay, but i still couldn't understand it all. i still haven't understand all the laws about hospital. and even though i searched the internet, i seemed couldn't find the right keyword to find it.
so, i thought, hey.. why i didn't ask my classmates? most of them had worked at the hospital for quite some time, so probably they knew a thing or two about the rules and regulations. and so i did. i asked mas aris about nursing management, i asked bu anna about medical record regulations, and i always asked nico for help. hahaa.. i did use all the resource i could get on hand so i could finish my report quickly.
and here i am, at my last report. i hoped i could finish it on time, so i could focus about residency report and my thesis. and luckily, i could graduate on time
at first, i was desperate, knowing that i was 3 months behind due to my maternal leave. i didn't know anything about what to looked for and what to write on the report. i asked some friends, and i begged for their report so i could learn about it, and i had some clue. at least, i knew what to looked for, and i studied fast. every hospitals had their own policy, so i had to learn the best way to persuade them, and gained benefits for me and for the hospital. and the first seminar was a shock therapy for me. though my lecturer said it was okay, but i still couldn't understand it all. i still haven't understand all the laws about hospital. and even though i searched the internet, i seemed couldn't find the right keyword to find it.
so, i thought, hey.. why i didn't ask my classmates? most of them had worked at the hospital for quite some time, so probably they knew a thing or two about the rules and regulations. and so i did. i asked mas aris about nursing management, i asked bu anna about medical record regulations, and i always asked nico for help. hahaa.. i did use all the resource i could get on hand so i could finish my report quickly.
and here i am, at my last report. i hoped i could finish it on time, so i could focus about residency report and my thesis. and luckily, i could graduate on time
Saturday, July 20, 2013
food review : tong-tong
let's jump to tong-tong!! this is a japanese restaurant. and i loooovvveee their cha siu wang tang men. when i first visited this place, the food portion was way too much for me, but right now, since they divided the portion to small and medium, i could eat up the medium size! was it my stomach that got bigger? anyway, tong-tong especially served ramen and don menu, but they also had katsu and other fried stuff. but no bento here. they also had fried rice and fried noodle, but in japanese taste.
i've said earlier that my favorite was cha siu wang tang men. it was like a wonton noodle in chinese restaurant. they came in two options, shoyu (soy sauce) or shio (salt). i always chose shoyu. sometimes i also ate their chicken katsu don. my brother always ordered tempura don. mom chose corn ramen. my husband once tried their fried noodles. for me, it was okay, but for him, it was weird. mostly because he was not so fond of japanese food. what made tong-tong different from other japanese restaurant was because it was kept original by its owner. my husband told me that in japanese, the ramen was taste like that. so, hopefully when i got the chance to go to japan, i could eat all their food.
let's talk about cha siu wang tang men. like i told you before, it was like a wonton noodle soup. usually i ordered no vegetables. beside noodles, there were a few wonton, some pork ham slices, and half of hard boiled egg. for me, it was a comfortable food when i was down or sick. yesterday, my husband bought me 2 medium, but since we still had the soup left, this morning we tried to recreate it. and it really tasted like the original. i wished i could know what was inside the soup.. then i could recreate the whole dish.
https://foursquare.com/v/tong-tong-japanese-restaurant/4beff342c8d920a17b409430
i've said earlier that my favorite was cha siu wang tang men. it was like a wonton noodle in chinese restaurant. they came in two options, shoyu (soy sauce) or shio (salt). i always chose shoyu. sometimes i also ate their chicken katsu don. my brother always ordered tempura don. mom chose corn ramen. my husband once tried their fried noodles. for me, it was okay, but for him, it was weird. mostly because he was not so fond of japanese food. what made tong-tong different from other japanese restaurant was because it was kept original by its owner. my husband told me that in japanese, the ramen was taste like that. so, hopefully when i got the chance to go to japan, i could eat all their food.
let's talk about cha siu wang tang men. like i told you before, it was like a wonton noodle soup. usually i ordered no vegetables. beside noodles, there were a few wonton, some pork ham slices, and half of hard boiled egg. for me, it was a comfortable food when i was down or sick. yesterday, my husband bought me 2 medium, but since we still had the soup left, this morning we tried to recreate it. and it really tasted like the original. i wished i could know what was inside the soup.. then i could recreate the whole dish.
https://foursquare.com/v/tong-tong-japanese-restaurant/4beff342c8d920a17b409430
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
food review : stevan meat shop
close to vinette and pisa cafe, there was stevan meat shop. another western food. actually, this was a meat shop plus restaurant. so you got to pick the meat you wanted, then you could take it home and cooked it yourself or you could asked them to cook it for you and ate there. we ate them twice. on our first visit, i picked tenderloin (i forgot the kind of the meat, angus or NZ or etc), and my husband chose pork ribs. both were okay. mine was juicy and tender. unfortunately, i chose to take mine on plate, not on hot stone. i figured out later that on hot stone was better. the price was pricey for steak. they also didn't include the side dish like french fries and salad. you had to pay separately for the side dish. so i didn't order any. but they served a basket of mini rolls bun for free. my son was very fond of those buns. at his first visit, he could eat two of them! he was just less than a year back then.
on our second visit, it was my mom's birthday. now i chose rib eye (again.. i forgot the kind of the meat), my brother picked tenderloin, my mother chose chicken steak. i forgot what my husband and my father's choice. now i chose the hot stone. they even offered to cook the steak on hot stone at serving time. so it was another entertainment for us. watching the waiter to cook my steak on our table, smelling the delicious aroma coming from the steak. and it was very delicious. though it was fatty also. but i didn't eat it. everybody was pleased with their order except my mum. poor mom, they cooked the entire chicken, and it was fat-less. so it came out dry. next time i'll try to remember not to order her chicken, but salmon instead. overall, for that price, it was worth it for the steak. we would try them again.. if we had more money..ahahha..
https://foursquare.com/v/stevan-meat-shop-kitchen--grill/50d1c789e4b08f9b6aaa4b16
on our second visit, it was my mom's birthday. now i chose rib eye (again.. i forgot the kind of the meat), my brother picked tenderloin, my mother chose chicken steak. i forgot what my husband and my father's choice. now i chose the hot stone. they even offered to cook the steak on hot stone at serving time. so it was another entertainment for us. watching the waiter to cook my steak on our table, smelling the delicious aroma coming from the steak. and it was very delicious. though it was fatty also. but i didn't eat it. everybody was pleased with their order except my mum. poor mom, they cooked the entire chicken, and it was fat-less. so it came out dry. next time i'll try to remember not to order her chicken, but salmon instead. overall, for that price, it was worth it for the steak. we would try them again.. if we had more money..ahahha..
https://foursquare.com/v/stevan-meat-shop-kitchen--grill/50d1c789e4b08f9b6aaa4b16
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
food review : vinnette
next to pisa cafe was vinnette. it was also a western cuisine. their specialty was their escargot, but since my husband didn't like weird stuff like that, i couldn't try it. it was also in a cafe setting, like in paris. i didn't remember which menu that we picked, but i remembered we ordered steaks. for my husband, it was too salty for his taste. but for me it was fine. the meat was juicy and tender. but it was true, at the end, it was too salty for me too. but overall, for that price, it was pricey. probably we should just try their escargot. after all, many people went back there for the escargot, so it should be very delicious.
i forgot what we had for desert. but desert would always be desert. i guessed i didn't complain much about desert. so if you fond of western food, and wanted to try something new, like escargot, you could eat here. by the way, if you were curious about angus house, i thought the taste were quite similar for the steak. so, if you wanted to know what angus' steak would taste like, you should try vinette's for half price.
https://foursquare.com/v/the-vinette-house-of-bovin--lynnette/4d0f4b6be23654818dfb70ea
i forgot what we had for desert. but desert would always be desert. i guessed i didn't complain much about desert. so if you fond of western food, and wanted to try something new, like escargot, you could eat here. by the way, if you were curious about angus house, i thought the taste were quite similar for the steak. so, if you wanted to know what angus' steak would taste like, you should try vinette's for half price.
https://foursquare.com/v/the-vinette-house-of-bovin--lynnette/4d0f4b6be23654818dfb70ea
Monday, July 15, 2013
food review : pisa cafe
i had this conversation with another doctor in my hospital, he was back from his duty from sumba. and he was trying to catch up metropolis life. he asked about food and malls, all about metropolis lifestyle, and i just realized, i never did a food review. so i just tried to start it now.
pisa cafe was located in the east and west surabaya. since i lived in west surabaya, i reviewed the one in the boulevard area. it was a nice setting, really a cafe setting. at the second floor, they even opened the veranda so you could eat outdoor. if surabaya's weather was not so hot, it was a good idea. sitting in the veranda, eating and drinking a cup of coffee or just enjoying your gelato. but if it's hot, it was not a good idea being there. cafe pisa was located on the side of a main road, so there always a busy traffic in front of the cafe. and you could imagine the smoke from all vehicles carried by the wind to the veranda. not a good idea to eat outside.
about the food. mainly it was a italian cuisine, but they slipped some indonesian or chinese or another asian cuisine just in case the visitor didn't like italian cuisine. i only tried their pasta, but my brother warned me not to order their one meter pizza. though they advertised it like it was their specialty, it turned out bad. i always liked their alfredo pasta. for me, it was a comfort food, something that could fulfill my western crave. their pizza was like an italian standard pizza. it wasn't big, so don't imagine it was like pizza hut. the bread was very thin, and the topping was not as much as pizza hut's. it was a italian pizza by the book. thin crust and minimal topping. my brother tried their calzone and he said it was good.
recommended for young couple, italian cuisine lover. and gelato lover. their gelato was delicious. and many flavors to pick from. not for family reunion, but i often saw a birthday party or a small group reunion there.
https://foursquare.com/v/pisa-kafe/4bd99a3c0115c9b69cd97780
pisa cafe was located in the east and west surabaya. since i lived in west surabaya, i reviewed the one in the boulevard area. it was a nice setting, really a cafe setting. at the second floor, they even opened the veranda so you could eat outdoor. if surabaya's weather was not so hot, it was a good idea. sitting in the veranda, eating and drinking a cup of coffee or just enjoying your gelato. but if it's hot, it was not a good idea being there. cafe pisa was located on the side of a main road, so there always a busy traffic in front of the cafe. and you could imagine the smoke from all vehicles carried by the wind to the veranda. not a good idea to eat outside.
about the food. mainly it was a italian cuisine, but they slipped some indonesian or chinese or another asian cuisine just in case the visitor didn't like italian cuisine. i only tried their pasta, but my brother warned me not to order their one meter pizza. though they advertised it like it was their specialty, it turned out bad. i always liked their alfredo pasta. for me, it was a comfort food, something that could fulfill my western crave. their pizza was like an italian standard pizza. it wasn't big, so don't imagine it was like pizza hut. the bread was very thin, and the topping was not as much as pizza hut's. it was a italian pizza by the book. thin crust and minimal topping. my brother tried their calzone and he said it was good.
recommended for young couple, italian cuisine lover. and gelato lover. their gelato was delicious. and many flavors to pick from. not for family reunion, but i often saw a birthday party or a small group reunion there.
https://foursquare.com/v/pisa-kafe/4bd99a3c0115c9b69cd97780
Saturday, June 22, 2013
benchmark trip to manila
it was supposed to be hospital benchmark trip, but it turned out to be quite a bunch of mess. due to unprofessional tour guide.
#1. departure date
my husband always says be prepare of anything. so, he gave me his scale, universal plug and T. i also browsed about the mall that we were going to go at manila, and looked for the shop that i probably go to and made a shopping plan in my head. i also browsed about manila sim card which provided data plan. i was suspicious that the man explaining at our class was our tour guide, and he seemed unprepared. i asked about the sim card and he didn't know a clue. so, it was proven at our departure date. surabaya to kuala lumpur was fine. when we arrived at kuala lumpur, the line at immigration was crazy. some of us got through earlier than the other. and some was eager to pray because it was time. and after that we still had city tour. some of us was thirsty. so some women decided to told the tour guide, that we would go to toilet, pray and buy some water. and we agreed a meeting point. the stupid thing was, he didn't wait for the rest inside the building, and he was crazy mad when he found out that some of us didn't come out yet when it was time to go city touring. (-.-") that's stupidity number 1. as tour guide, you should informed us right away after we took off from the plane. where they could pray, where the toilet was, and where our next meeting point. from that impression, i distrust him right away.
the city tour turned out to be just like what i have said. it was useless. we just went to near mosque and then back to the airport. since we were late, our lunch was being taken away and we had nowhere to eat. so we just sat wherever we could at the airport and ate. and then we were off to manila. dinner was on board, and the chosen menu was nasi padang. it was not a choice for everyone since some of us couldn't eat spicy food. but luckily, i had my chicken nugget and egg sausage muffin in my bag. i kept my muffin for later. we arrived at manila at midnight, and the price of the sim card was expensive, so we postponed it. our tour guide at manila was nice, but we were tired and kept on sleeping on bus to the hotel. when we arrived at the hotel, we were still sleepy, so we had no idea that we had arrived at the hotel! we thought it wasn't our hotel, since in front we saw karaoke and a lot of call-girls look alike walked around in front. but we found out that it was our hotel! our room scattered in that 34 floors building. me and stephanie got the room on 5th floor.
i brought my toiletries, so i just wanted to take a bath and sleep. but poor stephanie. i offered her mine, but she refused. the hotel just gave us a soap, like the one we used to wash our hand and a sachet of shampoo. the towel couldn't absorb the water, luckily i brought one. and the floor was sticky, like it was being cleansed by oil. and the building was like an apartment. the room next door was occupied by a family, and there was a dentist practice nearby our room. so i guess it was an apartment changed to a hotel, that's why we couldn't get a consecutive room.
#2 day one in manila
the breakfast was being delivered to the room. i thought it was special occasion only, since i was hoping to get american breakfast, but the next day i found out the hotel didn't have a dining room, that's why we got our breakfast delivered to our room. the breakfast was pretty weird. sunny egg with rice and fish, and then mangoes at side. in indonesia, we expected some vegetables on the side, but we found mango instead. if there were no banana, we wouldn't be that confused. since we were starving, (i already ate my muffin at the bus), i just ate it. the bad news for that day, our water heater seemed broken. i told the tour guide and he told us he would take care of it. which i doubted it. that day, our mission was to get everyone a sim card so we could be in touch with our loved ones. another failure: he didn't know which plan data to use for us, and he didn't get the right explanation for everyone. so i decided to dive in. i read the explanation and told everyone and they could decide which one to choose. i also helped him collect the money. and he failed to get the sim card for everyone, so some of us couldn't call or text our loved ones at home. that was stupidity number 2. when we paid him, we expected him to get us all the sim card plus how to use it. i couldn't get my data plan worked till midday. i had to call the provider myself. he had no idea how to get the setting for different phone model. he should find out when we were busy at the hospital! at that time, i was mad at him, and decided not to trust him at all. but i still had his head for fixing my water heater. i wanted my hot water!
after hospital tour, we went to glorietta and greenbelt shopping mall complex. i had some shop in mind. but first i had to find ACE hardware to buy a lock. then headed to kids shop. i planned to buy something for matthew on the first day. and i was lucky, i found something nice in gingersnaps. everyone else wasn't in shopping mood since it was all branded stores. ah, i also forget about the lunch. it was in the shopping mall also, and we had no idea what kind of food was that. dinner was written indonesian food, but turned out it wasn't indonesian food, but INDIAN food...stupidity number 3. how could he not check with the local tour guide about what kind of food we were going to eat. later we found out that he couldn't eat himself at the indian restaurant. stupid tour guide.
back at the hotel, it was raining, but we decided to go out and ate jollibee! my sister told me to eat the burger and not the chicken, so i did. we had a wonderful time at jollibee since it was our first time eating something proper in manila. back at the hotel, our tour guide and the local tour guide's wife were waiting for us at the lobby to make sure my water heater was on. and after a little bit chit chat, our water heater was on! yey!!
a little intermezzo: when we were back at the hotel, the door greeter asked us which floor were we, and when he found out that we were on the 5th floor, the door greeter jumped in the elevator and stopped with us, and even opened our door!! and when entered our room, we found this fruit banquet with a card saying apology (actually for stephanie) for feeling insecure in the hotel. hahaha.. i guess the hotel had to make sure we get our hot water or they would have to send another fruit banquet. haha..
#day two in manila
it was a city tour all day long. the local tour guide said it would be very hot. stupidity number 4: our tour guide said "ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is local tour all day long, so we can be casual. wear jeans or even hot pants!" stupid, we were hospital management class and half our class was wearing jilbab. stupid comment. the tour was okay, but we couldn't stand the weather. at the end of our city tour, some of us already eager to buy souvenirs. but since we were told that there would be even cheaper at somewhere else, we just bought some and hoping we could get more with cheaper price. but the destination was changed at the last minute. we were supposed to go to greenhills, but the local tour guide changed it to 178 shopping mall in chinatown. and turned out, we couldn't find any. especially since we got lost from the other. the other could find one store that sold t-shirts and stuff, but not so many choice to pick from.
but then we headed to MoA, which had kultura, and we could shop souvenirs.. but the price was more expensive. well, we had no choice and shop all the souvenirs we had to buy there. my target was to buy all the suvenirs and then at last day bought something nice for myself and for david. so far, i was right on my personal schedule. ahh..about food, breakfast was still the same, but it was pineapple instead of mango. but lunch was another story. it was a buffet, and had japanese food!! i was excited.. instantly i reached for sushi and sashimi and stuff. other people was worried about picking the wrong dish, so they followed us, unfortunately, not all of them could eat raw food. so we had to told them the robatayaki station and other cooked food station. and the good news was there was ice cream... yummm.. a satisfying lunch. but there was stupidity number 5: our tour guide was late to tell us that the free drink was just water. and some of us already ordered mineral water. so they had to pay for it. blah. and we had dinner at members club. it was okay, but definitely better than yesterday.
#day three in manila
it was full with hospital tour again. breakfast was better! american breakfast at another hotel. probably since the tour guide was being complained by everyone, so he decided to move pak wid and all other guests. lunch was okay, but nothing beat the japanese buffet (for me, hehee..) after finishing the hospital tour, we headed back to MoA to do our final shopping. this time, i bought last minute souvenirs and then headed to several shops. and i bought something for myself! finally.. i could find a decent green jeans, but too bad, i couldn't find any floral skirts even in forever21 and a yellow skirt. *sigh* probably it was not meant to be. and we still had spare time so i found something for david. hahaa.. since my body measures was bad, i had to try it on my other friend, which was a size smaller than david. so if it fit him, then i had to pick a size bigger than his. the funny thing was, he also attracted to the polo shirt i picked for david, so they had the same shirts. ha!
and how could we forget the dinner? it was a cultural show, filled with singing and dancing. the interesting part was at the end of the show, they asked some people from audience to join them and tried the dance. fani was chosen, and as expected, she could show a good performance. rambo was also chosen (since we screamed his name out loud, ahhaaha..) we also screamed our tour guide's name, but he was runaway since he heard his name being called. coward!
#day four in manila
it was 4 am in the morning for wake up call. we had to rush to airport since we probably facing excess baggage. all the baggage in our hotel was being measured. though some had excess, but we predicted that it could be covered by other whose baggage was lighter. but at the airport we were facing nightmare. total excess in our group was 40 kg! that was ridiculous. i argued with the tour guide that we were not supposed to pay for that excess. we had measured our baggage, though probably it might be different from the airport's, but it shouldn't differ much. and our lecturer heard our argument and he decided to charge the outsider for the excess baggage. the tour guide was stupid, he already borrowed my scale, but he didn't measure the baggage from people from the other hotel. i believed pak wid had a lot of spare space, but those couple from batulicin and their good friend was suspicious enough for causing that excess. after all the drama, we waited at the airport. again, with no clarity about lunch and dinner. and the airport was dreadful. no decent food there, so i couldn't prepare anything. i just hoped i could eat whatever the airlines had to offer.
luckily, it was chicken rice for lunch and nasi lemak for dinner. i could tolerate both. and the almost final stupidity, again, he didn't told us where to go after took off from the plane, so some of us got lost. i heard from my classmates that he scolded those who were lost, saying that he already told one of us to wait at the gate. this was stupid. HE should be the one who TOLD EVERYONE where to wait, not just telling one of us, and hoping he or she would tell the other. it was his job after all.
long waiting at the malay airport. but it was okay... we could browsing, chatting, eating, drinking, and sight seeing. though it was small, but it had more to offer than manila's.
then our flight back home. last stupidity: he didn't collect the all the boarding pass, so he had to call out, those who had baggage tag attached to their boarding pass to come forward. and he didn't warn everyone not to come out from the airport until every baggage was tagged. it was quite a chaos, the wife from batulicin had already out from the airport with her 3 baggages. and some of us didn't get the tag. and finally, when all the drama had been sorted out, two of my classmates had their baggage lost. too bad. ..they had to report it and hoped that their bags were okay and could be back to surabaya. the rest of us went back home with one determination, our tour guide was a DUMB-ASS and we are strongly not recommended using his tour. i doubted that he would bring any group anywhere soon...
#1. departure date
my husband always says be prepare of anything. so, he gave me his scale, universal plug and T. i also browsed about the mall that we were going to go at manila, and looked for the shop that i probably go to and made a shopping plan in my head. i also browsed about manila sim card which provided data plan. i was suspicious that the man explaining at our class was our tour guide, and he seemed unprepared. i asked about the sim card and he didn't know a clue. so, it was proven at our departure date. surabaya to kuala lumpur was fine. when we arrived at kuala lumpur, the line at immigration was crazy. some of us got through earlier than the other. and some was eager to pray because it was time. and after that we still had city tour. some of us was thirsty. so some women decided to told the tour guide, that we would go to toilet, pray and buy some water. and we agreed a meeting point. the stupid thing was, he didn't wait for the rest inside the building, and he was crazy mad when he found out that some of us didn't come out yet when it was time to go city touring. (-.-") that's stupidity number 1. as tour guide, you should informed us right away after we took off from the plane. where they could pray, where the toilet was, and where our next meeting point. from that impression, i distrust him right away.
the city tour turned out to be just like what i have said. it was useless. we just went to near mosque and then back to the airport. since we were late, our lunch was being taken away and we had nowhere to eat. so we just sat wherever we could at the airport and ate. and then we were off to manila. dinner was on board, and the chosen menu was nasi padang. it was not a choice for everyone since some of us couldn't eat spicy food. but luckily, i had my chicken nugget and egg sausage muffin in my bag. i kept my muffin for later. we arrived at manila at midnight, and the price of the sim card was expensive, so we postponed it. our tour guide at manila was nice, but we were tired and kept on sleeping on bus to the hotel. when we arrived at the hotel, we were still sleepy, so we had no idea that we had arrived at the hotel! we thought it wasn't our hotel, since in front we saw karaoke and a lot of call-girls look alike walked around in front. but we found out that it was our hotel! our room scattered in that 34 floors building. me and stephanie got the room on 5th floor.
i brought my toiletries, so i just wanted to take a bath and sleep. but poor stephanie. i offered her mine, but she refused. the hotel just gave us a soap, like the one we used to wash our hand and a sachet of shampoo. the towel couldn't absorb the water, luckily i brought one. and the floor was sticky, like it was being cleansed by oil. and the building was like an apartment. the room next door was occupied by a family, and there was a dentist practice nearby our room. so i guess it was an apartment changed to a hotel, that's why we couldn't get a consecutive room.
#2 day one in manila
the breakfast was being delivered to the room. i thought it was special occasion only, since i was hoping to get american breakfast, but the next day i found out the hotel didn't have a dining room, that's why we got our breakfast delivered to our room. the breakfast was pretty weird. sunny egg with rice and fish, and then mangoes at side. in indonesia, we expected some vegetables on the side, but we found mango instead. if there were no banana, we wouldn't be that confused. since we were starving, (i already ate my muffin at the bus), i just ate it. the bad news for that day, our water heater seemed broken. i told the tour guide and he told us he would take care of it. which i doubted it. that day, our mission was to get everyone a sim card so we could be in touch with our loved ones. another failure: he didn't know which plan data to use for us, and he didn't get the right explanation for everyone. so i decided to dive in. i read the explanation and told everyone and they could decide which one to choose. i also helped him collect the money. and he failed to get the sim card for everyone, so some of us couldn't call or text our loved ones at home. that was stupidity number 2. when we paid him, we expected him to get us all the sim card plus how to use it. i couldn't get my data plan worked till midday. i had to call the provider myself. he had no idea how to get the setting for different phone model. he should find out when we were busy at the hospital! at that time, i was mad at him, and decided not to trust him at all. but i still had his head for fixing my water heater. i wanted my hot water!
after hospital tour, we went to glorietta and greenbelt shopping mall complex. i had some shop in mind. but first i had to find ACE hardware to buy a lock. then headed to kids shop. i planned to buy something for matthew on the first day. and i was lucky, i found something nice in gingersnaps. everyone else wasn't in shopping mood since it was all branded stores. ah, i also forget about the lunch. it was in the shopping mall also, and we had no idea what kind of food was that. dinner was written indonesian food, but turned out it wasn't indonesian food, but INDIAN food...stupidity number 3. how could he not check with the local tour guide about what kind of food we were going to eat. later we found out that he couldn't eat himself at the indian restaurant. stupid tour guide.
back at the hotel, it was raining, but we decided to go out and ate jollibee! my sister told me to eat the burger and not the chicken, so i did. we had a wonderful time at jollibee since it was our first time eating something proper in manila. back at the hotel, our tour guide and the local tour guide's wife were waiting for us at the lobby to make sure my water heater was on. and after a little bit chit chat, our water heater was on! yey!!
a little intermezzo: when we were back at the hotel, the door greeter asked us which floor were we, and when he found out that we were on the 5th floor, the door greeter jumped in the elevator and stopped with us, and even opened our door!! and when entered our room, we found this fruit banquet with a card saying apology (actually for stephanie) for feeling insecure in the hotel. hahaha.. i guess the hotel had to make sure we get our hot water or they would have to send another fruit banquet. haha..
#day two in manila
it was a city tour all day long. the local tour guide said it would be very hot. stupidity number 4: our tour guide said "ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is local tour all day long, so we can be casual. wear jeans or even hot pants!" stupid, we were hospital management class and half our class was wearing jilbab. stupid comment. the tour was okay, but we couldn't stand the weather. at the end of our city tour, some of us already eager to buy souvenirs. but since we were told that there would be even cheaper at somewhere else, we just bought some and hoping we could get more with cheaper price. but the destination was changed at the last minute. we were supposed to go to greenhills, but the local tour guide changed it to 178 shopping mall in chinatown. and turned out, we couldn't find any. especially since we got lost from the other. the other could find one store that sold t-shirts and stuff, but not so many choice to pick from.
but then we headed to MoA, which had kultura, and we could shop souvenirs.. but the price was more expensive. well, we had no choice and shop all the souvenirs we had to buy there. my target was to buy all the suvenirs and then at last day bought something nice for myself and for david. so far, i was right on my personal schedule. ahh..about food, breakfast was still the same, but it was pineapple instead of mango. but lunch was another story. it was a buffet, and had japanese food!! i was excited.. instantly i reached for sushi and sashimi and stuff. other people was worried about picking the wrong dish, so they followed us, unfortunately, not all of them could eat raw food. so we had to told them the robatayaki station and other cooked food station. and the good news was there was ice cream... yummm.. a satisfying lunch. but there was stupidity number 5: our tour guide was late to tell us that the free drink was just water. and some of us already ordered mineral water. so they had to pay for it. blah. and we had dinner at members club. it was okay, but definitely better than yesterday.
#day three in manila
it was full with hospital tour again. breakfast was better! american breakfast at another hotel. probably since the tour guide was being complained by everyone, so he decided to move pak wid and all other guests. lunch was okay, but nothing beat the japanese buffet (for me, hehee..) after finishing the hospital tour, we headed back to MoA to do our final shopping. this time, i bought last minute souvenirs and then headed to several shops. and i bought something for myself! finally.. i could find a decent green jeans, but too bad, i couldn't find any floral skirts even in forever21 and a yellow skirt. *sigh* probably it was not meant to be. and we still had spare time so i found something for david. hahaa.. since my body measures was bad, i had to try it on my other friend, which was a size smaller than david. so if it fit him, then i had to pick a size bigger than his. the funny thing was, he also attracted to the polo shirt i picked for david, so they had the same shirts. ha!
and how could we forget the dinner? it was a cultural show, filled with singing and dancing. the interesting part was at the end of the show, they asked some people from audience to join them and tried the dance. fani was chosen, and as expected, she could show a good performance. rambo was also chosen (since we screamed his name out loud, ahhaaha..) we also screamed our tour guide's name, but he was runaway since he heard his name being called. coward!
#day four in manila
it was 4 am in the morning for wake up call. we had to rush to airport since we probably facing excess baggage. all the baggage in our hotel was being measured. though some had excess, but we predicted that it could be covered by other whose baggage was lighter. but at the airport we were facing nightmare. total excess in our group was 40 kg! that was ridiculous. i argued with the tour guide that we were not supposed to pay for that excess. we had measured our baggage, though probably it might be different from the airport's, but it shouldn't differ much. and our lecturer heard our argument and he decided to charge the outsider for the excess baggage. the tour guide was stupid, he already borrowed my scale, but he didn't measure the baggage from people from the other hotel. i believed pak wid had a lot of spare space, but those couple from batulicin and their good friend was suspicious enough for causing that excess. after all the drama, we waited at the airport. again, with no clarity about lunch and dinner. and the airport was dreadful. no decent food there, so i couldn't prepare anything. i just hoped i could eat whatever the airlines had to offer.
luckily, it was chicken rice for lunch and nasi lemak for dinner. i could tolerate both. and the almost final stupidity, again, he didn't told us where to go after took off from the plane, so some of us got lost. i heard from my classmates that he scolded those who were lost, saying that he already told one of us to wait at the gate. this was stupid. HE should be the one who TOLD EVERYONE where to wait, not just telling one of us, and hoping he or she would tell the other. it was his job after all.
long waiting at the malay airport. but it was okay... we could browsing, chatting, eating, drinking, and sight seeing. though it was small, but it had more to offer than manila's.
then our flight back home. last stupidity: he didn't collect the all the boarding pass, so he had to call out, those who had baggage tag attached to their boarding pass to come forward. and he didn't warn everyone not to come out from the airport until every baggage was tagged. it was quite a chaos, the wife from batulicin had already out from the airport with her 3 baggages. and some of us didn't get the tag. and finally, when all the drama had been sorted out, two of my classmates had their baggage lost. too bad. ..they had to report it and hoped that their bags were okay and could be back to surabaya. the rest of us went back home with one determination, our tour guide was a DUMB-ASS and we are strongly not recommended using his tour. i doubted that he would bring any group anywhere soon...
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