The Surabaya Retreat 2009 (1)...

The SIGC ( Staroba International Golf Club) kicked off its 2009 calendar with the Surabaya Retreat. Pakdokter managed to round up his regular 'kakis' from the Royal Selangor Golf Club who took advantage of the zero-fare promotion by Malaysia Airlines some months ago and what a deal we all got!

By the time the others heard of pakdokter and gang's confirmed booking, there was a scramble for the remaining few 'cheap' tickets' which sold out very quickly. Some unfortunate guys who were slower in making their decisions had to settle for a later flight on Airasia.

We had originally planned to stay at the Majapahit, the 'Raffles' of Surabaya, but unfortunately it was fully booked due to its popularity as a wedding venue and we had to settle for the all suites Surabaya Plaza. And it turned out that this hotel is also a 'non-smoking' hotel. When you check in, you have to sign not only your registration form but also a form that says you agree to be fined 1 million rupiah if you are caught smoking inside the hotel!

pakRoslan and pakAli Ariffin, two SIGC golfers who suffer 'ketagihan tegar nicotine' taking a relief from their 'nicotine withdrawals' outside the Surabaya Plaza Hotel....

Surabaya has pleasantly become more developed than what it was when pakdokter last visited it about 2 or 3 years ago. There is a brand new airport and a 4-lane dual highway that takes you to the city in a short time. In fact very soon the new highway will also connect the island of Madura via a 5 kilometre bridge across the sea! Development and widening of the many old roads have reduced the traffic jam which used to be as bad as Jakarta. And Surabaya has also become very green....many of the road-sides and intersections are planted with trees and flowers.

The Mayor must be a 'greenie' as the our tour guide told us that the Mayor has legislated that every couple who is getting married must donate and plant 5 trees to the city, giving birth to a child costs 2 trees for to the city and going for a divorce costs 10 trees! He has not legislated how many trees one has to donate to the city if one were to take a second or third or fourth wife...

pakWan Husin, pakRoslan, pakHaji Amin and pakZulkifli Rauf..

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pakAli Ariffin, pakRahman Salleh, and pakSirajuddin...

pakTengku Azman, pakdokter and pakHyder....