Surabaya - CLEAN, MODERN & WELL-MANAGED

Early Monday morning I caught a 6:40am flight from Palembang to Surabaya for a meeting. Surabaya is the 2nd largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. We reached Juanda International Airport (Surabaya) at about 10:30am after transiting in Jakarta.

Surabaya is very advanced compared to Palembang. I was like a "villager" who just came into the city or more like "rusa masuk kampung" - a deer that went into a village!

The weather is very hot - 31 deg C when I landed (the tunnel from the plane leading to the airport was as hot as an oven). There are many well maintained highways (often with tolls) connecting to the city center. We went straight to the new factory which is located at Gresik - about 1 hour from the airport.

I was also amazed at the huge size of the factory in Surabaya which has a production capacity, warehouse storage capacity and land size 2x of what we have in Palembang. Many things are still under construction but production has already begun.

Then we had lunch in Shangri-La Hotel (buffet style). Coincidentally president SBY was visiting Surabaya, so the security was very tight. We had to pass through metal detectors and frisked down prior to entering the hotel.

I did not stay in Shangri-La (USD150/night) but stayed in the Surabaya company mess instead (see the 2 photos below on the left). The mess is 45 mins drive from the factory. I feel that it is too far for my daily communte. If I were to stay there, it would be somewhere 15 mins from the factory/work place. I'd rather go home faster during work days.

In the Surabaya mess, they have 2 maids managing the household activities despite the total size of the mess is similar to our house in Palembang (fyi, we only have 1 maid). The reason for having 2 is because the other 3 occupants in the house are all men!

The roads in that "gated community" are very well maintained. Majority of the people staying in that area are Indonesian Chinese.

I also managed to have dinner in one of their shopping malls. They are as big and modern as in Kuala Lumpur! They have many international and Malaysian franchises. I felt very "at home" when I walked their mall...as if I were back in KL.

Originally I was supposed to spend only 1 night in Surabaya but my GM told me to stay for another night. So I only left Surabaya on Wednesday morning. Surabaya's first impression for me is: CLEAN, MODERN & WELL-MANAGED. I would not mind working there one day if I get the opportunity.

Here are some photos of Surabaya's gated community: