5Days/4 Nights Golfing & Sightseeing trip to Surabaya, East Java Indonesia

24 -28 October 2016

16 SSGS members toured the best golf clubs in Surabaya from 24-28 October this year. Two days were spent in the highlands where we were granted great views of beautiful volcanos, some still active and slightly cooler temperatures. Our first night was spent at the Surya Hotel which took a lot of meandering along winding roads to reach. We then headed down to Surabaya city itself to stay at the Bumi Surabaya Hotel (the former Hyatt) for the rest of our trip.

The mountain courses (Taman Dayu and Finna) all posed their own challenges and without a good caddie, we would have been completely lost on the greens! Suffice it to say that the slope towards the volcanos is always uphill even though your senses say otherwise.

We introduced a fun element into the game by dividing up the players into two teams led by Hon Secretary, Pang Boon Hee (Apple Team) and Captain Terence Ng (Durian Team), the losers to pay for dinner at the local chicken rice restaurant. Apples devoured Durians that day! Congratulations!

The other courses played were Graham Family and Ciputra - both in the lowlands. Maintenance was overall good but not spectacular. We had a rest day which allowed members to visit the Sampoerna (clove cigarette) Museum and also to a de-commissioned Soviet Whiskey-Class submarine.

A shopping highlight was certainly the visit to a local products shop where we found a wide variety of krupuk, sambals and confectionary. The store also had a pie outlet which came in handy as we stopped in around tea-time just before heading to the airport.

The weather was very kind to us and contrasted with the heavy rains that hit Singapore during this period. Overall a satisfying and interesting trip to Java Timur.

Terence Ng
Captain of SSGS