Jentra Dagen Hotel, Malioboro,Yogyakarta

Back to Yogyakarta now. The hotel is located at a quiet lane, away from the main road. It is located near to Malioboro Street, about 10-15 minutes walk. Ladies best not to walk alone at night. It's a 3-star hotel, but it's nicer and cozier compared to Ibis Rajawali Hotel in Surabaya.

Me and my friends were placed in 3 different rooms. I consider one of the luckiest one, as my room was really big and spacious, just for the 2 of us, compared to my friends' rooms. And there's no way I wanna change it. I like this room. It consists of 1 double bed and 1 super single bed, a wardrobe, dressing-cum-TV table, a coffee table and a chair. Kettles, cups and saucers, spoons, coffee and tea sachets and 2 bottled water (complimentary) are provided.

The bathroom is spacious and clean. There's no shower room or shower curtain, so it's pretty open. But the floor is a bit slanted, so the basin and door area is still quite dry. And there's a rain shower head. Towels and toiletries are provided, except hair dryer. Gee, why hotels in Indonesia don't provide hair dryers?! The only hotels so far I've stayed that provide hair dryer is GQ Hotel Yogyakarta and The Phoenix Hotel Yogyakarta.

The buffet spread is just so-so. Limited selection. Nothing much to comment here.

Overall, the stay is OK. Oh, the Wi-Fi is pretty good here. Plus points. Nothing much to complain here.

Ibis Rajawali Hotel, Surabaya

Back to the town area again. This is a 3-star business hotel. There's a shopping plaza opposite the hotel and approximately 10 minutes walk is a Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun, a weekend night market. Again, no need to worry about being bored or starved.

The room is OK. Quite dim, though. Neither big, nor small. Can't expect much from a 3-star business hotel. It consists a double bed, a table and chair, 2 arm chairs, a wardrobe and shelve to put your luggage. Kettle, cups and spoons, coffee and tea sachets and 2 bottled water (complimentary) are provided.

 

The bathroom is quite small and dim. The shower curtain is there to separate the shower area, so the floor will be slightly wet. No place to put your toiletries in the shower area. Towels and toiletries are provided, except hair dryer. And the water is slow.

The breakfast buffet is not bad. They provide juice dispensers and hot beverage dispenser. The juice dispensers, gosh, it's so sweet I thought I could get diabetes on the spot. The hot beverage dispenser comes with mocha, cappuccino, latte, chococcino, black coffee and white coffee. Not too sweet. Still bearable. No photos though, sorry.

Overall, it's an OK stay. But the Wi-Fi connection is not so strong. At the lobby is better.

Lava View Lodge, Probolinggo, Indonesia

As we'll be trekking the Mount Pananjakan, Tengger Crater and Mount Bromo, so our tour guide arrange this hotel as it's quite near to our next destination.

The lodge is located on the mountain, hence it's damn chilly up here. I felt I'm gonna turn into ice any moment, especially when I was not properly dressed any warm clothes. I was wearing a sleeveless top and denim shorts. So you can imagine how cold I was.

It's a double-storey unit, and I'm thankful my room is located on the ground floor, hence I needn't have to carry my luggage up the flight of stairs. The lodge overlooks the Tengger Crater, which is really breathtaking.

The room was quite old and dim. And the door is so troublesome to open. They only provide 1 key. You need the key to lock from outside and from inside. So literally, you need to twist the key four times; twice outside and twice inside.

The room consists of 2 super single beds, a table, 2 arm chair and a dressing table. A clothes rack, kettles, cups and spoons, coffee and tea sachets and 2 bottled water (complimentary) are provided.

The bathroom is quite clean and small. There's no shower room, so the whole floor is wet. And in this kind of weather, you seriously need water heater. However, the water pressure is really low. And there's not much place for you to put your toiletries.

Overall, I don't quite like this accommodation. Oh, and there's no Wi-Fi.

Ketapang Indah Hotel, Banyuwangi, Indonesia

Another pleasant and relaxing stay. But sadly, we only get to stay in this hotel for 9 hours; 7 hours before we have to leave at 12am to adjourn to the Ijen Crater, then after hiking the Ijen Crater, we have 2 hours to have breakfast, shower and pack and adjourn to our next destination.

This hotel is situated near the sea. It's a nice resort-like hotel. It's a two-storey unit, with a lush garden, a nice swimming pool, a bar, playground and a restaurant.

My friends went to try out their massage, where the masseuse went to their room to perform the massage. I did not try, I was too tired to do anything, especially the thought of having merely 4 hours sleep so that we can leave the hotel at 12am. Oh wait, I forgot we had supper before our journey, which means only 2 hours of sleep. Yup, this is our adventure.

Anyway, back to the hotel. The room was brightly lit, spacious, clean and facing a garden walkway. It consist of 2 super single beds, cabinet to put our luggage and shoes, an open closet to hang our clothes. There's a patio table and two chairs at the balcony. Kettle, coffee and tea sachets and two bottles of water (complimentary) are provided.

The bathroom is nice, well-lit and big as well. Very clean and neat. There's a shower room with a place to put your toiletries. Towels and toiletries are provided, except for hair dryer.

The only downside of this hotel is, there're 2 sockets in this room that malfunctioned. We couldn't boil any water, as the kettle that was plugged into the socket next to it malfunctioned. And another socket below the table (there're 2 sockets here) also malfunctioned. So there're only 2 sockets that functions, 1 is below the table and 1 is in the bathroom. A bit inconvenient as me and my friend need to charge our phones and use the hair dryer at the same time. And we have very limited time in the hotel.

Apart from this, the restaurant served good food there. It's open 24 hours. We had our supper before we adjourned to Ijen Crater (we need food in order for us to hike up that volcano crater)

Overall, the stay is OK, but can't comment much as it's just a very short time I stayed in that hotel.

Rumah Batu Villa & Spa Solo, Solo Baru, Indonesia

This is a nice and cozy villa, located at the outskirts. There's no shops or eateries around this area. So dinner will be held in the resto in this villa. But the place is so homely, you just don't wish to leave this place. And the food price in the resto is still OK.

The concept is pretty natural. Well, the name of the villa already says it all. With natural plants around the place, rocks and pebbled flooring. And the room is also natural setup. It's like going back to nature.

My room is located on the first floor (it's a double-storey villa) The decors are mostly made of wood. The flooring is made of wood as well. The room is well-lit, with lots of natural lights. It is very homely and relaxing.

The room consists of 2 double beds, a small cupboard, table, chair and bench. And on the balcony, there's a 2 wooden arm chairs and a coffee table. Kettle, coffee and tea sachets, safe deposit box are provided.

The bathroom is nice and clean. And the flooring is made of pebbles, too. The shower area is separated with a shower curtain, but the floor won't be very wet on the other side, so it's still OK. Toiletries and towels are provided, but there's no hair dryer. Thankfully, my friend brought her hair dryer, so I still get to dry my hair after washing.

The dinner and breakfast they served at the Resto is not too bad. I actually like the food. The breakfast is inclusive of the room, only we have to pay for the dinner, but well, it's worth  my money.

Overall, this is a lovely and relaxing stay. After a tiring tour, I really need to have a much-needed, comfortable rest before starting another tiring and adventurous day the next day.