Grand Antares Hotel, Medan (Trip Dec 2-3, 2011)

Last week I supported my colleagues from other division at a seminar for O.R. nurses. The seminar was held at Grand Antares Hotel (http://grandantares.com/).
I stayed there for one night (Dec 2, 2011) at superior room. The rate was unbelievable: IDR 350,000 breakfast included! The room was booked by organizing committee.
The room was clean, a bit old, and the bathroom curtain needs to change with new onw, but overall, it was OK.
I had a body massage in my room to relieve body pain I've been having due to my cough and flu. It cost IDR 150,000 for one hour.
I liked the dessert menu where they serve various of Es Campur :)
This hotel is owned by an orthopedic surgeon, wow!!

Breakfast menu was so so..... The lunch during seminar was a chaos... Too many people, the restaurant wasn't able to accommodate. The food were quickly empty.....

Overall, it was an OK experience..... The last night, I stayed at grandma's house.

Novotel Soechi, Medan

Travel date: May 5-8, 2010

The hotel is located at Jln. Cirebon 76 A, Medan.

I was in Medan to visit several customers and also to scrub in with surgeons at Adam Malik Hospital for trial of our new device.
Usually, when I travel to Medan, I'd stay at my grandmother house. But now is different, I had to stay in the hotel because I had to. My grandma's house is very different now. Electricity has been cut off by the electric company. Water hasn't been running. It was a mess!
I will not be able to focus on my work if I stay there.

I can say this hotel is a bit old. Maybe next time I can stay in different hotel.

Long weekend in Medan

The idea came up when I teased my niece, saying that I'd take her mom with me on a trip and leave her alone at home. Hmmm, kinda cruel to tease a 3.5 years old girl like that. She wants her mom close to her everywhere she goes.. You can imagine how difficult it will be to train her being away from her mom.

To make long story short, I asked my sister to come with me to Medan, our home town, bring her two kids and husband, so our grandmother will be able to see her great grand children while she's still alive. Too bad my brother-in-law wasn't able to take his annual leave.
I booked plane ticket online. Air Asia sent me an e-mail, they were having promotions and if I'm lucky to hit the right date, the price will be very cheap.
The ticket to Medan wasn't available at low price on my chosen date, but it will be for the ticket for Jakarta. So for departure, I booked Mandala Airlines ticket.
Total cost for two adults, one infant, and one baby was around IDR 2.3 million only!
It was a month before we left.

The trip to Medan was alright, even though we couldn't get the same seat row. My sister wasn't allowed to sit in front, while I had first row seat with my niece. You can guess, my niece can't sit still. She kept looking for her mom. So I took turn with my sis to hold the baby while my sister was sitting in front. The baby didn't cry at all in the plane. Good boy, Eza.

We didn't go to recreation places, as the objective of this trip was to settle some personal matters.

Es Campur, Medan's dessert

Clam Satay, Medan's snack

Raining in Medan (May 15-19, 2007)

I have been in Medan since May 15, 2007.
Prof. A has another tumor surgery, so I’m bringing Selector with me.
The flight was alright, I used Sriwijaya Air.
This time I went alone. Boss wouldn’t permit Arie to come along, well…it’s OK, I can manage. I’m always the strong girl

MAY 15, 2007

The work:

Delivered Selector to hospital and explained to O.R. nurses how to assemble and disassemble the handpiece. It’s important because I won’t have a colleague to help me. I needed them to be my help.

The pleasure:

Went to my auntie’s house after finished the work at hospital. I have much spare time to spent. She’s just done Umrah last month. She and her youngest daughter went to Jakarta for 2 months but I couldn’t meet them due to travel schedule.

With Tia, my cousin, we went to Fountaine ice cream cafe at Carrefour. I had burger (cos I haven’t had my lunch yet, it was 3 pm!) and 5-flavor ice cream. I bought some fruits for my auntie and donuts for my grandma.

I was so curious of Medan’s es campur (mixed ice drink). It’s different from what we have in Jakarta. So I asked Tia if she knew the good place of es campur. She brought me to this place. We ordered Mie Kocok and Es Campur, quite expensive: Rp 19,000 total. Power suddenly off when we were having them, but only for 3 minutes, then power was on again. We took becak to get home, it started to rain, 7 pm.

MAY 16, 2007

The work:

Arrived in the hospital at 10 am because the nurse informed me surgery will be at 11 am. Then I found out, schedule has changed, it would be at 1 pm. Waited for 3 hours. Surgery started at 2 pm, finished 5.30 pm.

Meningioma was so big, it was 1/4 of the brain. It was very big, Prof. A used his finger to separate it from the brain. No need Selector!

The tumor!

Wow, that was my first experience seeing that kind of procedure.

Hmmm, a request from him: I to stay with Selector because he’d have another tumor surgery on Friday. Oh God! How should I tell Ms. S from MK Hospital? Damn!

Asked my boss’ approval for this. I needed his help to contact Dr.J!

This also meant I had to re-schedule my flight.

The pleasure:

Started raining when I was on the taxi, on my way back home. Then I suddenly had the thought. Decided to go to this place: a food stall "Ojo Lali Boiled Muscle", near Advent Hospital. You can’t miss these: a portion of boiled muscles with peanut and pineapple sauce, a portion of squid fried kwe tiaw, and a glass of terong belanda juice. Yummeeee…………

I went home with a full stomach. Still raining. I didn’t bring my sweater, weather was cold.

MAY 17, 2007

Ahh, the public holiday. What would my plan be?

I went to tomb workshop, I ordered a tomb set for my dad’s grave.
Then I had to exchange my airplane ticket with the new one due to my extended stay.

I needed to check my emails and do some other things with internet. I was in internet cafe from 10.30 am to 2.30 pm, LOL. When I set up to go to my auntie’s house, it has rained! (God, I washed my clothes this morning. I hope Auntie Win didn’t let them wet. I didn’t have anything to wear anymore)
Took becak to go there. Met my mother’s youngest brother. Wow, been a long time, he looked so old! I had late lunch at 3 pm. I and Tia waited for sometime until rain stopped so we can go to Sun Plaza.

At Sun Plaza, Sogo was having sale! Then we tried ice cream from Taiwan: Charmy Snow Ice. One portion of it was very expensive: Rp 29,000 ( we ordered Dead by Chocolate). Unique, but expensive!!!! I was glad my order (Gold Digger, Rp 25,000) wasn’t served due to the waiter negligence!

Went to drug store and bread store, then we went home. Tia ordered Fried Mie Aceh for dinner. I went home late. Grandma was still awake.
I felt my stomach was aching, gosh, maybe because of the weather and the late lunch I had.

MAY 18, 2007

The work:

Stomach was still in pain and I had to poop several times. Taxi picked me up at 6.30 am. I wanted to be ready before Prof.A came.
Surgery was planned to start at 8 am, but we started late: 9 am.
The tumor was soft, cystic. Patient was female, again. Surgery finished at 10.30 am. Prof.A was happy and referred to one more hospital for the prospect.

Faisal, my Medan colleague, arrived and helped me to pack the equipments.
Took pictures with nurses. They were so nice and cooperative.

Wow, amazing, I can go home very early and would be able to get some rest.

The pleasure:
Had lunch, and rest for the rest of the day!!!!
My auntie brought my grandma to see the doctor. She’s been not well.

MAY 19, 2007

Home, home finally. I miss my niece and sister. No delays on the flight.

The work:
Deliver Selector to MK hospital again.
Checked emails in the office.

Some airlines suck! (April 28, 2007)

OK, you probably have read my previous postings about what my experience with some local airlines.

I’m now sitting in the lounge of Polonia Airport, Medan. I take Air Asia to go back to Jakarta. It was supposed to depart at 14.35 but last night I had a phone call, telling me that my flight would be delayed and the new schedule was 20.30. The person offered me another early flight, 19.05. So I chose it, cause I didn’t want to get home late.

What happened just now, they told me that it was also delayed. I will depart from Medan at 21.55. Arrghhhh, can u imagine? It was 17.30, that means I had to wait another 4 hours, and I will get home at mid nite.

Not to mention they charged high cost for the extra weight, Rp 20,000/kg

I’m bringing my Selector system, the transit case and the system weighs 32 kg, plus my baggage 13 kg. The limit is only 15 kg. You can calculate how much I paid!

A week ago, I flied on Lion Air to Surabaya. The seat was small and no space for my legs. I practically couldn’t move my body. But when I came home, I flied on Batavia Air. I love it. The seat is bigger.

Also when I went to Medan on Wednesday, I also flew with Batavia Air. So far, schedule was on time………..Fantastic. Although you couldn’t ask too much about the food.

No complaints!

===================================

2.38 AM, April 29, 2007:

Arrived at home almost 2 AM. My rating for Air Asia improved 1 point. They gave out a complimentary dinner box. Not too bad.

September 21, 2005 : Travel around

I have never had such a busy travelling schedule. On Monday, Sept 19, I flew to Semarang to meet an urology surgeon for my Greenlight PVP machine and met Dr. Wijitra, a gastroenterologist. Went home in the evening. Bought Wingko babat and Kue Moci for me, and bakpia for Yeny.

Then on Sept 20, went to office as usual, gave Susan a to-do-list, went to Siloam Gleneagles Hospital with her, then flew to Medan in the afternoon.

Stayed in my grandma's house for a night. On my way to her house, I saw lots lots of DURIAN....Wow.....The Durian season is here.....I wished I could eat them. But I didn't have time. My uncle dropped and picked me at Adam Malik Hospital on his motorcycle. Man......the hospital is very very far....And if you know it, it's the hospital where Mandala airplane burned victims were gathered. Waited for Dr. Adril, the busy neurosurgeon, from 8 AM. He showed up at 11.20 AM, followed him to O.T., waited again for 30 minutes, followed him to his office. He left to Haji Hospital. I talked for awhile with his assistant. Went to see Vice Director and Director.

My uncle brought me to bika ambon store, I bought Bika Ambon cakes and a bottle of terong belanda syrup (I don't know the fruit name in English).....More baggage to carry. Before went to Polonia, he brought me to the site where Mandala airplane crashed. His younger brother was one of the victims.

I arrived in Jakarta at 9.15 PM, arrive at home at around 10 PM. I unpacked, washed my dirty laundry, and packed again for Seoul trip.

SEOUL...........I'm coming!!!