I've just spent a wonderful night at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Majapahit in Surabaya, Indonesia. This is one of those marvelous colonial era hotels, built in 1910 by the Sarkies Brothers, the same people who built the E&O in Penang, the Strand in Yangoon and of course their most well known property, Raffles in Singapore. Unlike those other hotels, a night at the Majapahit is amazingly affordable. My deluxe rooms was just around US$75 a night.

Although my room features all the modern conveniences, such as internet access, it is nonetheless extremely faithful to the original design and layout of almost 100 years ago. Entry is through a small terrace facing a landscaped courtyard. On the other side of the court is the presidential suite. Just inside the room is a very nice sitting room with sofa, chairs, a butler style coffee table and a large desk. This area is screened off from the sleeping area with a wood and glass paneled partition. The bed is enclosed in a heavy mosquito net. The bathroom is quite large, with seperate tub and shower.

All rooms are arranged in a sequence of courtyards surrounding the church-like ballroom. While it all gives a turn of the century feel to the place, there is still a pool, gym, tennis courts and spa.  Check out my photo gallery for lots of pictures.

Indonesian independence was in fact declared at this hotel, making it a very historic place indeed. While there isn't much to see in Surabaya itself, the hotel would still make a very nice place to rest up for a couple of days before pressing onward to the interior of Eastern Java, as I'm about to do myself. In about an hour I'm off on an adventure to Mount Bromo.

But that will be another posting entirely.