Can someone share their experience re overnights in Sorong hotels? We are in the process of booking our RA trip and I am trying to figure out what should I bring with me to make the stay a little more comfortable. Is the food safe to eat? (I dont mind a local nasi goring type meal as long as the food doesnt give you tummy problems) How about the bathroom and beds? Clean sheets and shower water? It doesnt seem like anyone ever has anything nice to say about Sorong is the problem more to do with boring town? Or nasty hotels?
How bad are the hotels in Sorong (and Sorong in general)?
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Shasta_man
Contributor
No worries.
I stayed in the usual JE Meridien hotel across the street from the airport before getting on the Paradise Dancer.
Very clean (tiled), relatively large rooms. The rooms are individually air conditioned with the usual wall units you see in Asia. Plenty cool enough. The hallways to the rooms had open windows with no screens. A concern as it is a malarial area. A couple mossies got in my room and I hadn't started my malarone due to the effect on my sleep (Malarone dreams). Got a couple bites but I'm still good 1.5 years later.
Restaurant on the first floor with u can take food back to the room. Breakfast was a bit sketchy with just some oil based butter and some gruel looking stuff. Indo breakfast is typically good spicy noodles, but I don't remember seeing that. I brought oatmeal packets. For dinner, I suggest the shrimp skewers as the sauce is delicious after initially buying chicken thinking it'd be neutral, but I honestly got something like beaks and other unidentifiable crunchy chicken (what would be crunchy?!) covered with a delicious sauce.
A trip advisor report reminded me of the tiny box containing hot water for the shower. It was like 18 inches square. Set to hot...empty.
One thing is the call to prayers. There are Muslim mosques nearby and they have mutliple calls to prayers which means "music" broadcast over the entire place at various times during the day most notably at like 6 AM. That was my first exposure and...wasn't my cup of tea.
Important is be prepared for delays leaving the airport as they literally had 1 guy passing an entire 737's luggage through a small door into the airport. And it is baking hot with no aircon. Being in NY, you might be able to handle the heat and humidity. More important is be prepared for delays leaving Sorong. All the flights the day we left were 3+ hours delayed. Worse was the heat leaving. It was big time hot and humid trying to check in the airport and a ton of people. Having locals check you through the airport is a major plus. You wouldn't want to be part of the crowd. Multiple people in our group nearly passed out waiting to check through. Meanwhile locals are standing around with, no lie, full coats and sweaters on. I'm just pouring sweat. The waiting area has fans, no aircon and plenty of people stuffed in there. Hydrate and bring water. There is a little store in the waiting area to buy cool drinks and other stuff including pearls!
I stayed in the usual JE Meridien hotel across the street from the airport before getting on the Paradise Dancer.
Very clean (tiled), relatively large rooms. The rooms are individually air conditioned with the usual wall units you see in Asia. Plenty cool enough. The hallways to the rooms had open windows with no screens. A concern as it is a malarial area. A couple mossies got in my room and I hadn't started my malarone due to the effect on my sleep (Malarone dreams). Got a couple bites but I'm still good 1.5 years later.
Restaurant on the first floor with u can take food back to the room. Breakfast was a bit sketchy with just some oil based butter and some gruel looking stuff. Indo breakfast is typically good spicy noodles, but I don't remember seeing that. I brought oatmeal packets. For dinner, I suggest the shrimp skewers as the sauce is delicious after initially buying chicken thinking it'd be neutral, but I honestly got something like beaks and other unidentifiable crunchy chicken (what would be crunchy?!) covered with a delicious sauce.
A trip advisor report reminded me of the tiny box containing hot water for the shower. It was like 18 inches square. Set to hot...empty.
One thing is the call to prayers. There are Muslim mosques nearby and they have mutliple calls to prayers which means "music" broadcast over the entire place at various times during the day most notably at like 6 AM. That was my first exposure and...wasn't my cup of tea.
Important is be prepared for delays leaving the airport as they literally had 1 guy passing an entire 737's luggage through a small door into the airport. And it is baking hot with no aircon. Being in NY, you might be able to handle the heat and humidity. More important is be prepared for delays leaving Sorong. All the flights the day we left were 3+ hours delayed. Worse was the heat leaving. It was big time hot and humid trying to check in the airport and a ton of people. Having locals check you through the airport is a major plus. You wouldn't want to be part of the crowd. Multiple people in our group nearly passed out waiting to check through. Meanwhile locals are standing around with, no lie, full coats and sweaters on. I'm just pouring sweat.
The waiting area has fans, no aircon and plenty of people stuffed in there. Hydrate and bring water. There is a little store in the waiting area to buy cool drinks and other stuff including pearls!Never been to Sorong so I can not provide answers to your question but it's funny for me to read this. As a Yank who has lived in Asia for 27 years and traveled to seemingly every other tiny island, the view of others crack me up - only in that it is a different point of view. Not criticizing. For example, the "tiny box that holds the shower water" is an ingenious way to provide hot water. It doesn't actually "store" any; just turn it on (usually by a switch outside the door of the bathroom) and then turn on the water. It heats it as it goes through the pipe. Usually the problem is that it is too hot but it doesn't waste energy by keeping vast amounts of water heated. Cheers.
Darnold9999
Contributor
Had much the same experience as Shasta Man.
Nice room in the Meridian, no issues at all. Food was actually pretty good - we ate as a group of 8 or so sharing dishes so got to try a bunch of dishes.
Our plane was so late that we missed the connection to Bali and ended up in a very sketchy hotel in Makasar for the night.
Nice room in the Meridian, no issues at all. Food was actually pretty good - we ate as a group of 8 or so sharing dishes so got to try a bunch of dishes.
Our plane was so late that we missed the connection to Bali and ended up in a very sketchy hotel in Makasar for the night.
Kilili
Contributor
Pretend you're on a camping trip, and it will all seem just fine. Beds have sheets, and bath has running water. Food unlikely to harm you as long as you stick to rules for eating in third world countries, like bottled water only, peeling fruits, etc.
For entertainment, you can always stand by the road and watch cars and trucks go by. Maybe go to the airport and hope to see a plane land. Sleeping is a good way to pass the time.
One, maybe two days of this is ok. More than that, less so.
For entertainment, you can always stand by the road and watch cars and trucks go by. Maybe go to the airport and hope to see a plane land. Sleeping is a good way to pass the time.
One, maybe two days of this is ok. More than that, less so.
All the flights the day we left were 3+ hours delayed. Worse was the heat leaving. It was big time hot and humid trying to check in the airport and a ton of people. Having locals check you through the airport is a major plus. You wouldn't want to be part of the crowd. Multiple people in our group nearly passed out waiting to check through. Meanwhile locals are standing around with, no lie, full coats and sweaters on. I'm just pouring sweat.
But you didn't mention some of the positive sides of the airport in Sorong ...
- Every male in the waiting room is a chain smoker, and proud of it!
- No matter how late your plane is, how many hours you spend in the waiting room, you seriously do not want to use the bathrooms there.
- When it's time to board, forget an orderly line through the door; everyone is all elbows and in a rush to get aboard a cramped, hot plane.
- Even though your baggage is checked in, and you weren't overweight, that's not reason enough to expect that it's going to get on the plane with you. Plan at least one extra day in Indonesia with the hopes that your dive gear "might" catch up with you. Could go either way.
jake11
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We also stayed one night at the Je Meridian! The breakfast was terrible so do bring some oatmeal packets or energy bars of some sort. The dinners were quite good . We had shrimp and it was very tasty. The only problem is that dinner was served in the lobby with all of the chain smokers puffing away and the mossies buzzing around everywhere. You could also smell the tire and auto smells from the car dealership that is sharing the lobby with the hotel. The rooms were okay..just okay. Our shower leaked over the little edge and there was water everywhere. Kind of gross! We did get up in the morning and took about an hour long walk up into the hills behind the hotel. It was fun to watch all of the locals and chat with a few of them. Make sure you spray on your mossie spray! We are heading to Sorong again in a few days. This time we opted to stay the night in Manado instead of having to go back to the Je Meridian if that answers your question. I agree with everyone about the SO WRONG airport! I hate that place. We have departed there 2x and it was brutal both times. It is about 1,000,000 degrees in there with a million smoking people packed in and a couple of old fans to cool you off! HA!( okay..slight exaggeration!)
The first time our plane was about 3 hours late and this last November it was about 1.5-2 hours late. This last time I went to the little door to get some air and I showed the smoking agent my boarding pass with the boarding time printed on it and he burst out laughing! The bathrooms are GROSS!!!!!!!!!With all of that being said, it is totally worth all of the pain to dive in RA! Although I am very happy that we are only flying into Sorong this time and departing from Manado! Have fun!!!
The first time our plane was about 3 hours late and this last November it was about 1.5-2 hours late. This last time I went to the little door to get some air and I showed the smoking agent my boarding pass with the boarding time printed on it and he burst out laughing! The bathrooms are GROSS!!!!!!!!!With all of that being said, it is totally worth all of the pain to dive in RA! Although I am very happy that we are only flying into Sorong this time and departing from Manado! Have fun!!!
Darnold9999
Contributor
Re eating at the Meridian - go upstairs to the dining room on the second floor. The little cafe beside the front desk is not a place I would recommend.
I actually had a reasonably good trip a couple of months ago re the airport. Was only half an hour late leaving which I view as ontime for an internal flight. The boat took all of our bags to the airport in advance - they checked them in - we came to the airport near the end of the process. Worked out well.
I actually had a reasonably good trip a couple of months ago re the airport. Was only half an hour late leaving which I view as ontime for an internal flight. The boat took all of our bags to the airport in advance - they checked them in - we came to the airport near the end of the process. Worked out well.
Shasta_man
Contributor
Ah yes, HighDesert and others remind me...how could I forget the bathrooms?! I ended up (gasp) using one. I thanked all the gods I could think of that I was a male, and that a "watering hole" was all I needed because the nicest thing you could say is that's all it was, and some primitive implements you wouldn't want to touch if your life depended on it. It always amazes me in these types of places how little effort is put into such a normal and constant requirement. Some cultures could think we're silly for such requirements for "facilities" but I'm glad to avoid the diseases we do by having them.
It was too bad I didn't get to enjoy any more of the food at the hotel as I like that kind of food and enjoyed everything else during the trip (even the unidentifiable Papuan homemade peanut something they served on the plane along with Indo KFC). I'd still like to know what part of the chicken they gave me.
Ah yes, tankless water heater. That's become the latest in plumbing updates here in the US at least since I've come to know about it from repiping my house. I didn't realize it at the time but I'm sure I navigated the controls they told me but only got about 180 seconds of hot water and it was all cool from there. Shoulda had Zippsy along.
It was too bad I didn't get to enjoy any more of the food at the hotel as I like that kind of food and enjoyed everything else during the trip (even the unidentifiable Papuan homemade peanut something they served on the plane along with Indo KFC). I'd still like to know what part of the chicken they gave me.
Ah yes, tankless water heater. That's become the latest in plumbing updates here in the US at least since I've come to know about it from repiping my house. I didn't realize it at the time but I'm sure I navigated the controls they told me but only got about 180 seconds of hot water and it was all cool from there. Shoulda had Zippsy along.
Don't get me wrong ... I respect the traditions and culture of Asia ... even their bathrooms. Their standars work for them; we're the interlopers. They had plumbing hundreds of years before the USA thought about it, and there is nothing sacrosanct about western toilets. But please ... in an airport ... if there could be even the tiniest hint that someone cleans that bathroom (I think there are two "one hole" bathrooms in the airport) at least once every few days, that would be a really nice improvement.
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