The Royal Heritage Surakarta Hotel

The hotel we are living in for a month is beautiful. One goal of the IBM Corporate Service Corps program is to be immersed in the culture we are living in while abroad. Typically this means the hotels are not what would be considered a three-star accommodation in the western world, but might be considered a three-star for the area a CSCer is staying in.

My team hit the jackpot. We are staying in a five-star Indonesia hotel. It's not perfect, but it's pretty amazing and we've been treated very well. We have a huge buffet breakfast to eat at every morning - cappuccinos included; receive a surprise gift and fresh fruit in our room every Friday evening, there is an ridiculously affordable day spa and a beautiful and relaxing pool and pool bar.

This hotel was chosen over other hotels because of the amount of culture in the hotel. While it is a higher living standard than the typical CSC assignment we are surrounded by Javanese culture. Not a detail in this hotel seems to have gone without notice for adding a touch of the local culture to it. The art and decor are stunning; breakfast is very local (but thank goodness has a few western things - such as scrambled eggs and cheese); every morning for two hours two older gentleman play hauntingly beautiful music on traditional Javanese instruments called Ganglan and we are greeted at the door to the hotel by a man dressed in traditional Javanese dress (perhaps of some royal butler kind of apparel).

Here are several photos to give you a feel of our surroundings.

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