My Sanctuary, Puncak Kertajaya

It's almost 2 years I live in Surabaya. So far I grow a fond of this city every day. I remember the first time I moved here. Excitement and worries mixed as I was going to start over completely by my own. I had close to no clue of how this city will turn out to be. The most important is where I would settle my residence. The first month living here, I rent a small room opposite a traditional market in the mid of city. Affordable and comfy enough for walking distance to work. Yet, when my Mom generously decided to trust her car to me I was having difficulties to arrange a parking spot for her (yeah, I called my car Britney. And yeah, she has a name! 😁 ). Almost in despair to find another "rent room" (we called "Kos" in Indonesian) with convenient parking spot and reasonable distance to work, Alhamdulillah, Allah SWT lead me to advertisement of this studio unit in Puncak Kertajaya Apartment that fit my budget. One story short, I got to lease this beautiful unit from a very nice lady and her sweet daughter (within my BUDGET! 😂)

BRIEF INTRO

It is not a high end apartment, but also not a budget flat. Residence are vary in backgrounds, families, elderly, young couples, university students (most are from ITS and Unair Specialist Residency programs), young executives, sometimes foreigners (exchange students, tourists, or else), etc. Family friendly enough. Those are only from my humble observation and unintended eavesdrop during my journey in elevators, lobbies, pools, parking lots, and Musholla.

LOCATION

Here we go with the brief details of this apartment. It is located in Keputih area (I think 😛), nearby Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Campus, East Surabaya. Location for  me is superb, easy access to airport, normal traffic you only have to pay around IDR 100,000.00 by taxi. Nearby 2 Shopping Malls, Galaxy Malls and East Coast Center. It takes around 30 mins for me to get to work in the center of the city. There are 2 supermarkets literally around the corner, Giant and Superindo. And Sakinah supermarket nearby.

FACILITIES

• 4 lobbies  (Tower A south and north, Tower B south and north)
• 1 Musholla, this is the most important and my fave from this Apt. You can have jamaah praying, especially during Ramadhan month
• 2 swimming pools smaller one for kids, and the bigger one only around 1.20 m depth. I only swam once as my bed always more appealing 😝😴
• 1 kids playground
• 1 gym and a table tennis area. Never been there actually, yups I am that lazy! 🙈
• 2 canteens, one in front of tower B the other in the pools area, and 1 cafe. Affordable enough with good taste.
• 1 Mandiri Bank ATM
• 1 Laundry
• 1 24hours Alfamart
• 1 place you can order bottled mineral water
• Motorcycles, bikes and cars parking areas
• 24 hours securities, maintenance and cleaning service
• In the morning there is a "Tukang Sayur", a man with his motorcycle full of veggies, fruits, meats, fishes, chickens, spices, basically what you need for cooking. I think he arrives around 8 o'clock in front of apartment, nearby the entrance parking portals.
• In the evening there is a Bonnet bakery man with motorcycle, around 6 or 7 o'clock also in front of apartment nearby the entrance parking portals.
• First Media for TV cable and internet connection
• No Mailbox, so if you receive letters or packages you have to retrieve from management office with notification slid under your door.

COST, CHARGE, FEE

For the rent is vary, around IDR 2 - 3 millions for studio unit, and 3 - 5 millions for 2 bedrooms unit, depends on the facilities offered. You can check in the site like OLX, Urbanindo, etc, to find out more.

Service charge is IDR 900,000.00 per 6 months for studio unit and maybe, if I am not mistaken 🙏, around 1,5 millions for 2 bedrooms unit. 1 car and 1 motorcycle parks per unit are included in this charge.

Electricity and water bills, for me personally around IDR 300 - 400 thousands, as I do my own laundry and am not a fan of air conditioner. However, I am looking forward to see how this much increment as I cook almost everyday now. You know, rice cooker, blender, and water for the dishes. I will update later.

First Media for TV cable and internet connection start from around IDR 250,000.00/month.

Guest parking, the first 10 minutes are free. Then it starts from IDR 4,000.00 and max 9,000.00 for cars, and IDR 2,000.00 for motorbikes. However, be careful with the overnight charge, IDR 100,000.00 for cars and 50,000.00 for motorbikes. Therefore remember to drive them out before 24 hours park and park them back afterward.

MY SANCTUARY

For me now this is My Sanctuary for almost 2 years despite its rather small size. My Home, a place I miss whenever I am away. Alhamdulillah, I am lucky enough to rent a unit in the corner of higher floor so I can have not only enough sun 🌞 everyday (FYI, I dislike to have a humid and damp place due to lack of sun 🌁 ) but also both of city and pools view. I can see fireworks from afar whenever there are any in the city and Suramadu Bridge. I do my own laundry, and just hang them inside since I learnt the hard way before for trusting to hang them outside while I am away for work and found them all wet from the rain when I came home ⛆ 😭. My clothes are always dry nicely inside, without funny odor after.

My favorite time of the year is Ramadhan month, it's when I can join Tarwih Jamaah Praying at the Musholla. It is small, but there are always residence come to do Tarwih Praying together. I find it sweet and serenity and I think not many apartment residence have what we have here. An active Musholla.

The only issue living here is if you have a car, you have to strive (a bit exaggerating here 🙆) each night if you want to park your beloved car in the normal parking spot, not the parallel one. My advise is never come home more than 9 or 10 o'clock at night. I won't ever let my Britney park parallel that have a huge tendency to get scratch or dent. So I will always keen to be discipline to come home max at 9 o'clock at night. If I have urgent matters, I make sure I park Britney first at home and go by taxi instead.

Oh yeah, I have to mention the wall is no thick enough therefore sometimes you can hear your neighbor talking, their TV, their running (upper floor), foot steps and chatter in the hall or maybe when they pounding something against the wall you can hear them. As I mentioned before this is not a high end apartment, so don't exceed expectation from the beginning. There was a few times I heard my neighbor in the unit at the end of the hall (quite far from mine) arguing, family issues, but luckily the security act promptly. Personally I have no issue against these, as I don't really comfortable with total silent. But maybe if you preference is total desolation this is not a place for you. 

Hope this post will do enough for anyone who currently considering Apartment Puncak Kertajaya as a place to live in this city, Surabaya. As I said before I had minimum info when I was trying to find out more about this apartment. Maybe later on I will update with pictures, if I am not lazy 😁✌

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