"Comments from our guests" ======================= May / Mei 2008 Beste familie Buiskool. Ik heb het genoegen gehad ruim een week in uw hotel te mogen verblijven. De cottage waar ik in overnachtte was prima! Ruim en gezellig en met smaak ingericht en ook het sanitair van goede kwaliteit en alles prima onderhouden! Alle lof en complimenten hiervoor. Vanaf het balkon van de cottage heb je een prachtig uitzicht op de mooi aangelegde en keurig onderhouden tuin. De ligging van het hotel doet me sterk denken aan 'vroegere tijden'. Ontbijten op het terras gaf een goed gevoel. Ik vind het wel prettig dat het hotel buiten de stad ligt. Je hebt niet de drukte van de stad en de lucht is beslist zuiverder. Met de auto of de becak-motor ben je trouwens snel in het centrum van Medan. Ik heb ook diverse keren in het hotel gedineerd. Het eten was prima en ik werd bediend door alleraardigste dames. Prima personeel! Wilt u dit nogmaals aan hen doorgeven? Alleen...de mihun goreng porties waren wat aan de zuinige kant... Het deed me goed na zovele jaren weer naar mijn geboortestad Medan terug te keren. Er is ontzettend veel veranderd en helaas niet alles ten goede. Veel van het ''goede oude'' is verdwenen en wat er nog staat van vroeger heeft dringend onderhoud nodig. Hopelijk zien de autoriteiten in dat het culturele erfgoed het verdient behouden te blijven. Ook hartelijk dank voor de adviezen die u en James hebben gegeven. Die hebben er zeker toe bijgedragen van deze reis een succes te maken. Onder andere de bezoeken aan de vroegere interneringskampen Pulau Brayan en Glugur waar ik als kleine jongen met mijn moeder en zusje gezeten heb. Nogmaals hartelijke dank en ik zal bij vrienden en kennissen uw hotel zeer zeker aanbevelen. 23.5.2008 Harold W. Penn Email: h.penn@hetnet.nl ----------------------------------------------- November 2007 "I stayed here for a night as I was leaving Sumatra after a somewhat grueling two-month consulting assignment in Banda Aceh. What a find! Beautiful lush grounds, lovely architecture, friendly hosts (Diana and Dirk) - the pictures at the hotel website, lovely as they are, don't really do it justice. I only wish I had found out about it sooner. To my great regret I left Sumatra without seeing Lake Toba and Mt. Leuser as I had hoped, and Deli River would have been a perfect place to do it from. (There's also river rafting for the more adventurous.) I'm quite sure Diana and Dirk would have organized it far better than anyone else. I found this place to be full of pleasant and intriguing surprises, from the ramp system (I didn't quite figure it out completely, but the place appears wheelchair accessible, not something one expects anywhere in Asia, let along 12 km outside Medan), to the music wafting out of the open air lounge when a visiting pianist takes a turn at the great- sounding new Yamaha upright, to the fact that Dirk is an historian (specializing in the Medan area) - be sure to ask about walking to the nearby archeological site. The clientele (including restaurant patrons) is intriguingly diverse, ranging (apparently) from local families with multiple young kids to nostalgic Sumatra-born Dutch returnees. A few things to keep in mind: It is outside Medan so eg shopping trips involve a taxi ride (a small price to pay for NOT staying in one of the - I thought - rather grim city hotels). The whole operation is very small scale and personalized, so if there is anything you want to do, email / talk to Diana and Dirk to get it organized. The airport transfer (mine was in a spotless white van with a polite, mature driver) was about USD12 one way, but one transfer is included in the room rate. the younger children I saw were happy exploring and hanging out, but I think older or higher-maintenance kids might get antsy after a bit - there is TV in the rooms but almost all Indonesian stations (and Russian? go figure), some baskets of toys (thoughtfully), but no pool etc (yet). OK, enough. Go. Enjoy!" Sara Bennett, Canada email: sbenett@bicn.com ----------------------------------------------- June 12 2007 Dear Diana & Family, From the bottom of my heart, thank you for a very exciting holiday for my twins & me. Not only did James plan a great journey at such a short time, I have to admit you all provided us a very comfortable trip thru' all the historic places. My main wish was to see Lake Toba and to see the local cultures of the various Batak tribes....and it was fulfilled. I really enjoyed the whole trip and En. Sanill was also very protective and friendly. On coming home to P.Jaya (KL), I told everything to my sisters and we plan to be back real soon. So dear Diana, once again thank you so much for your kind hospitality & trust in us. p.s. We loved staying at Hotel Deli River. The food was excellent, the room was very, very clean....one can practically sleep at the bathroom. And your staff was also so very friendly. Thank you all. Lastly...keep up the good work, Yours truly, ROSNANI AB. RAHMAN e-mail : nani@tm.com.my No. 18, Jalan 14/57, Section 14, 46100 Petaling Jaya Selangor Malaysia. ----------------------------------------------- September 19, 2006 Hello Diana, Dirk, James and all the staff at Hotel Deli River and Trijaya Tour & Travel. Well it seems so long ago since we were there with you. I would just like to say that we had a fantastic time with you and your staff. A friendly welcome awaits. Our 7 days with you was a great start to our Indonesian adventure. You all went out of your way to help and look after us, from the fantastic food, great trip to the jungle to see the Elephants and the Orang Utan to the great accomodation. We will definitely visit you all again. A big thanks to James who put our 7 day itenary into place which covered everything we went there to see. There was a lot of road travel but the end result was worth it. This should not put off anyone from doing this. Our guide was a top guy and stopped as and when we wanted for breaks and coffee. I have put a link to your website on my website, hope you will be able to do the same for me. My website is alexfoordphotography.com Kind Regards Alex and David Foord e-mail : alex.foord@btinternet.com www.alexfoordphotography.com ----------------------------------------------- August 2006 "It was a wonderful holiday for a very reasonable price. The last evening in hotel Deli River was lovely. I felt as though I had returned to civilisation." Christopher Fitzgerald email: chrisfitzg@hotmail.com. ----------------------------------------------- June 2006 We are only writing to you now after our trip to Sumatra (Medan-Toba-Brastagi) and our brief meeting at your hotel in Medan. Our trip to Sumatra was the very beginning a long 6-week "trek" that took us through Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Vietnam. We only came back home in Canada 3 weeks ago, and are still sorting through the 3000 pictures we took (the danger of digital cameras...!) We had to tell you that, of all the places we stayed, yours turned out to be the most pleasant and best of all. Also, both our guide and driver were also the most professional. We once had a very good guide in China, but the driver was not, another time when the driver was good but not the guide... Now our travel advisory to our friends is: GO THERE! NOW! With our sincere thanks, Lyubov and Jacques Mainguy Email: jacquesmainguy@yahoo.ca ----------------------------------------------- Mei 2006 Beste Familie Buiskool, Sinds vorige week ben ik terug in Nederland. En nu ik bij mijn dochter in Veenendaal ben, kan ik van haar computer en e-mail gebruik maken U te schrijven. Onze reis door Sumatra was een succes.... Wat het verblijf In Uw hotel betrof, alle lof. De kamers zo liefdevol ingericht, het eten echt heel lekker en het personeel alleraardigst. Door de ligging deed het me echt aan het vroegere Indie denken en vooral ook het ontbijt buiten op het terras. Het was een feest in Uw hotel te zijn en U ook te leren kennen.Gaat alles goed, ook met de kinderen? U het allerbeste toegewenst en ik hoop, dat vele touristen in Uw hotel zullen verblijven. Vele hartelijke groeten Ria Meijburg-Straatman Email: abons@wanadoo.nl -----------------------------------------------