Nora Suryanti (Soh Lian Tjie) puzzle 9

Mr Muljono managed to get the car of the secretary-general of the Ministry of Information, Mr. Harjoto, to visit the Borobudur. It was really gratifying. Everybody was so nice and pleasing! The road was not so bad. I had expected the situation to be worse. The people did not look famished. There was no prosperity, but to me, everything seemed normal. The meals at the hotel were adequate and nice. There was some trouble with the light, but it did not bother us too much.

Two nice Javanese girls helped me and I promised them to take them to the cinema, They were very nice. They had gone through terrible times. Though they looked healthy enough, they had not known an abundance of food. Yet, I was sure that better days would soon be there for them, and for all of us!

When we went back to Semarang, Mr Muljono came with us in the truck. I would continue from Semarang to Surabaya by train, while Mr Inkiriwang would look after the exhibits.

In Surabaja, I was welcomed by officials of the Ministry of Information of East Java. I came to stay at Hotel Orange. At that time, accommodation was still difficult and no hotels had an attached bathroom and toilet. I was too innocent to leave my room unlocked while taking a bath. I had some valuables stolen.

I met an old friend from Makassar. She was employed by the KPM, the Royal Packet Navigation Company - a Dutch shipping company. She was a Dutch nurse who was once stationed in Makassar. Now, she was married and lived in Surabaya. She came to see me and wanted to take me to Malang. But I had my exhibition to put up. There was no technical aid that I could expect so I had to supervise everything myself.

The opening of the exhibition was a tremendous success! The editor in chief of the Soerabaja Post wrote a full-page article about it.

I met a young Dutchman who was married to a Chinese girl. He told me that he and some of his friends were employed by various Dutch Firms after their demobilization from the Army. Those firms were also newly re-operated. Those young men were very much surprised to meet some Chinese girls who were able to speak the Indonesian traditional languages (Javanese, Madurese, Sundanese) and Bahasa Indonesia. Those girls were even earning huge salaries. They met, they fall in love, and got married! However, some marriages did not last very long!
Well, war-brides had its advantages but also disadvantages.

After an absence of two months, I arrived in Makassar by boat. I was very grateful that this great mission had been successful, but it did not end at that!