Clever Dubai

Well organised. Dubai has gone to the extreme in creating tourist hot spots. To mention a few, Atlantis at the Palm Island, ski resort in the middle of the desert, many shopping centres, water park at Atlantis Palm Island and boat rides on the Creek. All these places can be visited by using the Big Bus transport system that runs every 20 minutes. Dubai has huge construction projects. The desert safari is a must when visiting Dubai and the dune rides will get your heart rate pumping, dinner at a desert camp while watching a belly dancer, a camel ride or just watching the stars in the clear desert sky at night.


However Dubai is very expensive. Worth visiting, but besides the desert nothing much that would want me to visit again. Everybody is a foreigner in Dubai. People are there to work, make money and make ends meet. Many man made islands, but short of the island lifestyle.



Enjoy

Surabaya to Bali

First time in Surabaya was good. Not much tourist places to visit as one has to venture out huge distances to see tourist places. People are very friendly as always in Indonesia. Surabaya is a good platform to start a little adventure travel to Bali. Stayed there one night and the following morning started the road trip to Bali. On trip adviser website there are many discouraging comments about doing a road trip from Surabaya to Bali. I was curious to see what the hassle was all about. Well for starters I enjoyed it. The ride was like a role la coaster and I was on my toes. The traffic is hectic. The road is a two way lane and every time the driver overtake it looks like we heading for a head on coalition with the on coming traffic. The traffic does take a bit of getting use to. The further you go from Surabaya the nicer the passing views. We st oped at a cafe for lunch. All good. After a eight hour drive we reached the rat infested ferry. I think we were the only tourists on board amongst all the locals. A quick forty minute transfer with the ferry and we reached the island of Bali. Bali off course was still another hundred kilometers from where the ferry stopped and it was dark when we got there. So no taxi or bus in site we hired a minibus to take us to the nearest hotel or lodge. While the minibus driver fixed a flat wheel we had supper at a cafe then checked in at the local Sari Hotel at about 9pm. The following day we hitched a ride on a local bus to take us to Bali. A nice three hour ride. We made it to Bali and my God, Paradise. Bali is beautiful, lots of activity, water sport, cycling, hiking, river rafting etc.... and don't forget the nightlife. Beautiful beaches and many surfers.The pubs and clubs stay open until the early hours of the morning. So it was day and night fun and adventure. Out of all the cities and towns I visited, Bali Rocks.

Jalan Jalan

Just got back from Indonesia and Malaysia. My first visit to Indonesia was wonderful. People are so friendly and relaxed considering the millions of people living there. Jakarta's traffic is hectic so I didn't mind staying there for one night. Bandung and Medan are nice towns to explore, mix with the locals and not so busy. Lots of activity in Bandung and Medan for the adventure traveller. I most definitely will visit again. excite@absamail.co.za