about myself

i am abdul lattif from kuala lumpur,malaysia and have been travelling across south east asia for a number of times.
this blog is exclusively for travel infos and tips within this very diverst and amazing region.

INDONESIA

the reason i put indonesia first because its the largest and very uniqeu country yet many travellers like to avoid this friendly and beautiful country just because some bad news in the media.A few bombings cant give the good answer why people should think this is dangerous place to have fun and to roam around.It seems if one decide to go to indonesia the place to be must be Bali.Yes,bali is very fine place to get some rest,they have beautiful beaches,a lot of western amenities,fine restaurants,world class hotels and people there some says the most friendlier human being on earth.After been there for a few times maybe you can understand why.So what the problem with Bali?
1)its really a tourist area and im sure with tourism so booming lately u not want to fit yourself in another very popular and very crowded places
2)Bali is the by far the most expensive place in indonesia
3)the girls is beautiful but i tell you Bandung and Jogjakarta have better option for that
4)there are many interesting place to be but you cant imagine what other part of indonesia have to offer
so let make some camparisons on the things i mentioned above

good hotel
u can get good hotel by the beach of bali for at least usd100.in other part of indonesia if you pre book by internet u can stay at 5 star hotel with only usd50.Yes,im talking about real 5 star hotel
example is grand mercure hotel in jogjakarta its situated in a very centre of the city converted from dutch colonial building and their restaurant menus and ambiance complete with in house pianist is better than many 5 star hotel i ever been.book at accorhotels.com or do a quick check at hotelscombined.com which is the best tools to compare many websites coz its already include so many popular booking websites such sasiarooms,octapustravel,hotelclub,booking.com and many others.its free and you for sure save a lot of time searching for the best deals.

cheap hotel
As a 23 years old single male traveller i from time to time stay at cheap places because of the fun of doing it as well as to save some money.And i tell you there are no country in south east asia offer so much value for money like indonesia.They dont really have backpackers allies like thailand and cambodia.the reason is simple ,coz they dont need that.Bangkok is famous of it khao San road but they have endless of bad sides.to name a few khao san is not in the centre of bangkok,no bts train station which is at many places around the world is the easiest and fastest mode of travelling across big cities,if you are not whites i guarantee you will feel like aliens in this place,forget it if you are asian or blacks or anything else,the place full of not really reliable travel agencies coz the business people know these customer will likely visit bangkok once or in a long time after their first one and dont have time to lodge reports on their wrongdoings and if you want to know their rooms rate is not really cheap you can get better deal if you really looking in other part of the city.example is ibis hotel with only around usd30 you can buy yourself a 3 star and brand new hotel.Book at ibishotel.com.


Advice for the first time traveller to indonesia

1)dont use touts at any airport coz u will likely to get rip off (exp is in jakarta soekarno hatta airport where i myself being charge as much as 300,000 rupiah for 1 and half hour ride to central jakarta which the actual rate is only around 100,000 rupiah with a very comfartable blue bird taxi that use meter where the last time i check in january2008 the taxi counter have been removed inside the arrival hall probably the latest effort by the authority to cut this so many touts at the airport area .take my advice if you dont have anyone to pick u up at the airport make sure u book your taxi inside the arrival hall coz once u get out of the airport building you may experience something u never experiance at any other place,your bags may snatch off by touts and taken to their cars where about 5-6 peoples surround u and than negotiate your ride price.U will know that is not really a negotiation,so listen to me just book the blue bird taxi and one of their employee will escort u outside of the arrival hall and will wait for u untill u step in your taxi. if you dont know usd100 is about 930,000 rupiah.so do the math.