piero's travels2012-05-16T21:38:37Zpiero scaruffiCopyright 2012, piero scaruffiSPHPBLOGNandi, FijiLast day of my trip. Tomorrow i fly back to California via Auckland. With the exception of the very last few days in the Solomon Islands, this trip took me to Pacific islands that mainly cater to couples (hence the most frequently asked question "where is your wife"). I have to say that it reinforced my feelings against traveling with a significant other: not only is your freedom greatly reduced (you have to negotiate every single move) but you cannot mingle with the natives the way i usually do. I get more in one hour of a local bus ride than these couples will get from an entire week of "cultural activities" organized by the local travel agency, no matter how much they spend in "local guides" (who mainly specialize in taking them to souvenir shops). The Solomon Islands rank very high in my list of countries to re-visit. An incredible amount of the country is unspoiled and relatively unexplored, pretty much like New Guinea, but traveling around the Solomon Islands feels a lot safer than traveling around New Guinea. There is generally respect for the foreigner, vendors are not aggressive, and very few people try to take advantage of tourists. I still have to see Western Australia, and now i'm toying with the new of a trip from Western Australia to Papua to Solomon Islands, maybe adding some of the states of southern Oceania that i did not see this time (Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu). Northern Oceania (Micronesia) is more easier visited from Hawaii or Philippines. But let's first see if i survive the return trip to the USA. In recent years, no matter how adventurous the trip was, the worst thing always happened when i landed back in the West (eg when i came back unscathed from the Congo but then freaked out in New York's Harlem, or when i arrived in Paris from West Africa only to be stranded in the middle of a national strike). Not to mention the obnoxious stone-age customs & immigration officials of the USA that, still blissfully unaware of the existence of Google, Facebook, Flickr, etc, ask you such creative questions as "Where did you go?" and "For how long were you gone?"
Pictures of Solomon, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu www.scaruffi.com/monument/oceania]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120511-1715402012-05-11T00:00:00Z2012-05-11T00:00:00ZAuki, Solomon Islandshttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0412.html
]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120501-2324512012-05-02T00:00:00Z2012-05-02T00:00:00ZSavai and Apia, Samoahttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0412.html
]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120424-0222322012-04-24T00:00:00Z2012-04-24T00:00:00ZNadi (Nandi) and Suva, Fijihttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0412.html
]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120423-0203342012-04-23T00:00:00Z2012-04-23T00:00:00ZPreparing for Oceania or and ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120415-0229412012-04-15T00:00:00Z2012-04-15T00:00:00ZKuala Lumpur, Malaysiahttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120303-0911532012-03-03T00:00:00Z2012-03-03T00:00:00ZBandar Seri Begawan, Bruneihttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120302-0034232012-03-02T00:00:00Z2012-03-02T00:00:00ZBruneihttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120301-2010162012-03-02T00:00:00Z2012-03-02T00:00:00ZKuala Lumpur, Malaysiahttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120228-2152402012-02-29T00:00:00Z2012-02-29T00:00:00ZEnd of Bangladesh triphttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120227-0713042012-02-27T00:00:00Z2012-02-27T00:00:00ZBangladeshhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120225-0148582012-02-25T00:00:00Z2012-02-25T00:00:00ZDhaka, Bangladeshhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120221-0151222012-02-21T00:00:00Z2012-02-21T00:00:00ZReady for Bangladeshhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120219-0614242012-02-19T00:00:00Z2012-02-19T00:00:00ZHanimadhoo, Maldiveshttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120217-0735542012-02-17T00:00:00Z2012-02-17T00:00:00ZMaldiveshttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120216-0257162012-02-16T00:00:00Z2012-02-16T00:00:00ZMale, Maldiveshttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120216-0026502012-02-16T00:00:00Z2012-02-16T00:00:00ZSingapore to Malehttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120213-0840512012-02-13T00:00:00Z2012-02-13T00:00:00ZSingaporehttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120211-0852372012-02-11T00:00:00Z2012-02-11T00:00:00ZSingaporehttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog0212.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120210-0145402012-02-10T00:00:00Z2012-02-10T00:00:00ZPreparing for Singapore, Maldives, Bandladesh, etcTentative itinerary: Feb 9 SFO-Singapore Feb 15 Singapore-Male Feb 20 Male-Dhaka Mar 4 Dhaka-Singapore Mar 5 Singapore-SFO
I have the tickets already for all of these but a) There was a coup in the Maldives on Feb 6 b) Bangladesh's tourist visa is a lottery (in theory i could get it upon arrival, but most airlines don't let you board a flight to Bangladesh if you don't already have the visa, and i don't)
- Last time i was in Singapore was 2007. Now they have completed Daniel Libeskind's Reflection Towers and Moshe Safdie's Marina Bay Sands. - The Maldives are a huge archipelago of 1200 islands threatened by rising sea levels with an interesting culture http://www.visitmaldives.com/en/the-maldives/culture - Bangladesh must be a crazy country: 148 million people for 147 thousand square kms (California has 36 million people on 424 thousand square kms).
]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111126-0832192011-11-26T00:00:00Z2011-11-26T00:00:00ZCuzco, Peruhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111124-2019072011-11-25T00:00:00Z2011-11-25T00:00:00Zin transitSpent hours trying to find a way out of north Brazil. Too expensive to go anywhere north. Hence i bought a ticket for Campo Grande, which is near the Bolivian border. Then i will enter Bolivia and we'll see if i have more luck from there. ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111123-0826002011-11-23T00:00:00Z2011-11-23T00:00:00ZSalvador, northeast brazilhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111122-1807312011-11-22T00:00:00Z2011-11-22T00:00:00Zin transithttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111120-1617572011-11-20T00:00:00Z2011-11-20T00:00:00ZRio de Janeirohttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111119-1851552011-11-19T00:00:00Z2011-11-19T00:00:00ZRio de Janeirohttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111118-1908432011-11-19T00:00:00Z2011-11-19T00:00:00ZOuro Preto, Brazilhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111117-0953202011-11-17T00:00:00Z2011-11-17T00:00:00ZBrasilia
This entry has been moved to http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111115-1604252011-11-15T00:00:00Z2011-11-15T00:00:00ZSao Paulo, Brazilhttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111113-1803252011-11-13T00:00:00Z2011-11-13T00:00:00ZIguazu Falls, Argentina.
This entry has been moved to http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111112-1745122011-11-12T00:00:00Z2011-11-12T00:00:00ZBuenos Aireshttp://www.scaruffi.com/travel/blog1111.html ]]>http://www.scaruffi.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry111109-1008282011-11-09T00:00:00Z2011-11-09T00:00:00Z
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