Surabaya, the largest city in East Java (with a population of 2.5 Million) is a stop off point on the way to and from Bali. It is worth hanging around for day or two to explore. Here are my top things to do in Surabaya.
40,000 people lived and worked happily in 14 villages on the edge of Sidoarjo in Java, Indonesia. Surrounded by rice paddies and close to the sea it was a fairly quiet place away from the major city nearby of Surabaya. Until May 2006, when PT Lapindo, a major oil and gas explorer (who included Santos, a large Australian company, as a shareholder) got permission to perform an exploratory drill nearby.
Singapore has recently been named the most expensive city in Asia, overtaking Tokyo, and I was flying there and stopping over in transit for 12 hours on my way to explore the volcanoes of Java. I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. Here is how I did it.
Before I left Australia I had decided to say ‘Yes’ to any offer or invitation that came my way, as Danny Wallace did in the fun read ‘Yes Man’. The idea was to see what adventures this may lead me too, to get out of my hotel room, and to get out of my comfort zone. The only condition was that it had to be legal and not involve over inflated price gouging by older Russian ladies with so much make-up on they would resemble ‘the Joker’ if they cried (one step forward ladies of the night at the Hotel Uzbekistan bar in Tashkent).
Within one hour of my arrival in Tashkent I had been stopped in the street three times, my bag searched twice, and my pockets emptied out once by curt, unfriendly police. I was left in no doubt who was in control, although I was getting somewhat annoyed, but hey, this is Uzbekistan.
One of the best sites in Samarkand is away from the main tourist trail of Minarets, Madrasah and tombs, the remains of Afrosiab. This was the original city that pre-dates modern Samarkand. Described as ‘the most beautiful city in the world’ by a contemporary, it was a major trading station on the Silk road. Once occupied by Alexander the Great, it was destroyed by the violent Mongol invasion force in March 1220, with over 100,000 inhabitants being put to the sword.
