Following is reprint of Indojet’s announcement on suspending their flights. BUT, what is not clear, is exactly what is organised for current passengers. My particular concern, is for family members, who flew to Bali from Perth with Indojet on Wednesday 24th - but are due to return on July 4th

Indojet re-scheduled them onto a Garuda flight going out, but I’m not sure if they intend to do the same coming back in? Unfortunately, they are not answering their phones!! I am going to keep trying to ring them, but at what point do I give up?, or are they already making arrangements for their committed passengers?

“29 June 2009 Indojet Asia Pty Ltd have temporarily suspended services for 4 weeks beginning from the 29th of June 2009. The management have proposed this course of action to minimise the uncertainty of flight timings and to minimise the impact on the passengers as a result of the peak holiday season this time of the year and the unavailability of alternative carriers to transport Indojet’s passengers.Indojet is a charterer and do not operate an airline. Indojet Asia chartered aircraft to fly the Perth - Denpasar - Perth route from OzJet Airlines Pty Ltd. OzJet Airlines have recently been put under external administration and as a result, Indojet Asia has had to source for alternative carriers to assist in transporting Indojet passengers. The matter has been further exacerbated by the fact that the administrators of OzJet Airlines have not provided paperwork which would enable alternative carriers from Australia to fly the Perth - Denpasar - Perth route.Management have decided that the delay caused by the administrators of OzJet Airlines would have to be addressed in the legal forums and that the time required to obtain the necessary paperwork enabling flights on the said route, would be too long. As such it would be prudent to suspend travel services temporarily in order to enable Indojet’s resources to be utilised in sourcing another charter arrangement with another airline and the necessary paperwork to enable flights on the said Perth - Denpasar - Perth route.

All passengers who will be affected by the temporary suspension of services have been informed in writing and the passengers have been provided with alternative arrangements with respect to their travel arrangements. ”

 

Anyone from Australia interested in buying about 16,000 Nepalese Rupee??

Let me know, as I have come back from my recent trip with way too much money left, and no way to exchange it back into anything useful!! We tried to change our Rupee to Indian at Kathmandu airport, and they weren’t interested. We didn’t think it would be a huge issue, as we figured we could change it in India!!  WRONG!!!

Obviously, Australian banks also are not interested in Nepalese Rupee!.

 But, for anyone going to Nepal in the near future, it would very very useful to have a few hundred dollars worth of the local currency in hand, before having to seek an exchange service or ATM. Think about getting out of the airport, and getting a taxi to Thamel, as well as getting some food and drinks on your first night!!

Seriously, I have 16 x 1000 rupee notes, as well as some 100s, 50s, 20s, 10s and 5s. total of 16,410!! OFFERS?????ANYONE??????

I, or associates of mine, have had several instances of “dodgy” room allocations in Balinese hotels (all in Kuta). What seams to happen a bit, is that the hotel, in the first instance, will put you in their bad rooms!

Obviously, a lot of time in hotels, there are going to be some rooms in better condition than others, and quite often, a few awaiting upgrading. Usually, hotels would put guests into the better rooms, and only start allocating the not so good ones when they are in a pinch. However, I can think of 3 hotels in Kuta, that put us in a “dodgy” room first up, even though they had other vacancies. Although this doesn’t seam logical, it does appear to happen. I assume, they work on the theory that if you complain, they will change you, but if you don’t, they keep their better rooms available for other potential guests? The silliness of this theory, is there is every likelihood the good room will stay empty, and someone will go home with a bad opinion of the hotel, and usually tell plenty of others!

Unnecessary, bad rooms have been given to me previously at Kuta Beach Club, and the Holiday Inn, but the most recent experience has come from the Mercure Kuta Bali. Being a $100+ per night, international hotel chain, this is particularly disappointing!! COME ON Mercure - put people in the good rooms!!

A member of my family was booked to fly to Bali from Perth, and had shopped around for the cheapest flights, and as a result, had booked a return flight with Indojet, for $545.00 inc taxes.

It was a great rate, and all booking was handled efficiently.

But things looked very grim when two days before they were due to fly, a local news report said that the Sunday Indojet flight was cancelled, due to problems with the company they lease the plane from - Ozjet.

I thought Indojet was a part of Ozjet, but now I understand them to not be associated, just charter a plane from them. However, OZjet is in administration, and it appears Ozjet didn’t have a plane to pass on to IndoJet, as they had a leasing issue?

As they were flying on the next flight (the Wednesday), we thought things looked pretty grim. We tried to ring Indojet on Sunday, but were unable to get answered, although their recorded announcement only indicated there phones were not manned on the weekends.

Monday we got onto them, and were advised they were likely to still not have the plane for Wednesday, and were making other arrangements. They took a contact mobile phone number from us, and advised they would be in touch.

To our surprise, their follow up service was excellent, and it was not long until they called to advise that we had been booked onto a Garuda flight, as had everyone else who was scheduled to fly the Indojet plane that day.

A subsequent phone call a day or so later, changed them to an earlier Garuda flight, still on the day they were initially booked to fly.

We were very impressed with the way Indojet handled this crisis, and hope that the return flight in 10 days is back with them, or, if not, is handled just as efficiently.

Personally, we hope Indojet can sort out the charter problem, and keep a Perth to Denpasar service, as good service deserves success.

The Phi Phi Islands , of South east of Phuket, represent some of the most spectacular ocean scenery in all of Thailand, and any visitor to the islands would be well recommended to take a local tour, to get away from the pier of Ko Phi Phi Don, and explore some of the other sites.

Long Boat (and speedboat) day tours are readily available from dozens of hotels, tour operators, and most other outlets on Ko Phi Phi Don. There is the option of 1/2 day and full day trips, and most visit the same locations. We considered several options, but decided on the full day, by traditional longboat, and this day trip cost 550 baht (about $15 USD) per person. Included in this was goggles, snorkel and flippers usage, and a light lunch, and bottled water.

 Long boat 

Maya Bay

The tour started from the beach, near the main pier at Ko Phi Phi Don, and visited Pirate Cave on Ko Phi Phi Leh, Maya Bay, the setting for the movie “The Beach”, Monkey Beach, Coral Island and Shark Point, off Ko Phi Phi Don. At several of these stops, snorkeling was available (yes, including Shark Point). A simple Fried Rice lunch was provided, as well as water, and the longboat circled completely around both islands, for a great view of some of the magnificent cliffs and rock formations.

A wonderful, full day was completed, when we waited for sunset in the calm ocean between the two islands.

All in all, a very enjoyable day - all the better by seeing it by Longboat. Will post some more details on the individual locations we visited very soon!

Over recent weeks, we have been introducing the series of new services we are offering, to compliment our existing online Asian travel itineraries.

Our online Asian travel itineraries are designed to assist and guide independent travellers in South East Asia, primarily at this stage, those looking at travelling to Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia. Feedback from our readers has identified opportunities for us to extend the level of service we offer, and as a result, we have several new products, at minimal costs.

The first of these was our FACT-FILES that we introduced a few weeks ago, and are already generating interest.

The second offer, is our “We’ll book it all for you” service, we are now opening! With this service, you tell us that you like our itinerary, and when you would like to take it, and we’ll do the rest! Its that easy!!

We can book the flights, the hotels, the transfers, the day-trips and even the travel insurance . You just give us your guidelines, and we’ll use our expertise, and our myriad of contacts to book it all in for you, and present you with a detailed and comprehensive written and confirmed itinerary!

We charge only $89.00 for the entire service, and GUARANTEE to save you at least 3 times that, with our discounted rates and know-how!

We implore potential customers to give us a go, we will prove our savings before we take any money!

For further details, refer to the web-page at www.asianitineraries.com/cheap-asian-travel-packages.html

Having recently started to upload my latest itinerary on Thailand, I thought it was a good time to start letting people know a few details on the other Itinerary I will be adding soon (relatively!).

I have taken the trip already, and will now need to compile all the relevant information. Anyhow, the details please!! As per the blog title, I will be adding a Nepalese Itinerary - Kathmandu to Annapurna Base Camp, and back.

This itinerary will cover some detail on Kathmandu airport and arriving in Kathmandu, the tourist areas of the city, and where to stay, heading to Pokhara, the departure point for a trek, independent trekking, finding guides and porters, and 10 days walking in the Annapurna Range.

I loved it, and I cant wait to pass it on! However, as all previous work on http://www.asianitineraries.com/ has been in South East Asia, it may yet provide some challenges on integrating into the website. Time will tell!

After taking March, April and May off to travel, I have (unfortunately) come back to reality, and back to work!

So, after a good chunk of the above three months have been dedicated to the new southern Thailand Itinerary, it is time I put it all together, and get the new offering up on the website! Along with the new Phuket to Surat Thani itinerary, will be an offering of Thailand-Cheap-Travel-packages, the new, value added, full service version of the itinerary.

So, as of now, the details of the new Phuket to Surat Thani itinerary are available at www.asianitineraries.com/AndamanCoastSum.html.

For those interested, this itinerary will cover Phuket, both Patong Beach, and the other beaches, Ko Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, Ko Ngai, Railay Beach, Khao Lak, Khao Sok National Park, and Surat Thani!

I hope readers get joy from it, as I really enjoyed researching and living it!

If you are visiting Ko Phi Phi, you will notice its lacks one very common mode of transport - cars (or any other powered land vehicles!). To me, this is one of the absolute charms of the island! What a lovely change it is, to walk down a Thai street and not get nearly run down by motorbikes or cars. Add to that the lack of horns and honks, and no wonder Ko Phi Phi is considered by some as paradise!

As a result of the lack of vehicles, the streets are very narrow, and the shops, restaurants etc often hang well into the street, creating an enclosed and shady feel. I almost looks a little medieval (at a very quick glance).

A thoughtfully posed question may be How do you get luggage etc from the dock to your lodgings, spread over about a kilometer? Easy - most of the lodgings have trailer like pull trolleys, and a young staff member to pull or push it for you!

The only motorised transport on the island are Longboats. These traditional Thai fishing boats are the easy way to get between beaches and bays that are spread around the island. A Longboat taxi service operates at set prices from most beach and dock areas.

When we visited Ko Phi Phi recently, we stayed at SPP Bungalows. These are located partially up the hill to View Point, at the northern side of the sand bar that separates the two sides of the island. Being up the hill, was excellent for personal safety, as we felt quite secure in the event of a tsunami, however, it created a challenge every time we came and went from the beaches. It involves a step climb of about 150 steps to the bungalows reception area!

We paid 1500 baht a night for these rooms, and they are built as sets of 3 units, staggered up the hill on 3 levels. The rooms where reasonably clean, and provided a nice balcony with stunning bay views. At 1500 baht, it was a not nearly as good a value for money as places we stayed in Phuket, or the other islands such as Ko Lanta, but seamed quite reasonable compared with other offerings on Ko Phi Phi.

117 climbing the steps to SPP Bungalows 120 The view from SPP Bungalows

The small group of staff are quite pleasant, although we were a bit disappointed to find the room only got cleaned every couple of days. When we queried this, we were advised that this is how all resorts worked on Ko Phi Phi. Breakfast was made fresh to order, and quite good, although limited in selection. The view from the restaurant is excellent.

If I visit again, I would probably stay there again, although I would be tempted to look at what else was around first!