South Pacific Blog

David Stanley in Saudi Arabia

I recently spent two weeks touring Saudi Arabia, a country I’ve wanted to visit for some time. Saudi Arabia has an enigmatic reputation and the negativity was initially confirmed when I was fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival at Riyadh International Airport. Fortunately, reality quickly overrode first impressions and I found the Saudi people friendly and helpful without a trace of animosity.

Four of us – two Australian ladies, an American lawyer, and I – toured Saudi Arabia for two weeks on a trip organized by Caravan-Serai Tours of Seattle, Washington. Highlights were the National Museum in Riyadh, the Nabatean ruins of Madain Saleh, and the old city of Jeddah. Non-Muslims are not allowed to visit the Mosque of The Prophet in Medina or the Kaba in Mecca, which limits tourism development in Saudi Arabia somewhat, a situation which I’m sure bothers the imams not a whistle.

An interesting fact I picked up from our local guide is that a Saudi’s first loyalty is to his tribe, then his country, and lastly his king. The extravagant palaces of the distended royal family are viewed with irony by ordinary Saudis but free education, free health care, no taxes, and various other perks ensure there’s no unrest in the land. The underpaid labour of Indian and Pakistani contract workers keeps the cost of living low. No one is rocking the boat.

All women in Saudi Arabia must dress in a medieval black robe called an abaya although foreign females are no longer required to cover their faces or hair. Yet almost all Saudi women see the world through narrow eye slits. That’s not to say that Saudi Arabia isn’t changing. American chain stores and minivans are everywhere and most Saudis are connected to the world by cell phone and the internet. I found people quite willing to discuss their country’s situation.

On our last day in Saudi Arabia our group had the good fortune to bump into the Vice-President of the Jeddah City Council who shared a few facts about his country. Since 2005 male Saudi citizens have elected half the members of the country’s municipal councils, a significant first step toward democracy. Yet all officials at the provincial and national levels are still appointed by the king and many Saudis I spoke to would like to have their country’s Consultative Council elected and its powers increased. The reality is that not a lot is likely to change in the short term.

Was it worth spending US$7,018 excluding airfare for two weeks in The Kingdom? For me, yes. Saudi Arabia was my 207^th country, one of the last stops on my quest to visit every country in the world before I die. Would I recommend it to other travelers? Probably not. Yemen is far more colourful and less expensive. Bahrain, Dubai, and Oman are also easier to visit with much more to offer non-Muslims. It should be noted here that contrary to popular belief, virtually all of the Arabian Peninsula countries are perfectly safe to visit. And Emirates Airlines is the way to go.

I really enjoyed reading your trip summary. This may be as close as I get to Saudi Arabia. Your overview contains some insightful observations that give me a more complete sense of life in The Kingdom.

Your trip seems wonderful. It was great reading it. I also had planned to visit Saudi Arabia few years before but due to some reason, I missed the chance. Now, let’s see when I will be there.

Thank You for your generous insight into S.A. Viewing culturally predespositioned human females viewing me through a slit would not entice me to want to experience it first hand in the flesh. You have sparked my imagination to sufficiency. You seem to be a restless soul, by trying to visit all the countries of the world. I would have thought by 206 countries visited that your soul would understand countries like S.A. and you would rather want to try and improve the human condition by spending you money on organizations that are dedicated to improving the human condition. However, visiting and writing about countries does help the human condition. Thank you again. Are you going to follow through? I believe in planting seeds in the ground. Do you?

Faithful to the End
TR Airth

The ninth chapter from Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now online at tuvalu.southpacific.org. The information on this 43-page site has been completely revised and we’ve included photos and drawings not in the published book. There are individual maps of Tuvalu’s nine islands and atolls, plus a map of the capital Vaiaku on Funafuti Atoll and a clickable Tuvalu map. New to the guide are the Tuvalu Dateline and the page on climate change, a worldwide phenomenon which threatens very existence of this remote Pacific country. There’s updated information on getting to Tuvalu and the descriptions of the outer islands have been expanded to correspond to the online maps. I hope you find my Tuvalu Travel Guide useful!

Rebecca Aldworth and the Protect Seals team cover the cruel Canada seal hunt.

Peter Rudiak-Gould has authored a travel memoir about the Marshall Islands, one of the low-lying Pacific nations which will soon be uninhabitable due to sea level rise caused by climate change. Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island tells of Peter’s experiences as the only foreigner on a third-of-a-square-mile, ocean-flat tropical island, teaching at a school where 14-year-olds ask how to spell “I” and the only pencil sharpeners are rocks. It’s the portrait of a society that may not be around for much longer: a hybrid culture in which Marshallese villagers fish with fiberglass spears, sport names like “Bobson,” “Tax Collector,” and “Shisminta,” and recite native botanical remedies and Backstreet Boys lyrics with equal ease. In the book’s final chapter, Rudiak-Gould confronts the threat of climate change.

My Easter Island Travel Guide is now online, the eighth chapter from Moon Handbooks South Pacific to be posted on SouthPacific.org. Many of the photos and drawings on the 39-page site have never been published before and the maps of Easter Island and Hanga Roa were updated. Accommodations are broken down into four categories by price and there are six pages on Easter Island’s history. The Hiking Guide to Easter Island outlines the best walks on the island with practical tips on how to get started. Top and side navigation plus a sitemap make finding your way around the guide very easy. A new edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific will not be forthcoming and the Easter Island chapter formerly included in Moon Tahiti is no longer there. But now my Easter Island material has found a second life online!

What do you make of the recent airport closure — http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/index.php/2009081716915/news/political-news/rapa-nui-residents-take-over-airstrip.html ?

Do locals on Easter Island want tourists?

Sounds like very useful information to prepare a trip to Easter Island. Internet has improved the way travelers search and find information. Meanwhile, it is also worth meeting local guides to have deeper understanding while there.

Easter Island, Chile is famous for carved stone faces from 1250 – 1500 AD. Polynesian tribe creators came from Pacific Ocean. From Anthropological & archeological perspective it has more hidden treasures than visible. Adventure sports fan can also enjoy mountain biking, trekking, scuba diving, snorkeling & horse riding.

On September 1, 2009, the Cook Islands almost doubled its International Airport Departure Tax from NZ$30 to NZ$55. Children aged 11 and under are now exempt from the tax (previously they had paid NZ$15). The NZ$55 per person tax is not included in airline tickets and must be paid in cash New Zealand dollars upon check-in at Rarotonga International Airport or in advance at the Westpac Bank in Avarua. If you pay the tax by credit card at the airport, it will be treated as a cash advance and you’ll be charged an additional fee. For more information on the Cook Islands see our Cook Islands Travel Guide.

My god, it’s a really a surprising news. I took a flight recently from NZ to the Cook islands and the staffs from the land didn’t communicate at all about it.

Wow – that’s a pretty large tax hike. Hopefully, the kid exemption will make it so traveling families don’t look elsewhere when thinking about a vacation.

Wow – that’s a pretty large tax hike. Hopefully, the kid exemption will make it so traveling families don’t look elsewhere when thinking about a vacation.

This feature interview with Frank Bainimarama from Journeyman Pictures helps put in perspective the political situation in Fiji. No additional commentary here is required.

Cook Islands Dancers

The Cook Islands chapter from Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now online at http://cookislands.southpacific.org. I updated the information during a visit to Rarotonga after the 2004 edition was published, so what’s on the web is more up to date than what’s in the printed book. The 125 pages of my Cook Islands Travel Guide contain 15 detailed island maps and town plans, plus dozens of photos and line drawings. Many of the pictures are from my most recent trip while others appeared in previous editions of my guidebook.

The material has been specially adapted for the internet and I removed guidebook-style details such as telephone and fax numbers which can be easily checked online. The accommodations listings are grouped according to price with six pages devoted to Rarotonga and four for Aitutaki, organized geographically. There are clear maps of Aitutaki Atoll, Aitutaki Island, Arutanga, Atiu, Avarua, Mangaia, Manihiki, Manuae, Mauke, Mitiaro, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rarotonga, Suwarrrow, and the Cook Islands.

Navigation is easy with top and side menus, plus a full site map. Many of the maps are clickable to more detailed maps and the highlight pages are linked directly to specific references. A search box is also provided. These features make the site as easy or easier to use than a printed book. This is the seventh of the 15 chapters from Moon Handbooks South Pacific to go online, after the Samoas, Niue, Pitcairn, Tokelau, and Wallis and Futuna. I hope you find it useful.

Really a very informative post,
and the website is also very useful for the information seekers.
Thanks for publishing…

Very nice. Printed books are great, but the site looks good and is more functional (imho).

I do like Moon’s travel guides as well. Good info there.

Ian Robichaud runs The Tahiti Sun Travel Network, a portfolio of 41 internet domain names. Among the Network’s popular domains are Boraboraisland.com, Huahine.com, Mooreaisland.com, Papeete.com, Raiatea.com, Tetiaroa.com, and Tuamotu-islands.com. Robichaud’s sites are among the best established sources of information on French Polynesia available online. Ian has spent 10 years developing his sites and has fostered relationships with 70 tourism businesses on Tahiti and neighboring islands.

Like my own website SouthPacific.org, The Tahiti Sun Travel Network has never paid for advertising and has relied on quality content and cross linking to achieve its high search engine ratings. Google the words “bora bora”, “huahine”. “raiatea”, or “papeete” and you’ll find Network sites in first place. It also ranks first for specialized terms like “scubadive moorea” and “tahiti real estate”. Search engines value links from related domains more highly than links from directories, blogs, or general sites, and by linking his family of sites together, Robichaud has created a formidible online presence.

Tahiti Sun Travel Network sites include boraboraisland.com, boratourism.com, fakarava.com, huahine.com, huahineisland.com, maiao.com, manihi.com, mangaia.com, manuhangi.com, maupitiisland.com, mehetia.com, mooreaisland.com, nukuhiva.com, papeete.com, raiatea.com, rangiroa.org, realestate-tahiti.com, retailpolynesia.com, shoptahiti.com, tahaa.com, tahitianislands.com, tahitianrealestate.com, tahitibillfish.com, tahiticlassifieds.com, tahiticoupons.com, tahitiexplore.com, tahitigamefish.com, tahiti-guides.com, tahitipolynesia.com, tahitiproperties.com, tahitisun.com, tahititalk.com, tahititourcenter.com, tahititraveler.com, taiaro.com, takaroa.com, tetiaroa.com, tikehau.com, toptahiti.com, tuamotu-islands.com, and tupai.com.

Ian’s valuable collection of Tahiti-related websites gets almost 100,000 “unique visitors” a month. For more information on The Tahiti Sun Travel Network call Ian Robichaud at 1-310-392-4742 between 10 am and 7 pm California time.

You actually visit Tahiti to provide all the information, I think that’s really great.

V Australia, a member of the Virgin Blue Airlines group owned by British businessman Sir Richard Branson, will begin flying from Sydney to Nadi in December, 2009. The V Australia flights will replace some of the current services to Fiji provided by Pacific Blue, another arm of Branson’s empire. V Australia will operate a 361-passenger Boeing 777 on the route instead of the 180-passenger Boeing 737-800 currently used by Pacific Blue. With twice the capacity, the daily V Australia flights from Sydney will deliver thousands of additional tourists to Fiji each month.

Unlike no frills Pacific Blue which charges extra for meals, etc, V Australia is a full service airline. This means they’ll be competing directly with Fiji’s national airline, Air Pacific, another full service carrier. Clearly, Branson has Qantas (which owns 46 percent of Air Pacific) locked in his sights. Air Pacific’s response to this challenge hasn’t been announced but Australians should be on the lookout for seat sales to Fiji in December and January.

Branson has his hands in everything (at least it seems that way). Hopefully, the new competition among full-service airlines will translate into price wars and better deals for travelers. Good news for Fiji

Good news for Fiji Travelers. Hope to make a good position over competitive airline industry and make good inexpensive services to travelers.

Branson has his hands in everything (at least it seems that way). Hopefully, the new competition among full-service airlines will translate into price wars and better deals for travelers. Good news for Fiji