Our destination for day was Dubai Mall.

 

Again, we walked to Emirates Mall where we took the metro from Emirates Station to Burj Khalifa Station.

 

Our second time at Dubai Mall, we set out to catch up on stuff we missed the first time round.

We touched down at the Dubai airport at night but the land transfer was a no-show.

 

After ~1h plus, the coach pulled up and the guide explained that the original guide met with an accident on the way to the airport.

Day 8 was free & easy till our flight to Dubai.

 

After a leisurely breakfast, we took to the streets around the hotel.

We left Bolu for Istanbul in the morning.

Our tour of Cappadocia was like an episode of “Honey I Shrunk The Kids”, exploring giant wasp nests at Çavuşin and walking amongst giant mushrooms at Paşabağ.

Part of the group went on the hot air balloon this morning. We opted to skip it partly because of the exorbitant price but mostly due to the fear of heights/ flying.

I remember an episode of Doraemon where he and friends flew up to the clouds and used a spray gadget to cement the clouds into a fluffy wonderland.

 

If that place exists in reality, it must be Pamukkale.

Our tour of Kusadasi began with catching the sunrise and townscape from some high point,

It was another 5.30 am wake-up call. But again the sleep deprivation was made up for with a good breakfast and some time after that to tour the peripherals of the hotel.

We woke up to a hearty breakfast which helped to placate the painfully early morning call (5.30am), which was necessary to beat the morning traffic in Istanbul.

We wanted to go someplace far, someplace exotic and someplace that will not burn too big a hole in our already holed pockets.

 

So Turkey it is!

 

After an enjoyable honeymoon with EU Holidays, we decided to go for their package again.

 

There were 2 similar packages available: let's call them 'Emirates' and 'SIA'.

I’m back in Indonesia; this time in Bintan, the more atas (high class) version of Batam.

 

My first visit to Bintan was in 2008, cooped up in the Nirwana Gardens Resort. This time, I had the opportunity to venture beyond the fortress of coastal resorts to the more rural parts of the island.

Stressed and overworked, we couldn’t resist another cheap getaway to Batam. With more experience from the previous trip, we are more astute in picking the ideal package from the plethora of options available.

 

Our choice: Pacific Palace Hotel + Buffet Lunch and no massage for $35 (+$27 for ferry +$4 for guide/driver).

Craving for a getaway, we browsed GroupOn and stumbled upon the value-for-money deal: http://www.groupon.sg/deals/travel-deals/Cebu-Air-Travel-Tours/716893490

 

A 45-min ferry ride from Harbourfront landed us in Sekupang terminal where we were picked up our guide.