Our online guide to Jakarta has been updated with more information about Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to help you find your way in and out of Jakarta.  We've also added a review of the Hilton Hotel, one of the biggest hotels in Jakarta, as well as extended practical information about money, visas and the all-important topic of safety and security.

Singapore's budget carrier Tiger airways has announced that it will start direct flights to the northeaster Thai town of Udon Thani.  For those non in the know, Udon Thani is just across the river from Vientiane in Laos, and flying into Udon is the cheap and easy way to get to the Laotian capital.  There's lots to see on the Thai side as well.

For more information: Tiger Airways

Also check out our own guide to Vientiane and how to get there from Udon Thani.

We've added another island - Sulawesi - in Indonesia to our online travel guide, along with a guide to the capital of South Sulawesi, Makassar.  For now, the guide just covers the basics like how to get there and where to stay.  We'll be adding more information later, about the sights of the city as well as eventually getting to Sulawesi's most fascinating destination: Tana Toraja.

We’ve expanded our Indonesia guide with a section on the eastern Java capital of Surabaya. The guide just covers the basics, like how to get there and where to stay, for now. We’ll definitely be adding more content in the future on the sights of the city and the surrounding area.

Today’s stop on my whirlwind tour is Makassar, on the island of Sulawesi. Sulawesi is that very weirdly shaped island next to Borneo in Indonesia. Perhaps the most well known thing about Sulawesi is that its home to the unusual Tana Toraja culture.

Tana Toraja is about an eight hour drive from Makassar, which is on the southwest coast of Sulawesi, so I won’t be seeing it this trip. Maybe next time.

Makassar itself is home to an old Dutch fort going back to the late seventeenth century. There’s a few pretty little islands dotting the harbor, and there supposed to be the remains of the old kingdom of Gowa just a few minutes outside of the city, with a rather interesting old palace thats now a museum. I should be coming back to Makassar again soon, so there’s lots more to see next time.

Tomorrow it’s back to Jakarta, and then back to Bangkok on Friday. Whew! What a week!