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Monday Morning Blues? Here is what you can do!
2007-04-09 12:52:00
Don’t you just hate it? To wake up every Monday morning and drag yourself to work? With your Clubbing Hang Over still on your back or the memories of that weekend trip with your friends ‘Into the Great White Open’? (Don’t you just have to hum that song now for the rest of the day, hehe?) Manic ...
More About: Blues , What , Blue , Hat , Morning

No plan after Coup? Visit your fortune-teller and you are set!
2007-04-05 11:26:00
I almost feel sorry, for having to write another post about Thai politics. Don’t want to mock them all the time - I really love that country - but I can’t help it. This story could be really funny, if it wouldn’t be the sad but dead-serious truth. If anyone was still in doubt about Thailands ...
More About: Fortune , Coup , Your , Elle , After

Have you found that Perfect Beach yet?
2007-04-03 10:15:00
Ever since having read Alex Garlands ‘The Beach ’ in a bamboo beach hut on Honduras’ Roatan island in Latin America, I was possessed with the idea that there must be a ‘Perfect Beach’ for everyone of us on this our beautiful planet. So I began to look out for nice getaways in white sandy bays with ...
More About: Hat , Have , That

Funny Aliens: Worldwide shipping per bicycle in Singapore
2007-03-31 14:36:00
While running around this week in Singapore , I found this interesting vehicle advertising an “Overseas Courier Service - Shipping made easy around the world in 103 countries with 247 offices since 1957″. I wonder how they are operating? Anyway, the picture quality isn’t so great, I just had the phone camera at hand. The picture was taken ...
More About: Funny , Fun , World , Aliens

Hindu ceremonies - a feast for the senses!
2007-03-23 15:11:00
Having watched the Melasti and Nyepi Processions here in Bali over the last couple of days; it leaves me still in awe with its colours and sounds. Thousands of people processing from temples to the beaches on the ‘Island of the Gods’. Bali as the only Hindu oasis in a sea of 17.000 Muslim islands in ...
More About: Sense , East , Ense , Feast

Adam Air escapes license revocation
2007-03-23 10:31:00
Just yesterday we speculated about the airlines to be closed. And here comes the news from the Jakarta Post this morning: Despite experiencing a series of accidents, Adam Air escaped license revocation as it was only categorized Thursday by the Ministry of Transportation as one of the worst airlines in the country that fail to meet ...
More About: Cat , Apes , Vocation , Cape

Thailand: 6 Months After Coup - Little To Show
2007-03-22 13:42:00
In Thai land ’s current political arena, things don’t look so bright after all anymore - just 6 months after the ‘bloodless coup‘ over there. Of course Tourism seems to look stable and the Sex Industry isn’t effected at all - as usual. After the first doubts, if Thailand has a democratic future; the view of the Thai ...
More About: Show , Coup , Land

3 Indonesian Airlines Risk Closure
2007-03-22 11:26:00
Regarding the improvement of the safety of Indo nesia ’s airlines, there seems to be some consequences finally on the way. Indonesia’s Adam Air, Wings Air and Dirgantara Air Service could fall into the Transportation Ministry’s lowest rating category when the results of a recent audit are announced, an official said. “It is possible that those three airlines will ...
More About: Indonesian , Airlines , Risk

My ?Ogoh Ogoh? Monster Collection
2007-03-19 06:33:00
Ogoh Ogoh monsters are colourful monster sculptures, which are made from bamboo frames and paper mache. They are made in the form of creatures of the underworld known in Balinese as buta-kala. The creatures are based on characters taken from traditional myths and legends, however in modern times many also take the form of modern characters, ...
More About: Monster , Coll , Mons

ADAM Air out of business by next week?
2007-03-17 06:14:00
This could be a quick response to the latest disasters of the last 3 months in Indonesia. As reported last evening, the airline braces itself for possible closure next week. It wouldn’t come to no surprise, as clearly something has to be done to improve the safety of Indonesia’s Airline industry. Nick, over from Baliblog is even ...
More About: Business , Next , Week , Ness , Adam

5 reasons why I blog
2007-03-13 11:51:00
There is not only one chain letter going round the internet. There are thousands or even millions of them. Most of them are plain stupid and I don’t even know, why some people still fall for the Nigerian Money Digger Mafia, the Penis ‘Extensionists’, Lottery Agencies or lost daughters of Saddam Hussein or Thaksin Shinawatra who ...
More About: Blog , Reason , Reasons , Sons

Khaima Bali: Where Orient meets Asia
2007-03-08 09:17:00
The thing I like about a place like Bali is the sheer variety of venues on where to eat, drink, relax or just hang out. One of those special places where you can do all of the above is Khaima. What’s the venue? Khaima is a chilled restaurant in Jalan Laksmana/Oberoi, the new ‘IN’ area of Bali. ...
More About: Asia , Orient , Here , Where

What is currently the safest airline in Indonesia?
2007-03-07 06:46:00
After the recent air travel disasters in Indonesia , things get really tricky to evaluate the safest airlines in the country. Sooner or later you have to fly in or out of the country or will use a plane to travel between one of the 17.000 islands. What are the latest scores? just today a Garuda Airlines Boeing ...
More About: Current , Hat , Fest

Wondering how Thailand was 20 years ago? Look no further?visit Laos!
2007-02-27 12:00:00
What’s the fuss? Laos is still a mysterious country, dominated by sheer nature, dense jungles, vast empty spaces and remote villages, ‘Karst’ mountains, waterfalls, hot springs, bat swarms, endless muddy rivers and rice paddies. It only opened up from communist isolation in recent years in the 1990’s. Through Laos runs the mighty river Mekong, which is one ...
More About: Thailand , Thai , Ring , Wonder

Best mode of transportation to get around in a big country
2007-02-21 15:04:02
What the best mode of transportation, if you stay more than a few months in one location? Flying? The Train? By Ship? Take the bus? Taxi? Walk? Yeah right! What then? The best modes of transportation are still the ones you can handle yourself and use as you like and whenever you want. That leaves basically only a car, a motor-bike, a bicycle or your feet. As long you are a marathon man or sporty decathlete there is nothing to argue about a bicycle or walking or running. If you aren’t - or just plain lazy like me, that would lead to a lot of arguing with yourself. So the more realistic options are Car or Bike (I’m talking Motor-bikes or Scooters). Of course you can use the bus to travel from A to B or even take a Cab, if your destination isn’t too far away. But for every day’s short distances to the mall, market, beach or laundry - better use something more flexible. Car or Bike? Being a German and having owned a few kinds of Ford, BMW and Audi models over t...
More About: Country , Sport , Transport , Transportation , Mode

Google Earth for Travelers
2007-02-20 21:03:01
I’m sure most of you have checked out Google Earth already. Google Earth is a virtual globe program that provides satellite maps and images to interact with. Apart from being able to zoom into famous sightseeing places like the Las Vegas Strip, Miami Beach, the Mount Everest, you can even search for addresses, enter coordinates or just browse to locations of interest like your home town, your place of work or that special place in your memory, where you got your first kiss. Unfortunately not all locations are digitized and rendered in a good resolution, so sometimes the level of detail is less than satisfying. On top of that you have sometimes clouds blocking the view to the ground. The software isn’t perfect either, as sometimes the sea levels are shown to high, which leads to mountains or higher areas are overspilling with ocean water, the most favourite location being Gibraltar, as mentioned by Wikipedia. Nevertheless it’s an amazing and interesting tool, whic...
More About: Travel , Rave

Indonesia: On-Arrival Visas up to 120 days soon?
2007-02-20 21:03:01
There are some rumours lately that the current Visa -On-Arri val scheme, which was put in place in 02/2004 will soon be eased in an effort to boost tourism in Indo nesia . Sounds too good to be true? Currently citizens from most countries receive a Visa for a maximum stay of 30 days, when you arrive at any airport or port. Of course you have to pay USD 25 for it. When your 30 days are over, you have to leave the country and come back in to get a new Visa, which can be quite stressy in a country consisting of more than 17.000 islands covering an area bigger than Europe and Australia. Basically you can only leave it with a flight to the surrounding countries or long-haul ferry trips, if you don’t stay in the Riau Region (close to Singapore) or the eastern part close to Timur or the Philippines. In countries like Thailand you have it easier to travel to neighbouring countries for Visa Runs. Of course you can apply for a Social Budaya Visa for Indonesia (which allows a stay of 2 month...
More About: Days

How much money do you need to retire?
2007-02-09 20:59:01
USD 1 Million? 2 Million? 5 Million? Or just 200.000? Are you kidding me - how can I *retire* now!? How shall I finance my retirement? I will need *loads* of Cash, Gold, Insurance or Credit! I need my Hummer, the BMW X3 for the wife, my penthouse for the mistress, the Wanker’s Club Membership and my Arian German Sheppard! Oh really? Poor you - because if you’re really thinking of retiring early in your life - the question shouldn’t be: “How much do I need?”. Better ask yourself: “How little do I need to retire now?”. You would be surprised, what answers you’ll find out. You can even retire in your early 30’s, with a little bit of planning early on and just some kind of discipline. Do you know that owning a house for yourself and several cars on loans is not a sign of financial strength and wealth, but merely a sign of character weakness, dependence tendencies and bar ego extension (not that you have to be a guy for that one). Bas...
More About: Money , Need , Much , Retire , Tire

?weigh my Horse Rides at Sunrise to your Italian Suits and Ties.
2007-02-04 14:54:02
That is what true freedom really means for me. Freedom of time, mind, action, day in and day out. Freedom to do, what you want to do - when you want to do it. May it be a jog at sunrise, staying in bed all day, swimming at dawn or horseback riding at sunset. Thankfully you can fulfil a lot of those freedom dreams in Asia. That’s why this is my favourite region on this our beloved planet! You can find nice scenery, high, snow-topped mountains and deep green valleys, crystal clear oceans and lakes, great food, friendly people, pristine beaches, roaring volcanoes, permanent sunshine, hang mats at palm trees, good surfs and breaks, lonely dive spots, endless caves, indigenous species and soooooo much more. On top of all it’s still so affordable, you really get plenty of bang for your buck and don’t have to pay with an arm and a leg. Take Horseback Riding as an example: It is truly a relaxing and majestic hobby. Every weekend you can see people taking a ride here at the...
More About: Ride , Italia , Italian , Your , Suits

Have you ever tried fresh Coconut? Simply fruitylicious!
2007-01-31 14:50:02
Wednesday morning, 10am. Or is it 11am already? Doesn’t matter! You are just about to wake up. Ahhh, another nice holiday in paradise. The temperatures hover already steadily above 30 degrees centigrade (in the 100’s Fahrenheit) and the sweat is running down your back. Your tongue is dry and feels like it’s stuck swollen on the palate of your mouth. What can help to ease this serious situation? Jump on your bike and find out where the next vendor is selling ‘Es Kelapa’ - Ice Coconut ! It’s like a small stall with lot’s of coconuts attached to their cart. Smack Rp 2.000 for a plastic bag of icy coconut juice and meat on the table. Rp 5.000 (about USD 0.50) will get you a whole coconut for yourself. They are cracked open by a hit of a Machete, just like in the jungle. Just crushed ice or lime juice is added if your prefer, to spice up the taste. A straw ensures that the precious liquid finds its way right into your dry mouth. I admit, the Coc...
More About: Fruit , Simp , Simply , Have

Using Mobile Phones when traveling abroad
2007-01-29 20:47:03
Do you use your mobile phone when traveling in foreign countries? Yes? No? Apart from the comfort of not having to change your SIM card and just calling and getting called like you’d do everyday; the usually outrageous roaming charges will surely knock you out of your travel budget soon. But - it doesn’t have to be that way. Just get a local SIM card! Is it really that easy? Yes and No. It pays to change your calling behaviour a little to save the most on connection fees and money spent. For calls back to your home country, just try using Skype or other VoIP services and you can save a lot of money. If you use a PDA or similar phone as described here or here (with WiFi and Mobile Skype); you can even use free-of-charge hotspots to call home! While I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to using your prepaid phone card to call back to your home country (it’s simply too expensive), a prepaid phone card (SIM) *does* come in handy, when traveling a bit longer in a certai...
More About: Travel , Phone , Mobile Phones , Mobile Phone

Exploring Bali?s beautiful East Cost
2007-01-29 20:47:03
Having a few days at hand and nothing better to do, we decided to explore Bali ’s East Coast a bit and go for a 2-day ride. How to get there? Nothing easier then that: hop on your bike or rent a car and off you go. As we were 2 couples and in the mood for chatting all-way-long, we went for the latter option. Our car was a Diahatsu Feroza, a slightly bigger kind of “Jeep” then a Suzuki Jimney. It offers enough space for 4 people and some luggage and with a price tag of Rp 100.000/day - a quite affordable one as well. After just 3-4 hours of relaxed driving we reached the ‘harbour kampung’ Padang Bai, which is a port town for ferries from Bali to Lombok and to the Nusa Penida Island, which lingers between them. You can get cheap accommodation here (Billabong Hotel: Rp 50.000 per fan room/night, very clean, friendly staff) and a good choice of western and local food. The hotel price even included breakfast, which consisted of Coffee or Tea and Omelet or Pan...
More About: Cost , Beautiful , Ring

Last night we joined our friends Nurul and Esti for a real h
2007-01-16 08:43:01
Last night we joined our friends Nurul and Esti for a real highlight in Legian in Bali. It happens every sunday and is some kind of many Magic Moments at once - not to be missed! The place to be is in front of Zanzibar at Jalan DoubleSix Beach, right infront of the ocean waves. Sundays around 5.30pm it slowly starts to happen: Locals and Expats alike bring their drums along and position themselves in a half circle, facing the glowing ball of the setting sun. Then one of them starts, drumming ahead while others fall-in to follow. Soon after everything is a crazy, amazing, multi-drumming, dancing, chanting, bombastic sound scene. As beach walkers, sun worshippers, tourists and other crowds gather to check out the commotion, the rhythm intensifies and doesn’t stop until the sun disappears about 1-2 hours later. The crowds get ecstatic, cheer and applaud while others dance to the revolving tunes and jump around in the soft black sands. Families with their kids sit in the sand an...
More About: Friends , Night , Friend , Last , Join

When traveling to other countries, you will most likely have
2007-01-16 08:43:01
When traveling to other countries, you will most likely have to deal with local currencies. Baht, Rupiah, Rupee, Peso, Dong, Remimbi, Won, Riel, Yen and various kinds of Dollars are only a few currencies you can run across Asia. Depending on what your home currency is, you have to exchange your home money from time to time into a local currency. I have bank accounts in Germany (Euro) and Singapore (SGD), so depending on which currency offers a better exchange rate compared to the country I’m currently in; I decide from which account to draw money. If you just travel for a shorter period of time and returning to your home country afterwards, you have basically 2 common options to obtain local currency: bringing cash in and changing it at a Money Changer - or a simple withdrawal from your bank account at home, with a banking or credit card via an ATM (Automated Teller Machine). What is the way to go? Here is a short overview about the advantages and disadvantages of either of th...
More About: Travel , Other , Rave , Countries , Will

Beckham goes to Hollywood - downshifting!
2007-01-12 20:41:01
It came as a surprise for most European Soccer Fans, but somehow it was clear all the way: David Beck ham is downshifting! He is leaving the most famous Club on Earth, Real Madrid, going to a nobody. With his move to the unknown Club of LA Galaxy in even more unknown Soccer-nation United States of A, he is doing less and even managed to get paid more than ever. Beck’s preparing for retirement? Are you kidding me? Yes, he is! Semi-retirement at least. Last night, while sleeping, I had an interview with him, asking for his reasons for the switch. Here are the reasons, he told me in my dream: David, why are you leaving Real Madrid and move to another country? “Honestly, can you understand anything when these Spanish Bastards are talking? Why do I have to learn that stupid language? At least the Americans speak some sort of english! Those Spanish never liked me anyway. Besides that, those Macho Spanish are always following Victoria around. It’s all too flirtatious and ...
More About: Hollywood , Holly , Wood , Beckham

What does Yahoo want with MyBlogLog?
2007-01-11 08:40:01
Rumours were there already months back (starting in november 2006 by techcrunch.com), but a few days ago it really happened. Yahoo acquired the Social Network MyBlog Log for USD 10 Mio. It will be soon accessible via your one Yahoo Account as well, like other services like Yahoo Answers, del.icio.us and Flickr.com before. While Google is racing ahead in both Search Engine Competence and Stock Price and somewhat in tools for content creation, monitoring and management, Yahoo seems to focus more on the community and social aspect of the so-called Web 2.0. And why not? Building communities of loyal customers and consumers? Sounds like the next big thing to generate web revenues, doesn’t it? Although it’s not clear yet, where it will lead us, there is sure more to come with ongoing internet company mergers and feature additions in this fast-paced creation of a brave new world. The whole world is getting smaller and Cyberspace is no exception. MyBlogLog started out simply as a...
More About: With , What , Hat

Roundup of ISPs - Internet Service Providers in Bali
2007-01-03 20:34:04
When you stay a bit longer in one place - basically when you are a traveler, not tourist - internet cafe’s tend to lose their appeal to surf the internet. The disadvantages are many you have basically shared bandwidth, therefore slower connection they tend to be more expensive than own dedicated access (of course; they have a whole infrastructure and staff to pay for) it can be noisy, if many people are around or some kids play shooter games it’s not very private, if you want to “Skype” someone, on top of that you disturb the people around you mainly, only WWW/Mail is available, other services like FTP, Skype, USB Ports can be restricted you don’t know what malicious software is running on their PC’s, can be anything from viruses, trojans, keyloggers, other log software You surely can go every other morning with your own laptop to a wireless hotzone and log in, thus avoiding the more security-related concerns of public internet access. But then ...
More About: Internet , Inter , Service , Roundup , Bali

Medical Tourism in Asia - Boost your Healthcare and Reap the
2007-01-02 08:32:01
I used to pay around 400-600 Euro for my Health Insurance - per month! Not that I didn’t try to reduce that or even get around it at all. Why not pay for what you use only? But back in my home country Germany, you have no choice. You have to pay for a health insurance and you basically pay for it with an arm and a leg. That is, if you earn a good income. The service you receive, when things go wrong, can range from mediocre to great, although you have limited influence, on which doctor or hospital to chose. This always smelled like communism to me. In my point of view - over the years of the last 2 decades - Europe lost its edge as a leading and competitive healthcare market. Too many beneficiaries but too few paying customers. Always make an even balance for everyone. Where is the grounds or basis for competition, or the means of offering the best possible solution for a competitive price? Value for money anyone? Somehow it got lost along the way. The US have problems as well...
More About: Medical , Asia , Medical Tourism , Tourism

Internet in Asia Offline 99.9% - Sea-Cables Broken near Taiw
2007-01-02 08:32:01
Actually I wanted to post this one here 3 days ago. But nothing worked - obviously. An earthquake disrupted internet services in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. I currently still have heavy problems accessing my e-mail not to talk about websurfing. Seems to be one of the biggest disaster since 1999, when a major internet outage occured in Asia . This time several Undersea Cables were cut (more than 8!), including the Asia Pacific Cable Network, which links North and Southeast Asia, and the SEA-ME-WE-2 link, which stretches from South Korea around the Eurasian land mass to the Netherlands. The earthquake struck Taiwan at 10.26pm on tuesday - exactly the second anniversary of the deadly Asian tsunami, there were even warnings by seismologists that giant waves will hit the Philippines. This fortunately didn’t happen. Luckily, this website shouldn’t be effected at all, as it’s hosted somewhere in California, somewhere in Los Angeles, if...
More About: Internet , Offline , Inter

Sooo hot! Am I dehydrating yet? Here is the solution?
2007-01-02 08:32:01
Countries around the equator are very different from each other. Latin America is a green jungle-hell and Central Africa is as diverse a landscape as it can get; ranging from deserts to dense forests, savannahs, high peaks and deep valleys. The Indian Ocean with its Maldives and the scattered Pacific Islands are a different story again; and then there is South East Asia - that’s where I stay. One thing all those regions have in common: they are damn hot all-year-round, you are perspiring constantly and need to re-plenish your minerals and body fluids. Otherwise you are getting into the dangerzone of dehydration. You definitely don’t want that! So what to do to avoid dehydration? Just drink something! When thirsty in my old home country Germany, the obvious choice was the way to the refrigerator. Cola, Orange, Apple or other Juices, Milk, Beer in its original form or with Malt or Root Taste - or whatever else you desire can be found in this magic white box. Is it healthy?...
More About: Here , Solution