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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...
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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

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

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

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

Reach your goals!
2007-01-02 08:32:01
The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, learn about them, or even seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them. (Denis Waitley) Technorati : goals, motivation, reach your goals, waitley, winners No Tags
More About: Goa , Goals , Your , Goal , Reach

How To Track Your Stocks, Funds And Other Investments When T
2007-01-02 08:32:01
If you invest in stocks, shares, funds or currencies like me, you want to know constantly, how the markets stand. This way you know what the clock is ticking and are able to react quick, if necessary. When traveling in foreign countries, this can be quite difficult. Even more so, if you are a Permanent Traveler or Nomad. Of course you can read a newspaper every day, surf the internet until you drop or log into your Online Banking or Brokerage Account to check, what time it is for your investments. This will be even more complicated and time-consuming, if you use more than one banking or brokerage account, invested in a lot of different products (as you should - it’s called diversification) or just want to check the daily rates of currencies as well. Surely it pays off to know, what ATM Card to use for the best rates, if you hold savings account in more than one countries. So what to do with that dilemma? Use a Pocket PC! It’s small, easy to use and very flexible when tra...
More About: Fun , Stocks , How To , Investment , Other

How to Retire in your 30?s
2007-01-02 08:32:01
Recently I found this practical guide on how everyone can retire in their 30’s. It just requires a little planning ahead - and chosing the right path. It’s nicely written and really a great “How-to”, if you are in your early 20’s and don’t know which way to go. Most of it is truly common sense for a mid-age guy with both feet in life. But the trouble is, you only acquire those experiences over time. And with a lot of potential to mess it up! At the start of your working career you usually don’t have all knowledge at hand and waste a lot of time and money, which definitely incrases the time for you until retirement is near at hand. Experimenting is okay, but it can cost you time, energy and enthusiasm. When chosing the wrong path, even though you have a good feeling about it, you can end up doing the wrong thing with not much outcome for a very long time. Guess what? You will end up in your 60’s, wondering what happened to your life, wh...
More About: How To , Your , Retire , Tire

Why it doesn?t necessarily pay off to buy your own house in
2007-01-02 08:32:01
For most people it’s a dream to live one day in their own house, which they paid off with their own hard-earned money. Depending on where you live and how high your demands and your income are, this can actually result in you paying off a bank loan over the next 10-20 or even 30 years. After which you practically *own* the house (before it was actually owned by the bank). And after which you probably start spending again (during probably as well), as even the best build quality deteriorates over time and needs upgrades, re-invest or maintainance. So why pay off for your own house then? Why live and work many years of your life for owning a house? The internet is full of sites, praising the advantages of home ownership compared to rented homes. Just google for ‘rent or buy your own house’. There are plenty of reasons, which are stated usually by banks, housing development companies, consultants, real estate brokers and other beneficiaries of you as a house buyer: ...
More About: House , Your , Essa , Ouse , Sari

Thai Baht Decline - Better Value For Travelers In Sight?
2007-01-02 08:32:01
It looks like the high rise of the Thai Baht is over for now. The Baht, with gains of more than 16% this year, was Asia’s best performing currency in 2006 - thus making traveling to Thailand slightly more expensive than usual for foreigners. But what is that? Over the last 2 days it had the biggest 2-day-decline since May 2004, as reported this morning by Bloomberg. First signals were shown as early as 2 weeks ago, when the Bank of Thailand announced, that they wanted to tackle speculators in the Thai Baht, which had risen significantly over the last couple of months. Thailand has seen slowing exports as a result of a slow-down in the US economical growth. On top of that, the Bank of Thailand wants to “curb the baht’s volatility” and “limit the baht’s strength at a certain level” by selling its own currency. Stronger measures are put in place as well to curb speculation - for instance Banks are now required to lock up 30 percent of new forei...
More About: Travel , Rave , Better , Value

Fraud and Violence at club MBarGo in Kuta, Bali
2007-01-02 08:32:01
…because it is run by a bunch of fraudsters and violent criminals! Why, you might ask? Here is the whole story: My fiancee and me had a ball of a time partying the night away with friends on New Year’s Eve in Jalan Dhyana Pura, Bali . After midnight, around 3-4am of the first day of the New Year 2007, we thought it might be a good idea to sway in some chill-out rhythms to one of Kuta’s famous in-places - the music club “MBarGo” in Jalan Legian, Kuta. We’d been there before and usually they play a nice mix of music on 2 floors. We definitely weren’t aware of the nightmare the 2 of us were about to face within just a few minutes of arriving there! But step after step: To get a good overview about what was going on, we steadily climbed the stairs to the upper floor and marched staight to the wall bar facing the right side, when seen from the road. I ordered 2 Bintang Beer and a pack of Sampoerna Cigarettes, which promptly appeared in front of me...
More About: Fraud , Violence , Club , Frau

Thai Central Bank pulls back - what a public embarrassment!
2007-01-02 08:32:01
What an earthquake @ Asian Stock Exchanges around the region, after yesterdays announcement! The Thais suffered the most of course. I monitor a few stocks and funds over there, mainly an ABN Amro Certificate (covering the SET50 candidates), which lost about 25% yesterday, with Siam Commercial Banking, Krung Thai Bank and Bangkok Bank all around 19-30% in the red. On average, it was a 15% crash at the SET, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and a single digit decline in its currency - the Thai Baht. A blood bath! Not even 24 hours later the Thai Cent ral Bank had to announce, that they will take back their ‘draconian measures’ of a speculation tax aka Germany or Chile and currency trading restrictions. What an embarrassement and loss of face for the Thai Central Bank, the ‘new government’ of Coupsters and surely a loss of trust in the Thai Economy and Stock Market. Thailand, after 1997, setting of another Asian Financial Crisis? Of great concern was yesterday, if o...
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