nomad4ever

nomad4ever.com eradicates Hunger and World Poverty

Chris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:39:17 +0000

Just a short note, that this website won an Award of Excellence by IGLU, one of the biggest travel companies in the UK with millions of people visiting their portal site every year. IGLU has won many awards based on their hard work and dedication to the traveling customer, who they offer many holiday destinations to, as well as a range of information.

Okay, now this is what will happen next: the link back from their page will send some of their ‘millions of visitors’ over, to increase my traffic tremendously.

More visitors will lead to more clicks, more advertising sold, thus adding more millions of $X$X$X$ (attention: please insert your currency of choice here, but please no 3rd-world currencies with more than 6 digits per Euro or Dollar) to the ones I have already in my overflowing bank account. Ahem!

With the additional funds I will take over oil-spilling BP, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation or whatever other powerful company or charity is currently for sale.

Following that I will organize World Peace, a cure for Cancer and Aids, eradicate Hunger, Starvation and Poverty in the world and finance a Space Race to Alpha Centauri to find the future of our Civilization.

Any questions or goals left open?

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Disclaimer: this text is at worst meant to mock 3rd-world democracies, foundation-spreading billionaires, banana republics but not to laugh about poor, sick, starving or sperm-spreading people anywhere on this planet or beyond Alpha Centauri.

If you still feel offended, please take your head out of the sand and go elsewhere.

Funny Aliens: An Athlete ‘Til The End

Chris — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:23:35 +0000

Bali is located just below the equator. That means the weather is tropical, humid and constantly hovering around or above the 30 degrees Celsius mark.

Being a sporty person usually means you will be doing your workout or running sessions early in the morning before the sun reaches its summit, or in the late afternoons.

Or you might consider going to an air-conditioned Gym, there are quite a few around here.

Still there are crazy people (mostly tourists), who jump around at the beaches at noon, playing ball games or simply trying to get sunburned as much and as quickly as they can.

That leads to the typical lobster effect one can admire on tourists here coming ‘fresh off the boat’.

I drove past this place on the pictures a few times already, but only now had the time to stop and take a picture.

Isn’t this spot convenient?

A Basketball and Volleyball playground with attached cemetery. What does it tell us:

If you are healthy, you don’t need sports, if you are not, you better don’t start?

The spot on the pictures is located in Kuta, at the corner of Jalan Patih Jelantik and Jalan Majapahit and is only a very small cemetery.

It can be also seen on Google Earth or Google Maps, see the picture to the left.

It’s more or less a testimony that space in South Bali is precious and used very efficiently. Looks like they were right when they say, that sports is a microcosm of human life.

And what about the people lying in those graves? I guess they didn’t lose the game, they just ran out of time.

Will Indonesia sell its women soon?

Chris — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:18:54 +0000

Currently in Indonesia a bill is mulled by local conservative politicians, that foreign men who want to marry an Indonesian woman would have to pay the equivalent of USD 55.000 to the government.

Many observers and especially Mixed Couples who are willing to tie the knot in the near future are left dumbfounded. They say love don’t cost a thing. In Indonesia maybe only a small fee.

Is that the selling out of the country’s female population to stimulate the economy? Or even smells like institutionalized prostitution?

Read on for the latest state of the union:

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What’s the fuss about?

Ever since this proposal by Muslim conservatives was made public, an outcry of local women and foreign men alike followed. The bill is part of a larger marriage law reform and is intended to ‘protect local women and their children from foreign husbands who neglect their obligations of matrimonial and child support’.

A foreign husband would be required to put up a guarantee of Rp 500 Million (currently around USD 55.000) with a local bank, if he intends to marry a Muslim woman in Indonesia. The amount would fall completely to his future wife, if the marriage would not last at least 10 years. After that period, the money would become ‘shared property’.

The proposal, which came initially out with the help of the Religious Affairs Ministry, was designed to stop foreigners from getting into fake marriages to be able to set up local businesses or buying and speculating with property in the wives name.

Currently the bill should be send into parliament for approval by end of this year.

“Marriage is pure and sacred; it shouldn’t be tainted by lust or personal interests. We want to protect our women.” was a comment by one ministry official involved in drawing the bill.

Then why are you making marriage a pure business transaction, one might ask.

But what’s so controversial?

Firstly, the bill measures with double standards. There is no intention in the bill to ‘charge’ for Christian, Buddhist or Hindu women.

Also, foreign men are wondering why only they were targeted by this bill, as it seems like yet another scam to cash in on them in a country riddled by corruption on all levels. Even local women feel alienated and sold off by their own government.

There would be no protection for foreign men from so-called ‘gold diggers’ who just want to marry them for their money. Where is the love one might ask?

And what about local men? Muslim men here are allowed to marry 3-4 wives but don’t have to put up any guarantee (besides their verbal commitment), if they are able to support them or provide for a good life for them and their children.

If they leave their families, usually its up to the woman, to provide for their children, which can be pretty hard in a developing country like Indonesia.

Does is even mean, that women here are owned by the government or the religious caste and can be simply sold or auctioned off to the highest bidder? Some women here think so; they even feel increasingly like on a ‘meat market’.

Let’s think it even further

In Singapore, maids are chosen in colorful catalogs, categorized by size, country of origin and ability to speak different languages. Will a similar thing soon happen for the marketing of Indonesian women worldwide? Maybe even agencies will be able to specialize in providing local women to foreigners, based on criteria like appearance, home province, skill set (can cook, clean the house, able to hold basic conversation or run a small business).

This way, the very cheap price of only USD 55.000 for 1 female could be easily increased by up-selling, when special skills are present, no?

Will it be possible, to get 2 women for the price of 1 during election year? Or buy 2, get 1 free? What other special promotions would be imaginable? Any discounts for purchasing a woman from a poorer part of the country, like Aceh or Irian Jaya? Or when paying in cash?

What do you think about this bill? Or are you a mixed couple planning to get married in Indonesia? Is it fair treatment to cut down on mixed couples who ‘live in sin’ or to give better financial security to local women who get involved with a foreigner?

Please make use of the comment form below!

Noynoy Aquino wins Philippine Presidency – by a Landslide

Chris — Tue, 11 May 2010 05:24:51 +0000

When I made my assumptions last October, that Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III might be poised to become the 15th president of the Philippines, nobody expected that the results would come in so clearly and undisputed.

Usually laughed-off Aquino as a ‘mental’ or bespectacled pseudo-intellectual, who only came to political power due to his name, proved his critics wrong by winning yesterdays elections for President of the Philippines by a wide margin.

What happened on election day, how did those numbers add up and above all, what can this beautiful yet starved country expect in the coming months ahead?

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Election Day on 10th of May

According to The Inquirer, one of the leading english-speaking newspapers in the country, the current 2010 elections were some of the most peaceful the country has seen, despite some 18 people who were shot dead and 8 bomb explosions going off across the country in election-related violence on election day. All in all, over the last 200 days of the campaign, there were ‘only’ 82 incidents with 68 casualties, compared to 232 or 310 casualties in 2004 or 2007 respectively.

Funnily, they forgot to count the victims of the Ampatuan massacre in Mindanao, where on 23rd November 2009 a staggering 57 people were killed at once in campaign-related violence by an aggressive clan.

Filipinos are a hot-blooded mix of Malay, Spanish and Mexican decent. Can you now imagine why even Lonely Planet is warning to discuss politics in the country? Just joking,

Anyway, back to topic: Noynoy Aquino, who came in very late in the preparations for a presidential run, only after the death of his mother – the revered Corazon Aquino – late last year, didn’t have everything going for him right from the start. He was up to potential candidates like Manny Villar, a proclaimed self-made business man with deep, if not limitless pockets of cash and prominent Catholic Church Champs like Eddie ‘Bro’ Villanueva.

Another prominent figure was Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada, an actor and former president of the country and convicted criminal. Initially coined a Philippine Ronald Reagan, due to his acting similarities, he used the presidential office already once to plunder the governmental coffins for his own good. Still – his famous name and a certain hard-headedness kept his popularity high – despite his obvious shortcomings.

If you see the actual results, Erap really pulled of a coup by coming in a strong second!

This year’s election was extremely important for the Filipino soul, voter turnout was estimated an incredible high 75-80%; a number, western countries can only dream of.

The electronic voting system via voting machines, which was introduced first time in this election, seemed to has worked surprisingly well. Computers were used to count ballots for the first time year; thus transforming the usually manual, week-long and cumbersome tallying procedure into a quick and smooth ride.

Did they see it coming?

Over the last couple of weeks it mainly looked like there was a close head-2-head battle between Noynoy and Manny Villar, with both of them leading sometimes in conflicting polls.

Erap wasn’t written of yet and most educated Filipinos were probably rooting for the ‘intellectual’ choice – Gilberto ‘Gibo’ Teodoro, an honest and hard-working civil servant, who was unfortunately associated with the current (and hated) ‘regime’ of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Having lived 9 of the last 12 months in the Philippines, it was pretty obvious even for me as an outsider with a hand at the pulse of normal people of this beautiful island nation, what topics bothered and moved the country. With this year’s tune focused on eradicating corruption and improving the living conditions of the poor, Noynoy hit the notes probably the best – telling not too much about details, while avoiding the bigger mishaps.

Can he deliver?

Now comes the hard part. So far, more than 80% of the votes are in and counted, but the results are pretty obvious. With Aquino leading his next rival – the suprisingly reborn Zombie ERAP – by a margin of more than 3 Mio votes in a tally of over 50 Million, it’s very much clear at this point, that he will be the incoming president.

Manny Villar conceded and acknowledged his defeat already, Gibo will do the same within the next few hours.

What will Erap do? Does he still has an ace up his sleeves? Let’s see about that. After all, his running mate for VP, Jejomar Binay, looks to be the winner in the VP battle.

The main question will remain: can Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III deliver and solve the main economic and social problems of the country. The rampant corruption, endemic poverty and unhealthy dependence of the country on overseas remittances are only the biggest issues to tackle. The current population explosion (there are more than 3.1 children born for every female), a widening educational gap and the meddling of the church in political affairs are other critical problems.

He probably has to work together with most likely Vice President Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, who was leading his preferred choice Senator Manuel Roxas II by more than 700,000 votes at last count.

For us travelers, it would also be nice to have the ailing tourist industry revived, to improve the country’s infrastructure and put its beautiful holiday destinations back on the tourist map. Although some would see this as a double-edged sword – it would surely help the country to increase the influx of foreign capital, adding additional sources of income for its population and boosting the economy – increasing prices and other negative aspects (as seen in Thailand or Bali) would surely follow, although currently starting from a very low base.

Conclusion

Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino’s win and most likely inauguration as the next president of the Philippines don’t come completely unexpected, yet they are only a start.

Even if he was not the best possible candidate for educated and realistic observers here, he should have the potential to move things forwards for the country. Even more so than dividing figures like Manny Villar or Joseph Estrada.

Now is the time for Filipinos to get over the election results and unite behind him.

The name Aquino alone still pulls and the population will embrace the right direction, once it is set. Noynoy Aquino should build on his legacy and try to be the uniting force in the country, average Filipinos elected him for.

Let’s hope, that Noynoy’s embarrassing sister Kris Aquino won’t steal the limelight too often and he will have all the time to start working on the issues as soon as possible and necessary.

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What do you think about the next president of the Philippines? Does he have what it takes? Where should he start to pull the country out of its misery? Please comment and share your insights in the comment form below.

Explore El Nido Palawan, The Last Frontier of the Philippines

Chris — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:17:26 +0000

Even by Philippine standards, El Nido is far off the common map. It’s not easy to get there cheap or uncomplicated. You either can shell out big bucks for one of the few and overpriced flights by SEAIR or go the ‘hammer route’ – via MiniVan or Bus from Puerto Princesa via Roxas and Taytay over dusty gravel roads – which certainly is a 5-6 hour ordeal you can still tell your unborn grand children about.

Yet, what awaits you is rough place of sheer beauty, a warp back in time to when punctuality, electricity, hot water, Cable TV and other modern amenities where still very much unimportant and the beauty of nature was sufficient to make ones day. Make yours!

Go East young man!

The said MiniVan trip will usually cost you around 500-700 Pesos from Puerto Princesa, where you will be picked up from your hotel in the morning. The way back is normally a bit cheaper, as they will simply drop you at the bus terminal of Puerto Princesa upon return.

The first thing that awaits you at the North-East end of Palawan is the sleepy yet charming El Nido town itself, located at the pristine Bacuit Bay with sparkling blue water, lined with razor-sharp rocks and a view to kill for. You can see similar limestone and rock formations like in Thailand or the Halong Bay of Vietnam.

Even though it looks like a long shot, scientists say, that Palawan was formerly part of continental Asia and only separated a couple of million years ago, thus the similar topography, but you can’t tell for sure these days as nobody was around when that happened.

Either way, the limestone cliffs look absolutely impressive, with pretty diverse forms, shapes and silhouettes.

El Nido town itself is pretty small, with only about 3.000 souls living here. Maybe that’s what makes up part of its charm also.

Where to stay?

Arriving in El Nido, your first goal should be to secure some accommodation, which is easy enough, as there is basically only 1 road of hotels and pensions to check. I would recommend to avoid the hotels directly at the beach, as they obviously lost their plot regarding affordable hotel fares and charge anything from 2.500 Pesos up to 4.000 Pesos per night. for some mediocre rooms.

Also be aware, that even now in 2010, El Nido has a huge electricity problem, meaning that all power will be off from 6.00am until 2.00pm, so whatever you pay for your hotel – your power (and all modern amenities like TV, Aircon and even Hot Water) won’t work during that period, no matter how much you actually paid for it.

Generators are few and far between here, so if you decide to pay a fortune for your hotel room, make sure, they’ve got one´.

Why not go for more affordable rates, if what you get for it is basically the same – a room with bed and cold shower? Haha! But seriously, in the 2nd row you can easily find rooms for as low as 650 Pesos per night and they might even throw in some morning glory…ahhh, I mean hot coffee for you.

What to eat?

Your food options mainly include a string of restaurant along the main bay of El Nido, with prices all pretty similar and dishes starting usually around the 100-250 Pesos mark. Beer costs almost the same anywhere with at least 50 Pesos to shell out for a small San Miguel bottle, a bit more for San Miguel Light.

Tip: check the small stalls, stores and mini markets in the 2nd row or around the market place and City Hall – here you can buy San Miguel Grande or Red Horse Litro bottles for anything between 55 to 75 Pesos and save about 50% on your alcohol bills. Most stalls also serve food options for the more adventurous gourmet, but quality may vary drastically from ‘okay’ to ‘yikes’. In general, if it’s fried in hot oil, it should be safe to eat, as ong as it’s hot.

Especially fish is not always sold fresh and is to be cooked, fried or baked over and again – until it’s all sold. Tuna, Snapper, Hornfish, Squid are the most common sea creatures found here and can be had for amazingly cheap fare.

What to do?

Most activities in El Nido are almost solely centered around watersport, although trekking, hiking and caving are also catching up. If you are not the lazy type who is happy already to sit at the main beach watching the sea and letting time pass on its own, your day will usually include one of several standardized boat tours.

You will go with Outrigger boats around the dozens of different types of islands around El Nido, checking out bays, caves, beaches, lagoons and lonely Robinson Crusoe islands.

Those tours cost anything between 450-700 Pesos, depending on how many islands you will visit, what’s included (water, lunch snorkeling) and how many people will be on ‘your’ boat (typically 2-6).

When Lunch is included, it’s taken on one of those paradise islands you wouldn’t even know that they existed.

The Skipper will prepare some fish, rice and even salad for you, some bananas or pineapple will be your desert. Snorkel gear is an absolute must, as you definitely want to cool down after a while.

The underwater worlds around El Nido are surprisingly bland, there are not many big creatures to see anymore, although swarms of small fish, corals and even turtles are still said to be found here. Also several type of jelly-fish can be found here, most of them harmless, but some stinging, so watch out when you see some and only admire their beauty from a safe distance.

Still, snorkeling around those islands is definitely a highlight here. It’s hard to imagine cleaner and clearer waters, the surrounding nature will give you a kick and everything truly looks like out of a movie or just taken from picture postcards. It doesn’t get any better than this!

You can also rent small plastic Kajaks to explore the islands in a slower way or with your own pace.

The most famous islands and beaches around are Miniloc island, Lagen island, Dimulacad island, Pangalusian island (snake island) and Seven Commando beach,

All bliss? Not!

The oceans here also seem to be overfished and I was surprised to not see more of macro flora and fauna like for instance in Thailand or Indonesia.

Some corals are still in surprisingly good shape, especially a bit further out from the landing spots of the islands.

Anchoring is still pretty common here, so far every boat I’ve seen during the trips simply throw their anchors unto the reef or into the sand to fix the boat. There were some efforts to sink cement blocks at the main beaches for providing safer anchor options, but it seems that they aren’t used anymore. Maybe someone stole the buoys who marked those, as I didn’t see any of them. Like I said, every boat without any exception simply dropped their anchor into the seabed, thus doing their part to destroy coral and reef life. If you think about it that there can be dozens of boat trips daily to always the same island, you can imagine what those anchor drops do to corals and reefs.

That also makes the environmental fee of 200 Pesos (which every visitor who goes on boat tours has to pay every 10 days) a bit like of a joke.

There isn’t much done to safe the environment here, as also the main bay of El Nido is only pristine and cleaned up at the main portion of the tourist beach. Just walk a bit further left from the harbor of El Nido and you will see that plastic, garbage, sewage and other stuff is still dumped into the bay without regret. Luckily, El Nido is a small place and the impact of tourists visiting as well as the locals polluting it is still negligible.

I’m no expert and don’t know, where all the fish in the oceans around El Nido went, I would suspect overfishing like elsewhere, but the global warming phenomenon El Nino can also be a culprit. Corals die due to higher water temperatures and after the corals the fish populations goes also down the drain, as they find their normal living environment damaged and it harder to feed and survive.

Conclusion

Is El Nido worth visiting? You bet! With its 50 white-sand beaches, gorgeous limestone cliffs and crystal-clear blue waters, this is a paradise destination like even Robert Louis Stevenson would not have imagined it.

It’s also rumored that Alex Garland, who wrote the book ‘The Beach’, came up with the idea somewhere around here, just moved the setting to more popular Thailand. And you can easily see, why those islands here are unique and hopefully treasured for many more years to come. The nature and scenery is just gorgeous and breathtaking, it’s hard to exaggerate or give it enough credit with words.

Unfortunately things don’t look too good. With the damaged oceans looking more and more deserted from marine life and tourism catching up only now, it’s not easy to recommend what to do. Should you stay or should you go?

So far, El Nido is still in top form, a few issues give or take. Will it be better to be left alone? Maybe. But you would miss out on one of Earth’s most beautiful ocean and beach destination. So yeah, go there, enjoy El Nido, enjoy yourself and have a good time, but please be responsible for the nature around you.

Take only pictures and leave only footprints and bubbles!

Some more pictures of Palawan, Puerto Princesa and El Nido can be found here.

Gili Islands near Lombok – to go or to avoid?

Chris — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:31:57 +0000

Over the years, the 3 Gili Islands in the north-west of Lombok have been famous with backpacker tourists.

White sand, crystal-clear cyan-blue waters, no police on the islands and a carefree attitude and tolerance of the locals drew budget tourists in droves.

Recently, the islands also attract a different crowd, disco or party seekers who didn’t find their place at the Full-moon parties of Thailand and even upscale developments change the face of those gems in the Lombok straight.

Is it already too late to let your hair down here?

Lombok as Bali’s sister island, did already many things different. After all, it’s an island mainly dominated by Muslims and the Gili’s (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air) are no exception.

How to get to the Gili’s

There are generally less people on Lombok then Bali and even fewer find their way to the Gili’s, although travel to the islands has improved a lot lately. There are now at least 5 different speedboat operators (Gilicat, GiliGiliFastBoat, Black Pearl, Mahi Mahi and others), who service Gili Trawangan a few times daily directly from Benoa Harbor on Bali or from Padang Bai in Bali’s East coast.

The prices came down a bit, some can be had as low as 750.000 Rupiah for a return ticket. This improves already a lot the cheap, but long ferry journey from Padang Bai, which goes 24 hours a day, but can take from 4-6 hours, just to get from Bali to Lombok alone. Add to that the trip from Senggigi or Mataram up the coast and another short boat ride and you can almost loose a whole day, just traveling to and from the Gili’s from Bali.

And of course there is always the option to fly in, for those who don’t like boats at all, have even less time to spend or just have more money and prefer to travel in style compared to us mere mortals.

What’s different here

You won’t find any dogs here (dogs are considered unclean animals in Islam and Muslims are not allowed to touch them), but plenty of cats and the 5-times-a-day call of the Muezzin to the several prayers dictated by the Koran.

There is no natural water on the islands, even a shower has usually salty water, although some upscale resorts use sweet water from a water boat, that comes up to 5 times daily and pumps fresh water into tanks on the island.

Accommodation prices vary from 80.000 Rupiah per night in a small shack up to 150 USD per night in Villa Ombok, Gili Trawangan’s undisputed luxury king with professionally trained staff and almost olympic-sized pool.

Food is generally more expensive than in cheap Senggigi or Bali, with Nasi Campur or Nasi Goreng starting at 25.000 Rupiah everywhere, a bottle of small Bintang starting from 25.000 Rupiah and with 5-20% Tax and Service Charges generally added to prices.

What’s good

The good things about the Gili’s still remain: the white, powdery sand and the clear, blue water which is so inviting for snorkeling and all other water activities. The marine life is still somewhat intact and you can see muranes, turtles, fire fish and plenty of other creatures just by snorkeling in the shallow waters.

Okay, there are now 2 police men at least on Trawangan – but still you can do what the Gili’s became famous for, relatively unhassled. Smoke is offered to you everywhere and goes for as low as 20.000 per pop or even rolled to finish. Mushroom drinks are widely accepted as an alternative (almost like in Bali) and are offered from 20.000 to 75.000 per cocktail. I would definitely recommend against it, as you don’t know, what quality and how much is used – those drinks can lead you on a very bad trip if taken too much and there are (almost) no available ways of stopping them, once started.

The party life is vary varied, from discos near Villa Ombak or famous Horizontal at the other end (which has sometimes international DJ’s) to Reggaes Bars and cheaper dinking wholes in Trawangan Central, where you can sing along or meet other fellow travelers.

Food options range from Javanese fare, Padang and Seafood to home-made Italian cuisine, Indian to Mexican food options in Central.

What’s annoying

There are also things, that could spoil the image of those pristine islands in the very near future. Mounting heaps of garbage are one of them, growing everywhere and it seems that most people don’t care. Plastic bags are blowing in the wind and starting to pollute the beaches and surrounding waters.

The Cat population (at least on Trawangan) seems to get out of hand currently. They are almost anywhere, begging for food and honestly – the smell of cat piss is literally everywhere, worst felt after a short rain shower.

Constant brownouts will make sure, that you will sweat through your cotton shirt more than once a day. Also during the nights, there is usually less hours electricity than it is. That means, if you paid for an A/C room and the electricity is off, there is nothing you can do – you will still sweat like doing a work out.

During New Year I preferred sleeping on one of the sun beds directly at the beach (as also most local visitors did to save the resort costs), with a fresh breeze and only few mosquitoes making for a light sleep.

So better ask when making a reservation or checking in, if your stay has a generator to kick in when electricity is gone. Otherwise your stay could be a very unpleasant one, if you are not used to tropical nights. Although sleeping at the beach is a good way to check out the sunrise at the Eastern side of Trawangan.

Now what?

My recommendation of the Gili’s is a clear – Go, do it – now! The positive impressions still outweigh the negative ones, although things are changing fast. The real estate market over there is boiling hot right now. Lombok will probably even get an International Airport soon and things are clearly heating up.

Land lots, beach shacks and resorts are changing hands faster than you can keep up with it. Many businesses falter soon as well again, as it also generally seems to be a problem, to attract reliable staff to stay and work a longer period on the islands. Most of the better staff seems to be ‘imported’ from Bali these days.

There is an increasing trend towards more upscale resorts, holiday and package deals, with steeply rising prices as mentioned by many, who come already for years and years.

What are your experiences about the Gili Islands? Have you been there or planning to go? What would you recommend to first-time travelers to the Gili’s?

Please help out other readers by adding your valuable experiences in the comment form.

6 Months Philippines – the Best, the Good, the Ugly

Chris — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 06:56:58 +0000

Can you really grasp a whole country by just staying a couple of months there? For sure not. That’s even more the case with the Philippines, guess I never felt the time passing faster than here – or is it maybe that I’m getting older?

Either way, the Philippines is a beautiful island nation, a bit off the usual tourist trail of the rest of Southeast Asia. That is not necessarily a bad thing, more the opposite is true. You will meet less fellow travelers and have more chances to immerse yourself in a country with all its own values and characteristics. Let’s have a more detailed look at that:

If you are interested to compare with other places of interest for nomadic travelers, you might want to check out these articles, which were written in a similar fashion a while ago:

about Bali/Indonesia (after living there 2 years)
about Goa/India (after living there for 6 months)

Although I traveled before about a dozen times to the Philippines and wrote some articles about its beautiful beaches, its capital Manila, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol or even publishing a Cost of Living spreadsheet – being in the country for an extended period of time is something completely different.

The other difference was, that during 6 months of staying here, I basically moved around the whole country. 4.000 kilometers were traveled on an old Tricycle, which is a very common form of (short distance) transportation here. This journey saw me visiting most of the main islands and regions, like Oriental and Occidental Negros, Panay, Guimaras, Mindoro, Luzon, Bicol, Samar, Leyte and Cebu.

The rest of the time was spent mainly on Bantayan, Bohol and Siquijor, beautiful island paradises near Cebu.

Not enough beaches for you? Try Boracay or Puerto Galera for more.

Okay, but here without any further ado; the Best, the Good, the Ugly of the Philippines:

The Best

It’s been written and said by many travel guides and blog authors alike. But it can’t be stressed enough. The Best about the Philippines is truly its People! The Filipinos and Filipinas here are without doubt the country’s biggest asset.

Why is that so?

The people of the Philippines are the friendliest, most hospitable, optimistic and charming people you will run into when traveling Southeast Asia. Period. There are even studies published, which have the Filipinos listed as the happiest people in Asia and rated highly also in the world. And this despite the obvious poverty and disparities between rich and poor in the country.

The people here love life, they know how to enjoy it and they celebrate it in colorful fiestas at any given opportunity. Even absolute strangers are accepted and invited to take part in the countless festivities, festivals and parades. It feels like there is some celebration at any given day.

The happiness and positive mood here is also very infectious, especially if you come from a country with more ‘grumpy’ people, like Germany, Great Britain or even Singapore. Don’t get me wrong – I love Singapore, my second home away from home; but people there complain as much as Germans about life and daily things. Maybe it is the money that corrupts happiness? Who knows?

Back to Pinas; here you can see a thousand smiles every day, people are helpful and proud to show you their country. They are welcoming to visitors and that’s a genuine emotion, unlike other place like for instance Thailand or Malaysia, where the friendly mask will fall right away, when people turn away from you.

The People in the Philippines are an interesting blend with Asian, Chinese, Spanish and American roots. The beauty of the women here is legendary and the entertainment capabilities of its singers can be experienced by listening to 80% of the Live Bands all around Asia. If you love Karaoke, then this will be heaven for you. Filipinos are natural singers and performers and you will have lots of fun trying to catch up with them.

People here will approach you and want to know more about you, they are naturally curious and love to meet and chat with new people like there is no tomorrow. In no other place in Asia can you make new friends easier. And if you are single, you won’t stay alone for long.

Mixed relationships between foreigners and locals are very common and widely accepted here.

Yes, in the main tourist areas, this can be also a downfall, as the genuine interest maybe has changed a bit towards commercialism, but where else isn’t that the case? A bit of common sense will protect you from the most obvious scams.

Still, nobody is overly intrusive. It’s all up to you, how far you want to let someone get to know you. A simple ‘No, thanks’ would be enough to have your way or to be left in peace with yourself alone.

Most people here speak excellent or good enough English, so you can communicate very easily wherever you may travel in the country.

The Good

Now to the many other good things about the country: first – the Costs of Living here are still surprisingly affordable, especially food/drink prices and housing.

The Beer of the Philippines samples some of the best brews in Asia and is definitely one of the cheapest.

The Internet is available almost everywhere. Besides the usual Hot Spots in public places and Shopping Malls (SM Malls, Ayala Malls), prepaid 3G wireless internet is a good, reliable and fast way to go for the traveler. Check out the detailed article about 3G internet here.

Scenic sights are virtually everywhere. Nature lovers rave about its volcanoes, waterfalls, hot springs, exotic beaches, lakes and mountains, surf and dive spots (very popular: wreck diving in Palawan and Subic Bay), elusive wildlife.

Domestic flights are very cheap, as well is traveling from island to island by ferry, although, like in Indonesia, try to avoid ferries for long distances and in heavy weather.

I can only recommend to using Cebu Pacific Airlines to get from A to B, its one of the best budget carriers in Asia in my view. Travel hubs in the country are Cebu and Manila.

The Visa System is in my view one of the best and simplest in Asia, maybe second only to Singapore’s or Malaysia’s.

You can stay up to 18-24 months in the Philippines (depending on your country of origin); by simply extending your visa on a monthly basis in an immigration office in every major city.

Although a bit expensive (still cheaper than having to leave the country), it’s only a simple 10 minute process.

The Ugly

As usual, where there is light, there is shadow also and we don’t want to forget about that.

The rampant corruption and cronyism in the Philippines brings the best talents to leave and live outside the country; making it one of the people with the highest remittances worldwide, resulting in a significant support of the domestic economy.

Unfortunately that is also a reason what keeps the country down. Relying on relatives to sending money back home every month is a much easier way of life than getting things done yourself. I spoke with many people who simply can’t think of any other productive way of living their lives, then sending their relatives abroad and pushing them to work harder to send back more money every month. Coming from a pretty individualistic Europe, that was somewhat embarrassing for me to hear, but is obviously a normal way of life here. Strange mentality!

The infrastructure besides the National Highway and Waterway System leaves quite something to be desired. Roads are usually maintained in a very poor manner, electricity brown/blackouts are common and water supply can be sporadic.

Also better don’t discuss Politics openly, as there are deep emotions involved and things can get out of hand easily, as seen recently in Maguindanao on Mindanao. Guns, warlords, clan wars and lawlessness still prevail in certain pockets of the country.

Medical standards are not very good. Especially, one has to highlight the medicine situation or lack thereof. It is pretty much impossible to get anything else than standard medicine for reasonable prices. Most medicine are Americanized brands and the prices are some of the highest in Asia. Don’t try to get any special medicine in a pharmacy like Mercury. They are simply hopeless and limited to a few hundred kinds of basic medicines – especially everywhere else outside of Manila.

Generic (non-branded) medicines are only now catching up, a recent law to force pharmaceutical companies into cheaper medicine prices made at least the Top 200 medicines about 30-50% cheaper, but that’s still not nearly enough. If you need any medicine out of the ordinary, you are usually out of luck, especially outside of Manila. Better bring a good stock which should last for your whole trip or stay in the country.

The only exception to that rule would be cheap, counterfeit Viagra or Cialis, which is readily available everywhere for sellout prices in the bigger cities.

Other annoyances can be the constant display of poverty, especially in cities, which can be hard to stomach for some. That every white foreigner is called ‘Hey Joe’ (and you will hear that a dozen times every day, if you are) is almost too funny, but can be a bit annoying after a while.

Here also, as in other parts of Asia, over-fishing is causing the rapid destruction of reefs and marine life, rising prices of seafood are another sign for that, as are the fast disappearing flora and fauna around the islands, when you snorkel or taking a dive.

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That’s basically my conclusion regarding the Philippines as a country. All in all it’s a tropical island paradise – a very comfortable country to live in for Nomads, very affordable and with the friendliest people you can imagine. I can only highly recommend to anyone to give the Philippines a try and visit!

But you don’t have to take only my word for it only. Check out the site Live in the Philippines by Bob Martin, who is an American, living already more than a decade in the county. He loves the Philippines, is married to a Filipina and writes a daily blog about his experiences and adventures in the country. A truly interesting and positive read for anyone interested only a bit in the Philippines, which will make you come back for your daily dose of Pinas.

Please also make use of the comment form below to share your own experiences about the Philippines!

Wanted: Your very own beach paradise island – Bohol or Bantayan?

Chris — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:33:03 +0000

Aside from Boracay, the famous island with the ‘whitest beach in Asia’, the Philippines have many more paradise islands with white sandy beaches to offer.

2 of them can be found in the Visayas, a region relatively protected from the onslaught of countless Typhoons, with the worst this year, Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng) causing havoc in the Northern part of the country.

Although both, Bohol or Bantayan could be your very own paradise-beach islands, they are quite different from each other. Let’s check how they compare to the traveler in search for his very own beach paradise island:

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Bohol

Starting with Bohol, the bigger of the two, it becomes clear that this is an island of plenty. There are countless beaches, hills and other natural tourists sights, the most well-known probably the Chocolate Hills. The most prominent beaches and resorts can be found on Panglao island, which is connected via 2 bridges with Bohol, the most famous beach is called Alona Beach; a long stretch of white sand with literally dozens of resorts and restaurants.

There are hundreds of old churches on Bohol, being the cradle of Christianity in the Philippines, with Magellan, the Portuguese seafarer in the services of the Spanish crown, having landed not far from here at Mactan/Cebu in 1521. These old churches are colorful and in surprising good shape, considering the fact, that they are some of the oldest in Asia.

With over 1.2 Million people, it’s also one of the bigger island of the Philippines. The capital city Tagbilaran is pretty well developed and you can buy all kinds of things there, if you miss civilization. There are Cinemas, Karaoke Joints and also the usual suspects like Jollibee, McDonalds or KFC, if you are craving for fast food.

Better, try the countless Lechon Manok stalls, which feature broiled chicken for as low as 150 Pesos per whole bird.

Here is the short summary, what characterizes Bohol for the traveler:

Easy to reach, with ferries from Cebu City (about 2 hours, 500 Pesos one way, tip: watch for return offers, which have to be booked 1 day in advance, but will save you 50% of the price – Weesam Express, Pier 4/Cebu)
Airport in Tagbilaran, can fly cheap there from Manila, Davao, Cebu and half a dozen other domestic destinations, (Manila-Tagb. around 1.800 Pesos one way)
Abundance of natural sights and activity options: Chocolate Hills, Tarsier Monkeys, Flying Lemurs, Waterfall, impressive Mahogany Forest, Whitewater Rafting, River Cruises and Firefly Watching on the Loboc River, Diving, Snorkeling – you will never be bored on Bohol.
Good infrastructure and upgraded road system, Rental Bike Honda Spyder around 450 Pesos/day
Abundance of Entertainment options: Cinemas, Karaoke, Bars, Discos (I missed out on the famous ‘Lazer’ disco); Live Bands (check Marcosa’s Spiked Coconut Bar by the beach in Alona for daily live music)
Have a massage at the beach for 250 Pesos/hour

Bantayan

If you wonder, how I can compare a much smaller island to the northwest of Cebu with Bohol, you haven’t been on Bantayan. It’s the next best thing to a Robinson-Crusoe-like life, just with the comfort of some modern amenities, but for reasonable costs.

If you are looking for a quiet life and tranquility away from it all, you came to the right place. You can rent here a small apartment just by the beach for 6-8.000 Pesos a month. The small settlement of Santa Fe should be your first choice to look for accommodation.

Just arriving here with the ferry from Hagnaya/San Remigio will make you rave already about the snowy-white beaches near and around the port. The best beaches can be found to the west, with Sugar beach and Kota Beach being some of the favorites of visitors. The whole island has only 3 towns; Bantayan Proper, Santa Fe and Madridejos with a total population of around 120.000 souls on the whole island.

Although Bantayan has a (supposedly defunct or for charter only) airport, most visitors will reach here coming from Cebu City. Just go to the Northern Bus Terminal, take the Ceres Liner to Hagnaya for 60 Pesos one way. The trip will take about 3-4 hours. The ferry from Hagnaya to Santa Fe costs 150 Pesos and takes 1 hour. RoRo for vehicles is available also with all ferries.

Here is the short summary for Bantayan:

Relaxed, easy-going island with a slow pace of life. Imagine a time machine 20 years back to the good old time.
White sandy and powdery beaches with crystal-clear blue water abound
Spectacular views to surrounding islands of Cebu, Negros and even Panay, when the weather is clear.
Infrastructure with decent road network and phenomenal Internet Speeds (prepaid Smart 3G) due to dedicated tower and still few subscribers
About a dozen restaurants catering to foreign/expat taste buds (Tips: Coucou, best overall value for money, Blue Ice, best quality food, Da Jungle and Portuguese Restaurant just opposite each other for all-you-can-eat weekend buffets for 250 Pesos/head, including free flow of ice tea)
Cheap fresh seafood and chicken galore (on Bantayan there are hundreds of chicken farms) will secure your healthy staple diet
Some Entertainment options available (Tip: try Ginza Bar for free Karaoke, you only pay the reasonable priced drinks; Live Band daily in Tickety Boo resort), Massage is available for around 200 Pesos/hour
Abundance of Water-related activities: swimming, diving, snorkeling, visit the Octong Cave – a water-filled hole in the ground, rent a banca (outrigger boat) to the surrounding islands (check out: Virgin Island for a weekend picnic, 1 Liter Gold Eagle Beer over there only 50 Pesos)

Conclusion

Bohol or Bantayan. Now, which island is for you? Only you can decide. Maybe you will love them both, depending what you are up to. Why not try both?

If you are looking to relax and rewind, to forget about worries and stressful work life – check out Bantayan. If you get bored here after a while, head down to Bohol and enjoy its friendly people and manifold activity options.

Is this the next President of the Philippines?

Chris — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:31:21 +0000

With the current sitting-duck president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) trying to pull all strings to extend her 10 years in office by changing the constitution; a clear frontrunner emerges among the presidential candidates for the scheduled 10th of May 2010 election.

His family heritage and legacy give hope to millions of ordinary Filipinos and big parts of the political elite also.

But can he win and does he have he the guts and long-term stamina to overcome a climate of corruption, vote rigging and cronyism in a country long starved of the fruits of the labor of its people?

To answer that, you will surely have to wait until all votes are in and counted. But one thing is clear, the coming months until and after Election day will be very interesting, with a strange mix of political veterans, actors, clerics and other illustrious figures fighting to gain the trust and support of lobbyists and voters.

The Glorious Days

One thing is clear, the country is sick of its current president. While Gloria had a slow, yet hopeful start when taking office from then Joseph Estrada; her picture in the public turned more sour over the years.

Which is in a way a bit ironic, as in her first years she tried a lot of innovative things, but was hindered front and aft by an old political elite trying to fight any change that could reduce their own political influence, by transferring financial and political power towards reformist sides. The first 5-7 years of her presidency were basically wasted in internal struggles, with little progress for the country to show. The Philippines lacked badly among its Asian neighbors during the economic up-swings of the post-Asian-Financial-Crisis years. While a real emerging economy before 1998, the country was recently overtaken even by chronic laggards like Vietnam or Indonesia in economic or political stability and outlook.

The last 2-3 years actually showed the Philippines steaming forward again, at least in the domestic markets – with the country having survived the recent Worldwide Financial Crisis relatively autark and unscathed, with large parts of infrastructure upgraded from ‘Glora cares’ programs. You can see the infrastructural progress all around the country, roads and highways are constructed, hospitals and governmental institutions upgraded and also Callcenter and English-teaching business striving,

So why then the tiredness of the Philippine people towards Gloria Arroyo?

It was simply too little too late. A string of political scandals, miscommunication and caught with lies makes Gloria’s legacy look dim currently. The newspapers are full of her wasting money on business trips, dining in expensive American restaurants spending a year’s salary of an ordinary Filipino on a single evening, or about her breast operation camouflaged as routine checkup (which is actually her private matter, but she was caught lying about it another time again).

Trouble is looming

In September, even a bill was filed in congress to avoid former presidents to stay in power, if an election doesn’t yield clear results. It should define a mode of succession, if the 2010 polls will fail, all to prevent for the incumbent to stay in power past her terms. Also fear is present, that GMA might try to pull a ‘Putin’ by changing the constitution to allow for her to stay in power by other means.

Gloria was recently awarded the bitter award to be in the Top 5 of ‘The Country’s worst Jackasses’ of popular BLISS magazine (she made the number 3 spot actually, just after ‘Erap’ Estrada), for disappointing performance, forgetting her principles, pardoning predecessor Estrada and ruining the country’s political and judicial institutions.

As the polls in May 2010 will also be the first ones using a new electronic voting system, trouble is looming behind the horizon. Many Senators and Congressmen fear a very messy affair, if things turn out unexpectedly. The electronic data streams and outcome will be transferred through the country’s ordinary telephone systems, which operate at less than 100% efficiency. Another typhoon or probably already some bad weather, mechanical failure or even power outages during that stressful time could affect or interrupt the process for hours if not days – thus causing havoc or political uncertainty.

What are the choices?

Currently, almost a dozen candidates have clearly stated, that they intend to run for president. But it looks like less than a handful have a real chance to rake up the necessary support and voter numbers.

Among them is even former president Joseph ‘ERAP’ Estrada (yeah right; the same actor who plundered the country’s riches already over a period of only 3 years before being swept away by the so-called EDSA revolution).

Senator Manny Villar, is the president of the Nacionalista Party (NP), a successful, self-made business man and long-term politician. He is considered the 5th richest man in the Philippines.

Gilberto Teodoro Jr. was voted 42-5 by secret balloting as the candidate of the current administration and the Lakas-Kampi party. He is a licensed commercial pilot, Colonel in the Philippine Air Force reserve and currently Defense Minister of the Philippines.

Eduardo Villanueva, is a TV business man, evangelist and the founder of the ‘Jesus is Lord Church’ in the Philippines (Bro. Eddie, how he is called also, lost last time against GMA).

Senator Benigno Aquino III of the liberal party is a full-time politician. He is the only son of former president Corazon Aquino (who just died recently, but is still revered by many as the first ‘true democratic’ president; having restored many of the democratic institutions after the Marcos years). His sister is popular TV celebrity and socialite Kris Aquino.

Noli de Castro, the current Vice President of the country, is also expected to throw in his ring and run for President this time around. Although associated with the Arroyo administration, he was the first independent candidate to receive the highest number of votes in a Philippine senatorial election and the first elected independent Vice President of the Philippines.

Now what?

Especially Benigno Aqunio III looks currently like a very interesting and strong candidate.

Then hopeful and popular, leading party figure of the liberal party LDP, Senator Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas, a serious contender for president himself, renounced his own ambitions as recently as September and joined Noynoy’s bid as running mate and potential Vice President.

They declared that their goal is ”to right the wrong, to fight corruption, to fight what’s wrong in the country.”

When a pre-poll was conducted a few weeks back, Senator Benigno Aquino III was leading the pack with a percentage of 40-50% of the votes, with the other places coming in at only 12-17% or even below. Although this pre-poll was only conducted in the Metro Manila area, that’s where almost 40% of the voters are located. How convenient for politicians with deep pockets. So the decision will probably fall here anyway, but don’t let those numbers fool you.

Conclusion

Even though Senator Benigno Aquino III, known as ‘Noynoy’ currently looks like a new and promising hope for many, the outcome is far from certain. In the Philippines, like in other developing countries also, voting isn’t a straight-forward process.

Votes are bought, manipulated or simply whole elections are still being rigged, by the powers in the background that are interested more in their own wellbeing than the country’s.

Hopefully the new electronic voting system will be a boon to avoid that, but it is still to early to tell.

Also the complacency of the average Filipino with politics can lead to low turnout, which in return could be a benefit for political veterans with the most money, deepest pockets and connections in spreading or distributing parts of their wealth to actively sway voters.

It’s hard to cover Philippine politics in just one articles, but maybe I could raise your interest a bit. Please also join the discussion below, if you are a Filipino or Filipina planning to vote for one or the other candidate and please tell others why!

Never again Asus Computers!

Chris — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:10:53 +0000

When I moved away from Singapore on to Thailand and Bali a few years ago, I also gave up on desktop computers.

Until then I mainly used self-customized desktops with the graphic cards, mainboards and components I wanted.

Asus always was close to my techie heart then, so I didn’t waste too many thoughts, when I made the switch from desktop to laptop computers just to be more mobile and flexible.

Big mistake!

I didn’t realize then, that Asus is basically a component vendor with a poor track record of assembling complete products. What I wanted to achieve was basically to substitute my existing desktop platform with a notebook, which was also capable of playing a game of Civilization IV, World of Warcraft or Silent Hunter III & IV without constant hiccups or graphic performance issues.

Okay, fast graphic cards in a notebook were still a novelty, with gaming laptops coming out for exorbitant prices or carrying illustrious yet expensive names like Alienware, Acer Ferrari or Dell XPS.

But I also owned an old Acer Travelmate with a dedicated ATI 9700 graphic card, which ran flawlessly with Windows XP and could at least play some games with a resolution of 1024×768. This old laptop still exists today and has no other issues except a failed WiFi module – all after currently 60 months of lifespan.

So when Asus came out with its Asus G1 model, it was basically a gaming laptop for the masses. It had a whopping 2 GB of RAM, a 2 GHz Core2Duo Processor and 160 GB harddrive coupled with a Nvidia 7700 graphic chip, which was all the rage at that time. It came with the newest Operating System Windows Vista preinstalled, could run all of the above games, plus old favorite Far Cry or even Crysis and looked great, all for the price of 2.500 SGD, roughly around 1.200 Euros.

Great reviews convinced me to buy that piece, soon after it was released.

Even Nomads fall for gadgets, sometimes.

Anyway, to cut a long story short: here are the defects and issues I had with it over the last 3 years until the final straw with a fried motherboard and defect hard drive all at the same time.

Green Screen Flicker due to cable/wiring problem, fixed during warranty
Harddrive failure, fixed during warranty
Inbuilt WebCamera hardware failure outside of warranty
USB ports carry a current resulting in little electric shocks when touched during operation
External USB Camera fried, probably due to above electric shocks
2 Mice fried (including the Asus/Logitech Mx17, that came with it, even though it was already defect during warranty, Asus Singapore refused to exchange it)
Windows Vista refused to install its SP1 due to Driver issues, which could not be resolved. Asus Support and Driver Support completely useless.
Heat Issues over its whole lifetime (probably multiplied due to hot weather in Asia) caused BSOD’s and crashes constantly
Abysmal Driver Support by Asus
Motherboard fried and Hard Drive crashed at the same time outside warranty. Only harddrive, but no replacement motherboard available for this model

The last point was practically the main reason for this much-longer-than-usual delay in the posting frequency of this site.

Okay. That’s it then with this ‘manufacturer’ for me. Others seem to have similar experiences.

What did I do with the rotten corpse of the Asus G1? Get this!

Hope that YouTube upload embeds just right:

Okay, it didn’t shatter as much as I hoped it would, but at least I got back to it badly and left my anger fall down with the remaining parts onto the floor.

What did I buy this time?

After all, relying on Internet Cafes only is never a good idea. As a Nomad and Online Warrior you need proper tools to manage your data accordingly.

You would have probably guessed that I will get a Netbook like this one and you are right.

It is pretty similar – the Acer Aspire One A150 with 3G module inbuilt. It’s small, fast, cheap and can communicate almost anywhere via WiFi or 3G.

Price was 315 Euro – that should be okay, if I have to replace it again within 3 years.

Okay, it can’t do Games, but hey – the less time I will spend in front of a (now smaller) computer screen.

Hopefully I will roam around outside more, without neglecting this site too much.