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Flights to Perth are generally very affordable and you donâ€t have to wait long to avail them.

Here are three of the best tips for finding a great deal on flights to Perth.

1. Be on trend

The pricing of plane tickets is based on demand, with airlines trying to achieve as full a plane as possible without lowering ticket prices any more than they have to. Demand can be hard to predict, with ticket prices fluctuating wildly from week to week.

Websites like Kayak monitor pricing trends, showing the rise and fall of fares for your selected route, and predict whether they are likely to rise, fall or stay the same over the next seven days. Based on this information, they will then advise you on whether the time is right to purchase your tickets.

2. Keep your eyes peeled for deals

Promotional fares and sales are a great way to score cheap flights to Perth. Sign up for email updates from the major airlines to be notified when a promotion or sale is taking place.

Itâ€s a good idea to begin this process a few months in advance of when you plan to travel, in order to secure the best deals. Adioso’s “watch prices” function is another helpful tool. Enter your email and the price you’re willing to pay, and Adioso will alert you when an appropriate fare become available.

3. Avoid unnecessary extras

Why pay for services you do not want or need? Full-service airlines may be convenient for some of us, but others just want to get from point A to point B. If you are willing to go without an airplane meal, in-flight alcohol, checked baggage, entertainment systems or allocated seats, huge savings can be made.

Budget airlines allow you to select only the services you want to pay for. This is especially good for short flights within Australia or to nearby countries such as Indonesia, where you can travel comfortably without expensive extras.

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So there you have it! If you are willing to invest a little time, planning and persistence, it will pay off. Start searching now, and you can travel happily knowing that you have secured an excellent deal.

The post Three Tips On How To Score Cheap Flights To Perth first appeared on nomad4ever.

Driving 20.000 km around Bali and surrounding islands over the last 2 years, I used a Honda Vario 110ccm CBS, which was a great way to use as my day-2-day vehicle. So when Honda came out with the 2012 model, I naturally had to take a closer look. Here is what I think about that bike after using it for 1 month and app. 1.000 kilometer:

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Indonesia – a biker’s paradise

Indonesia is a vast country, consisting of more than 15.000 islands with diverse natural settings; mountains, hills, beach, curvy slopes, ride paddies with quite a modern road infrastructure, compared to other, less developed Asian countries.

I prefer riding an automatic Scooter here, which offers the best ‘bang for the buck’, while still having sufficient performance to master, what nature throws at you. Also your feet are protected from spray water and you have lots of storage space and a hook, to transport at least 4-5 full Carrefour plastic bags all in all. And who needs manual gear shifting in this day and age?

You can rent or buy scooter motorcycles here from Yamaha (Mio, Nouvo), Suzuki (Skywave) or Honda (Beat, Vario), which offer more or less the same features and compete in their respective categories. Of course, there are higher powered bikes available as well, which usually come with manual gears and more ccm, like Yamaha Byson and Vixion, Honda Tiger or to a lesser extend, street- and offroad Kawasakis. Some chinese copies (Minerva) thrown in and you are quite spoilt for choice, if you are not too tall and of ‘normal’ size.

Why I chose Honda

My previous Vario didn’t give me any troubles over the last 2 years, except that I didn’t like its CBS (combi-brake-system), which basically automatically breaks 70% the rear and 30% the front wheel, when pulling the left break handle. While this is definitely an advantage for lazy drivers on smooth roads, on gravel, slippery and sandy surfaces that could lead to disaster. I had a few instances, where the front wheel was breaking out on me and one incident, where I slid off road when breaking in a dark rainy night, thankfully nothing serious happened.

I rode before some rented Yamaha Mio and Nouvo, but for me they always felt more like toys, undermotorized and with inferior build quality compared to the more sturdy Honda Beat or Vario. My friend Micha road a Suzuki Skywave while visiting here for 10 days and while it had nice acceleration, the plastic feel of it didn’t tempt me too much. Suzuki also doesn’t have the wide dealer and support network, especially on smaller islands. Kymco pulled out of Indonesia a couple of years ago and while there are still bikes sold under this brand, the service and maintenance situation remains unclear at this point.

So I went with Honda again, couldn’t go wrong, as any mechanic in the smallest garage in Indonesia can service and help you, when anything is wrong with your bike.

The newest model Honda Vario Techno 125cc PGM-F1 Matic, which was advertised since January 2012, has the following advantages over the old model:

125ccm instead of 110ccm

While the jump to 125ccm doesn’t seem much, the new Vario definitely reaches higher end speeds. My previous one maxed out at around 80 km/h or maybe 90 km/h, when driving down a hill with the wind coming from the back. This new one can go 90 km/h easily, on straights reaching 100 km/h with 2 people and my feeling is, that I didn’t even reach the max speed yet. Definitely a plus when riding longer distances on long, empty roads.

Acceleration seems to be unchanged, at least I didn’t notice any improvements here, but no decrease either. If at all, there is a slight kick, when accelerating faster than 20 km/h, speeds below seem to work with lower revolutions (rpm), maybe to save gasoline when driving in city traffic. But the speed and power is there, you just have to turn the acceleration handle at will. Nice!

Bigger tank

This was my biggest gripe with the previous model, the small tank, which could only hold around 3.5 liters was the reason for a relative short range of about 75-90 km with one tank-filling.

The new one can hold more gasoline (5.5 liters) and that combined with the new ‘esp system’ (which means ‘enhanced smart power’ in Honda Jargon) makes for an almost doubled range of 150-160 km. I’m definitely happy with that!

Bigger seat

The seat is a bit wider this time, because the room underneath was expanded as well. That has 2 advantages, you can ride longer distances without getting ‘bum pain’ and finally even lock your helmet in the space under the seat (a feature that other scooters had quite a while already), thus avoiding direct exposure to rain and dust for your helmet or even to thieves (who love to just cut off the helm bands) when parking it somewhere. The previous pins to attach 2 helmets under the seat are still there, although moved more to the middle, making it a bit more fiddly to attach them there.

Longer Service Intervals

Honda seems to be quite confident with the new Vario engine. The service manual now asks for you to do regular service checkups every 4.000 kilometers. The first should be done when you reach 1.000km (previously 500km), then next at 2.000km (previously 1.000), then 4.000km and every additional 4.000km only. Alone for warranty reasons this is great, as you have to visit a garage less often to maintain your initial warranty in the first years of owning the bike.

Other ‘improvements’

Those are the main improvements, rather gimmicky is the new digital odometer and gasoline gauge, at least the latter doesn’t seem to be very accurate. The former could be a concession against manipulation of km numbers, but I don’t know for sure, if the new odometer isn’t manipulated just as easily.

Also the headlights can’t be switched off anymore (the switch is missing), probably to enforce Indonesia’s new traffic laws, that bikes have to drive with headlights on even during the day. Not a big problem for me, though. The switch to dip the headlights further is still there, though.

The side mirrors have a more rombus shape now, which makes for smaller mirror area and better design. Definitely a plus for young Indonesians who seem to despise rear mirrors (who even drive without mirrors in the small kampungs and areas with less police presence). For me, it’s a big minus, as I love to overtake and knowing – what’s going on behind me by checking my mirrors is therefore essential. Call it different mindset, but hey, something’s got to give, right?

Another new gimmick is the seat/saddle release to access the tank and under-seat storage – it now can be opened with the press of a button next to the ignition, which makes for less fiddling to find the saddle keyhole in a dark night. Also saves you from bending over too often, when opening the saddle storage, which is quite convenient.

The sound of the horn changed as well, sounds more deep and full now, but the sound might have less range at higher speeds, not sure about that yet.

The overall build quality of the Vario seems to be a bit less top notch than the previous model, some gap dimensions are bigger than necessary (like the seat/saddle, where it’s almost possible to reach under with your hand, even when closed properly). Or the seat cover has some hollow space under it, let’s see how long that will last. The board where you park your feet also has a more plastic feel and even creaks, when stepping too hard on it.

Synopsis/Conclusion:

Good/Improved:

– 125ccm, higher end speed with similar acceleration
– Bigger/wider seat, more space for storage and helmet
– Bigger tank, making for higher range and less stops at Pertamina
– Longer service intervals during warranty period, make for less spent time at the garage
– Digital Odometer/Fuel Gauge, Snap Release for opening under-seat storage seem rather positive
– New free helmet and rain jacket as a goodie, when you purchase a new Honda bike, unchanged but still welcomed

Worsened:

– Build/assembling quality slightly decreased, but nothing to cry foul about
– Smaller mirrors
– Lack of headlight switch (maybe a point for someone, who wants to escape some corruptors in the dark)

Overall, the new 2012 Honda Vario model with 125ccm is a great overhaul compared to the old one. The useful improvements outweigh the disadvantages by miles. I’m the happiest biker with my new ride and can’t wait to go on another 1-week long drive around Lombok within the next couple of weeks.

What do you think? Worth buying? What to you drive in Indonesia and why?

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The post Review: Honda Vario Techno 125ccm PGM-F1 Matic first appeared on nomad4ever.

This is celebrated with a parade of paper mache Ogoh-Ogoh monsters followed by a day of silence.

During Nyepi Day, noise and light pollution have to be avoided, to not make the monsters, demons and ghosts flying over the island to be alerted, so they can continue their journey towards other islands and not bring their evil to Bali’s inhabitants.

As every other year, for tourists and locals alike, the Ogoh-Ogoh parade is the hightlight of the Nyepi ceremonies and this year was no different. Maybe it was even more welcomed this year, as it was a bright, sunny day after weeks of rain during the end of the rainy season. And what nice Ogoh-Ogoh we could see this year!

The streets on the eve before Nyepi were filled with people, Ogoh-Ogoh were being carried from all Banjar areas towards the center of Denpasar (Lapangan Puputan Badung), where the annual Ogoh-Ogoh parade is held. On their way there, the sculptures are rotated at every junction or intersection as a form of purification and to confuse the spirits who try to possess and influence the bodies of the mortals.

This year it seemed, there was a refocussing on tradition and mythology, as most Ogoh-Ogoh I saw didn’t depict the more modern forms like rock stars, politicians and punks, but the characters of the Hindu Sanskrit epics Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Of course there were the occasional representations of bad influences in the eyes of the Balinese, like bare-breasted or beer-bottle-swinging tourists (‘Bule’) as Ogoh-Ogoh sculptures, rock punks or even the bicycling youth.

I also noticed that many traditional female Ogoh-Ogoh this year came with huge naked breasts.

All in all the celebrations were very colorful and even more playful, with firecrackers released until late into the night and Bali’s youth roaming the street until the early morning hours.

Maybe that was due to the latest successes averting evil and harm from the island. As you may have heard, just last week, Bali could avoid another chapter of tragedy, when 5 potential terrorists were apprehended and killed during their preparations for new attacks on Night Clubs, Resorts and Money Changers.

To help with the aversion of evil, I managed to shoot a good number of 80 Ogoh-Ogoh in just under 3 hours around Kerobokan, Batubelig and Denpasar, of course only with my camera.

Head over to this album to see the 80 images of the whole bodycount in its full gore and glory.

If you are interested in more Ogoh-Ogoh pics and tales, here and here are the articles of previous years.

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The post How many Ogoh-Ogoh did you shoot? (Bali Nyepi 2012) first appeared on nomad4ever.

Over the course of almost 2 weeks I commuted between Saigon and Vung Tau, a beach holiday destination just 125 km south of Vietnam’s largest city.

The overall experience was quite positive, it’s surprisingly easy to get around and make the most of your trip. Vietnam is quickly becoming a modern Asian country, after having suffered so much just a few decades ago.

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Here is what were the highlights of this trip, good or bad:

This article is a part of the series ‘The Best, The Good, The Ugly’, if you are more interested in other destinations, like Bali, Philippines or Goa in India, please click the respective link to get to those articles.

But now about Vietnam.

The Best

The Best for me in Vietnam is without any doubt the Food. Affordable street food from French-inspired baguettes with Duck Pate, Cold Cuts, Cheese, Eggs, fresh vegetables are available at almost every corner. The standard price for a rich baguette seems to be around 15.000 Dong, which is around USD 0.70 or 0.55 Euro.

Delicious Spring Rolls (raw, cooked, fried) come in a close second. In Vung Tau and other beach destinations fresh seafood rules. You have many stalls offering everything from clams and shells, sea fish to octopus or squid. You can choose and it’s been cooked right in front of your eyes to perfection.

Especially in Ho Chi Ming or Saigon you have countless of small and affordable restaurants, famous here are Pho, the Beef or Chicken Noodle Soup, served with fresh mint, lime and bean sprouts. If street food isn’t your thing or you are afraid of belly troubles, head to Vietnamese Franchises like ‘Pho 24’, ‘Pho 2000’ or similar chains for your more cultivated version of the same.

International restaurants are abound and offer food from all around the world for small money. In Ho Chi Minh you have countless Bodegas, Tapas, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Italian and German restaurants, most offering healthy and delicious cuisine of its origin countries.

Also, the globalized fast food chains show a refreshing lack of market penetration here, besides a few KFC or Pizza Hut I didn’t came across not even a Mc Donalds or Burger King (okay, one at the airport) but many Japanese Chains like ‘Lotteria’ or also Korean franchises.

The Vietnamese Coffee is a strong brew and famous among the locals, celebrated in a cafe house culture, where you simply sit at the side of the road on cheap plastic chairs and slurp your fresh coffee, hot or cold, black or with lots of condensed milk, but usually with lots of sugar.

You have many Coffee House Franchises, local ones like ‘Highlands Coffee’ as well as the occasional Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Gloria Jean’s Coffee and others.

Beer is another ‘Best’ subject, with the local brands ‘Saigon’, ‘333’, ‘Zorak’ readily available and costing between 10-20K Dong per Bottle or Can only. Be aware that prices in restaurants for beer is around 3-4 times more than in stores like ‘Shop and Go’ or ‘Circle K’.

On top of that, international brands like Heineken, Carlsberg, Singapore’s Tiger, Japan’s Sapporo but also Beer Laos, Corona and lots of Czech Beer like Gambrinus, Staropramen, Pilsner are available. In restaurants those come at a price, with a bottle costing anything between 50K-100K Dong, but at least you have the choice.

From the local brands I found ‘333’ and ‘Zorak’ the most drinkable, the others were a bit thin and watery for my taste. Beer ‘333’ is available for as low as 10K Dong in ‘Shop & Go’ or other supermarkets.

The Good

Definitely Internet Access in the country is on a decent level. Wherever you go, sit or stand – a free WiFi Hotspot isn’t far – just ask for the password and you are all set. The speeds are usually very good up to phenomenal fast, something I’m not used to residing in Bali, Indonesia.

Here in Vietam, 2 Mbps and up are not unusual to experience, while in Bali that’s mainly as fast as it maximum gets.

Mobile Internet is similar, just get a SIM Card of Vinaphone, Viettel or mobiphone, read the intructions or ask the friendly vendor to set 3G up for you and you are ready to go.

I used Vinaphone during my trip and it was almost always running on HSDPA (the faster 3G version) and it was incredibly cheap. They have volume packages which can be activated daily, weekly or monthly. Some examples for Vinaphone: 250 MB, consumable in 1 day: 12K Dong or for 30 day: 120 MB = 25K Dong, 550 MB = 50K Dong, 1.2 GB = 100K Dong.

Internet here comes with a caveat though. And it’s about Facebook. Facebook is blocked almost within the whole country and by most providers. Youtube sometimes also. I didn’t find a single WiFi spot that allowed access to the Facebook page.

Mobile Internet on Vinaphone didn’t block Facebook at all though, so I’m not sure, what it is about Facebook in Vietnam. If you must use Facebook during your trip, better educate yourself about Web Proxies or set one up for yourself, if you have a server running elsewhere.

Hotel Standards and Prices are very good. You can get simple and clean hotel rooms (2-3 stars) in abundance at all price levels and in general your room will be equipped with mini bar, cable TV, Wifi Access and breakfast included. Prices start at 250K Dong per night, slightly higher in Ho Chi Minh’s District 1 (around 450K Dong) or around 550-650K Dong in the City Center.

Transportation is readily available and affordable. You can go the 125 km from Ho Chi Minh to Vung Tau in 90 minutes by Hydrofoil boat for just 200-250K Dong (return is cheaper). Buses cost only half the price but take about 1-2 hours longer. Taxis are everywhere in abundance and usually affordable, if the meter works and the drivers knows which way to go. On top of that plenty of motor-bike taxis offering to bring you wherever you want for a fixed price. So if you know direction and destination and carry not much luggage, that could be your cheapest option, if you don’t want to drive yourself.

You can also rent Motorbikes, which are usually Honda Airblade or similar Chinese Models for anything around 150K Dong per day or 50K per hour. In the hourly rates usually the Gasoline comes included.

The Visa Process is simple and painless, if you get your Visa in advance. There are countless Visa Agencies on the internet, I used VietnamVisaPro, which got me my Visa Approval Letter within 2 working days, after payment of USD10 via Paypal. With the Visa Approval letter you can simply show up at the airport and get your Visa on Arrival, typically it costs USD25 for a single-entry 1 month Visa, but longer options are available also.

The Ugly

Then there are small annoyances that could make your trip not so pleasant, but call it an adventure and you still should be fine. None of the points below are a serious deal breaker, but better read through them and decide if they are bearable for you.

• Communication: English is not very commonly used in Vietnam, despite what other people are saying. I had a hard time communicating with local people or even taxi drivers for that matter. The staff in smaller hotels doesn’t talk English much – if at all – or if they do, they are very hard to understand. Even in shops or restaurants in Ho Chi Minh that can be a problem, but as long as you know what you want and how much you want to spend for it, that shouldn’t be a problem. Asking for directions can be tricky, I would recommend a smartphone with Google Maps as an alternative.
• Curfew Hours: Shops, Bars and Restaurants close early. In Ho Chi Minh that meant it was difficult to find anything to eat for dinner after 10pm, as most restaurants were closed already. Even Night Clubs and Bars close around 2am, like in Saigon’s most notoriuos Club ‘Apocalypse Now’ they simply played ‘This is the end…’ by the Doors at 2am and all patrons ran outside and the Club closed. Ouch! Coming from Party Island Bali that is pretty unusal, especially if you are in a big city.
• Pickpocketing/Theft: Vietnam is notorious for that. While I got away lucky this time here (I ‘lost’ my old camera during Sinulog in Cebu instead), I was robbed during my last visit on Phu Quoc Island while sleeping in the hotel – camera, phone and all cash. There are countless tales of travelers being pickpocketed or even robbed in broad daylight, so better be aware of your belongings or leave luxury items at home or deep inside your pockets.
• Rudeness of people: It maybe isn’t meant as rudeness, but Vietnamese people come across sometimes as rude. As a pedestrian nobody will give way for you, hawkers will grab you when they want to sell you something, people spit wherever they go, urinate in road corners (the stench of urine in Saigon at night is unbelievable) and plastic and other garbage is littering the streets (although in Saigon is cleaned up every night and it’s basically cleaner here than in the countryside). The beaches and streets of Vung Tau for instance are littered with all kinds of garbage and nobody seems to care. Motorbike or even Car Drivers will make a fun out of it to speed up, when you are crossing the road and trying to pass you as close as possible while honking wildy. The horn is used here in a very aggressive and offensive manner, even if you don’t stand any chance to get out of the way. Disturbing!
• Taxi Scams: There are dozends of Taxi Companies and they all are charge different. While competition is always a good thing, here it seems to be a bit weird. From the pier of Vung Tau to my hotel at Back Beach I paid anything from 50K, 120K to 150K Dong with no traffic or delay whatsover. 2 times in Vung Tau I had Taxis with rigged meters and also Taxi Drivers pretending to understand where you want to go (repeating your destination in good English) and bring you somewhere else instead. In Vung Tau I wanted to go to the Dog Racing track and and after we went in circles for 20 minutes, I finally had to bark at the driver to make him understand where we should be going. The most reliable Taxi Companies I found were Vinasun Taxi and Mai Linh.
• Clubbing/Partying: While there is a certain party scene in a beach destination like Vung Tau or also in Ho Chi Minh, it’s pretty low key. The Disco Clubs in Vung Tau had a female to male ratio of about 20/80 with 90% of the female being prostitutes. In Ho Chi Minh, the female/male ratio was maybe 50/50, but there didn’t seem to be much ordinary girls partying. All girls I chatted up, wanted to go back to my hotel with me for money within 5-15 minutes, but maybe I didn’t go to the right clubs. Disappointing! Drinks while Clubbing are expensive, with beer starting at around 60-80K Dong and cocktails 100K until the sky is the limit. If you prefer wild and long parties into the early morning hours, head to Bali or Thailand instead.

All in all the trip was rather exciting and positive, although it may look from the list of annoyances that is wasn’t so pleasant. But consider that those were really minor issues, I just wanted to list them here for others to be aware and to make up their own mind about it.

But what do you think? Do my experiences of Vietnam match yours? What mistakes did I do or what are your recommendations for enjoying Vietnam? Write away in the comment section below!

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international travel insurance

The post South Vietnam – The Best, The Good, The Ugly first appeared on nomad4ever.

Cebu has the second biggest international airport in the country and is a great hub for island-hopping, entertainment options or simply coming back to Civilization after having successfully toured the surrounding islands or provinces. Bohol is an interesting island which features beautiful nature, wildlife and friendly people.

So far, it was only possible to get from one of these islands to the other via ferry services, which takes anything from 2-4 hours, depending on weather conditions. But hear me out, what seems to be in store for the near future:

Bridges or underpasses have long been the fantasies for visionaries in all past centuries. Just remember the underpass the Napoleon wanted to build through the English Channel to invade Great Britain.

Since back then, many impressive structures have been build around the world to overcome distances between islands or even continents. Also the English Channel had finally seen a 50.5 km long tunnel through which cars and trains can go, making the slow and weather-dependent trip via ferries almost obsolete.

In the Philippines there are currently not only rumors but newspaper articles circulating, that point to a similar plan to connect Cebu and Bohol islands even better, which might come true earlier than most people think.

For Cebu that would mean easier access to Bohol’s interesting features, better power supply for Bohol from Cebu’s abundance of coal power plants and even the introduction of modern telecommunications like fiberoptics for Bohol. Bohol could deliver water for Cebu. Tourism would benefit massively, as would the faster and more reliable transport of goods and other services between the 2 provinces.

Probably also more industry would find its way to Bohol – which is of course a double-edged sword – as especially the north-east corridor of Cebu City doesn’t have any room for expansion anymore and daily traffic congestion and pollution are already an accepted situation.

The project is dubbed “Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Friendship Bridge” and was a brainchild of Bohol’s former governor.

The project now seems already in advanced planning stages, with feasibilities studies done as far back as 2008 by a Korean Company. Now even the funding seems to be close to 100% secured with the Korea Export-Import Bank (Economic Development Cooperation Fund, EDCF), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a group of Chinese Investors and the International Bridge Construction Company of California being interested in financing the project. As it looks now, the Philippine government would have to cough up not even a single Peso to get the project going under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law.

So far it seems, the only delay for a construction start within the next 2-3 years could come from politics. The initial project was originally endorsed already in 2009, but delayed due to the economical and financial crisis and – you guessed it – politics. In a country riddled by corruption, those kind of mega projects can mean the difference of being a poor joker or a millionaire for a local politician. Currently the ball is with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to give the final ‘Go ahead!’.

The bridge’s end points or anchors would be Cordova on Cebu Island and Getafe in Bohol, not far from the capitol Tagbilaran, spanning a total distance of 17.5 kilometers across the Olango and Hilotongan Channels with some small islets, shoals and shallow seawaters in between. That is already a cut-down version from the original planning of a bridge with more than 90 kilometers in length. Other sources talk about a total length of 40 kilometers due to feeder and highway access connectors.

Still, this bridge would by no means be a small feat, as the currently longest bridge in the Philippines, the arch or ‘s’-shaped San Juanico bridge between the islands of Samar and Leyte across the San Juanico Straight is ‘only’ 2.16 kms long.

I drove over this island in 2009, on my Tricycle trip around the Philippines and it’s really one of the most beautifully designed bridges in the Philippines.

A new bridge between Cebu and Bohol with a length of anything between 17.5-40 kilometers would automatically be in the Top 30 of the longest bridges in the world, following this list of longest bridges. The world’s 3 longest bridges are currently all in China, with the winner – the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, High-Speed Railway bridge from Beijing–Shanghai  spanning a length of almost 165 kilometers!

It seems, the Philippines Government doesn’t even want to stop with building just this one ‘Super Bridge’, as there are even talks of building one more from Cebu to Negros, the largest island in the West and just another from Ilo-ilo on Panay Island to Negros via Guimaras, the Mango Island of the Philippines. Okay, those last 2 are only early plans yet, but for economic development let’s hope those plans work out in the end.

What do you think?

Will a bridge between Cebu and Bohol improve or destroy Bohol’s fragile tourism infrastructure?

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The post A ‘Super Bridge’ from Cebu to Bohol? first appeared on nomad4ever.

Amidst the serenity of its 8km long stretch of sand and (back then) clean waters a night club opened opened in Legian/Seminyak.

It was located directly at the beach, an open concept and opened until the wee hours of the next day. From 6pm to 6am. Thus Club 66 was born.

This weekend, Baliâ€s most well-known Club, an institution and trendsetter once, closed its gates forever, to be replaced by just a another hip resort.

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With its 15.000 Watts Sound System, Club Doublesix was a famous venue and in the hearts and minds of most party goers and visitors to Bali – many international top DJs from all around the world like Tiesto, Pete Tong, Steve Gerrard, Mike Hiratzka and countless more rocked the crowds over the years here.

For the last stand, nothing was spared and lots of effort was put into making this a special night to remember – anything was possible. The venue was decked out with lavish decorations and light beams, lasers, big screens, 60 DJâ€s (!) for this 1 night and a total of 6 stages and music areas all entertaining patrons at the same time.

Venues like Syndicate and Bacio, not necessarily better going Clubs in the area, were joining in the fun and were connected with 66, but walled off from the beaches and surrounding areas.

And they came in droves.

While Club 66 was deserted most of the last couple of months – for the last stand – everyone and his dog who was in Bali came to join the fun one last time.

Around 9pm the place was starting to fill up and even around 4am new guests were still coming and paying the cover charge of 100K Rupiah, to get in and ‘be part of history†as the final flyer put it.

It was definitely the party of the year so far in Bali!

The owner, Pak Kadek, who also runs several other venues in Bali, was holding court in Bacio, with TV crews and photographers swarming around him to get the best pictures.

The crowds were an interesting mix of Locals, Bali Expats, Hippies, Rasta Men, Butterflies of the Night, Jakarta Nightlife Pros, Bali Residents and Tourists – a lot of different people you usually donâ€t see together all in the same place.

Most people wore their best or even glamorous attire, meeting old friends and partying the night away in the heaviest fashion.

Heyyyy – but if all is gold, why is it closing?

The truth is, nothing was as good as it seems, already a while.

But nobody, maybe with the exception of Pak Kadek – the owner – knew for sure.

It seems, Club 66 fell out of fashion already months ago. The center of mayhem and night entertainment slowly shifted back to Kuta over the last couple of years.

With the opening of Skygarden and Ocean Beach Club (later closed due to land disputes and re-integrated into Skygarden), Clubs without Cover Charge became the norm. Fire Dancers, Acrobats, Stage Shows, Live Music and Bikini or Lingerie Models dancing on top of bars are all a common sight now in the Clubs of Kuta.

Yeah, you can even drink for free in some of those clubs or use the many drink promos to get your fix of booze for special low prices all night long, if you know where.

While night spots like Skygarden, Surfer Bar, Apache, Taverna or Espresso Bar are packed any night of the week – the signs became clearer that something wasnâ€t going right in the Doublesix area.

Club 66 with its steep cover charges, dark atmosphere and unchanged ancient concept of heavy techno beats with light shows and nothing else couldnâ€t or didnâ€t want to compete with the young and hungry Party Club Cowboys in Kuta.

A ray of hope came through, when the owners of the area around Legian beach tried to transform the place into higher class night venues. Clubs like DeJaVu, Syndicate, Bacio or lately Cocoon Beach Club opened and had initial success.

But it wasnâ€t good enough.

Nearby La Vida Loca (a pickup place, full of  the oldest and ugliest night birds, was doing its best part to spoil the fun of the high-rolling crowd. And of course the stench of the open sewage system just down the road of Jalan Arjuna (or Jalan Doublesix back in the days) still leaves an indifferent feeling of filth in an otherwise high-price nightlife area.

Drug sellers (fake and real) around the toilet areas in Club 66 and several police raids and undercover busts and constant ripoffs also left dark stains in the minds of carefree party goers.

The Clubs in the area stagnated and were already near empty almost every single night of the last couple of months, maybe with the exception of some weekend nights and special events.

So the inevitable happened. Last week already DeJaVu closed and Club 66 followed this weekend.

If Bacio can stay a strong contender in the area, remains to be seen. Cocoon might probably survive, as its Lounge and Pool Concept with various shows through the week is unique to the area and proved to be quite successful so far.

Itâ€s a pity., Club 66 has to close now, but it had a good run. TIme to enjoy the sunset at Doublesix Beach again in its full serenity, at least the name remains. Oh wait….places like La Plancha and Crystal Palace mushroomed there lately and do there best to keep their patrons happy.

As Pak Kadek put it in his 66 Closing Speech published in Bali Advertiser:

It was a place to meet, where a lot of romance and madness happened, eventually Doublesix became a raving discotheque for all different shapes and colors from around the planet.

If the walls could talk, the stories that went on from opening to the closing would make a great novel. Lots of secrets and memories that will never be told

The tales of hedonistic debauchery that happened in Club 66 would surely leave many breathless! After all – this was Baliâ€s first super-club, and last weekend, it all came to an end.

Farewell Club 66 and RIP!

For some impressions of the Final Party at Club 66, check out the embedded Youtube Video below:

People Bungy Jumping above the crowds at the Closing Party of Club 66:

So far it seems, that Hackettâ€s Bungy Jumping Tower will remain on the area of the former Club 66, but nothing is certain. After all, the area will be demolished and  transformed into a new resort, so who knows what will happen.

Anyone has the latest rumors? How did you enjoy the Final Party at 66? Please scroll down and leave your comment below!

The post Club 66 (Doublesix) Bali goes out with a Bang – RIP! first appeared on nomad4ever.

This May, GQ China interviewed half a dozen Bali and Phuket Expats for a July Special Print Issue about people who left the city life behind. It seems more and more Chinese are overwhelmed by their work and life pressure and looking for alternative lifestyles.

So in a 4-hour interview and photo session which took part in the Four Season Hotel in Jimbaran and also Uluwatu temple, I was ‘interrogated†about how I came to live the life Iâ€ve been living the last 5 years. Here is what came out of it:

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The interview was published in their 07/2011 print issue only. Thankfully my friend Julia Song, who vacationed in her home town in China at the time of publishing could get a hold of the magazine and carried the almost 1 kg heavy package all the way back to Bali.

It took a while to translate it, but luckily, another friend, Hui-Ling Chen from Taiwan (Shadow Chen) did most of the work, so I can present now a good translation of what was being written. A big thanks to you guys!

Some things funnily got ‘Lost in Translationâ€, as the Chinese Interviewers only could speak limited English, so I took the liberty of explaining some things that were characterized wrongly in the article. See below the quote for explanations. Okay, here is the translation from Chinese into English without any further bla-bla:

Chris Skoda, High tech Millionaire – “I thought Iâ€ll die before Iâ€m 42”

39-year-old Chris, lives in a rental villa in Bali. He doesnâ€t have to worry about having either enough money or women, the only thing that he worries about, is to not getting sick. After all, without his health, how can he keep enjoying the nomadic life he adopted?

During our interview, he stoked his slightly convex belly and said, it looks like I have to go for a diet to eliminate this.

In his earlier work life, Chris was concerned that he might die before 42 due to increasing workload. Here are the reasons for that:

He was 34 and worked in a big IT company in Europe for 14 years, by the time he quit the job, he was the VP of that company. He owned a two stories apartment building in small town near Berlin, one Porsche, one Benz and one Audi. As one in the high-income groups in his society, he didnâ€t have any economic pressure. However, he was too busy working to have a normal sleep each day and not even had time for a romance. (He said it was easier to develop a relationship in Bali on a later stage after quitting working). After working many years in Germany, he applied to work in Singapore, which even increased the amount of work load and work hours for him.
 
He had 3 bosses, two of them died of heart attacks at the age of 42. So he thought: ‘Hey, I even work harder than them, which means I might die before Iâ€m even 42â€. That was when he decided to quit his job and simply live the nomad life that he had been dreaming about since he was young.

He wrote on his website: “Is normality getting dressed in the clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic jams in the car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, the car, and especially, the house that you leave empty all day in order to live in it?” – this kind of meaningless life, I donâ€t want to buy into anymore.

After quitting, he did a very non-German thing. He burned all the 25 ties he had on the streets in Singapore. ‘I felt the ties are the ropes that chained my neck. It was like a cleansing ritual symbolizing that Iâ€m having my new life now.â€

It wasnâ€t in a whim to choose a nomad life. He was born in East Germany. Before the Berlin wall fell, the vision of the east Germans were usually narrower. They had more desire to see the world. When Chris was young, he read many books about travel and adventure, and developed an ‘On the road†complex. He traveled extensively with his Indonesian girlfriend whenever he had time for it. They had a motorbike and traveled around South East Asia. They stayed in Singapore, Phuket, Goa and Philippines. Now he stays in Bali as a base, and travels from there whenever he can.

Heâ€s still very German, careful and organized, so his nomad life has a stable support. He counted for us the rental he gets from the apartment in Germany which pays his bills in Bali; he has some stocks and he also have income from his website. He said those income streams are definitely enough for his retirement. As to the normal manâ€s needs, Chris has no problem with that. He would restrain to go drinking heavily in bars, but he is also open to get out and meet some girls wherever they would are. Chris said the only thing he has to be careful is not to getting sick.

He has the best control of himself like an east German, but he has a very different romantic nature in his bone. He said that he realized, how big the world is and how small he himself is. There are so many interesting and small things that enrich him and make him happy now, compared to his previous work life.

Finally, he quoted a poem from a Canadian poet, which influenced his life from the early years on:

I will stake my Himalayan memories
Against your estate of a thousand trees.
Pit my Thai sunset
Against your private jet.
Weigh my horse rides at sunrise
To your Italian suits and ties.
Iâ€ll rejoice in friends before I go,
Not the figures of my stock portfolio.

Some remarks in regards to facts in the article:

Some facts were clearly misstated in the article, I just want to take the chance to put them right, as they make me feel quite uncomfortable.

It would be nice, if I ever was a High Tech Millionaire, but that was simply not the case.

In my work in Sales related functions in a IT company, I didnâ€t have any stock options or the chance to get rich quick. So all I did was saving more than half of my monthly salary, investing early in stocks, property and other long-term investment form and getting out, before the work burned me out completely. I luckily avoided some common mistakes. It was never the question, how much money I would need to retire, but more correctly – how little.

By Chinese standards it might still qualify me as being a Millionaire, after all 1 Mio. Yuan are only about 100K Euros. In Indonesian Rupiah, it would even make me a Billionaire!

Wowwwww, way to go, Chris! ‘I wanna be a Billonaire, so fricking baaaaaaaaad!â€

I also never owned a Porsche or Mercedes Benz – and for sure not 3 cars all at the same time.

When working in Germany, I had a common company car, which was a BMW 3-series or an Audi A4 at that time, which was considered pretty mid-range. For those I had to pay monthly taxes deducted directly from my salary. I guess Porsche or Mercedes-Benz just sound more German and successful in the ears of the typical Chinese, so that might be the reason, why those brands made it into the text instead.

My own 2-story apartment was rented, not purchased. I donâ€t believe in the concept of purchasing your own home, as explained here.

My title of Vice President was restricted to the Business Development arm for new services of my Business Unit, a group of at most 120 people – a virtual organization. I was never the VP of the whole company of more than 100.000 people, but titles in general are anyway given in European companies to open the doors for you to reach your respective counterpart or decision maker in the customer company, which were in that case, CEO, CIO or CFO. In Singapore I was Director for Global Strategic Accounts of my company, the same applies here, title doesnâ€t say anything about your standing in the structure of the organization.

More details about my superiors (bosses), who died in their early 40â€s, which were definitely life-changing events for me, can be found in this article.

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It was definitely worth the fun to be interviewed by mainland Chinese. I also had the chance to meet another interviewee, a 70-year old Chinese business man in Bali. He was previously very famous in China for being a self-made millionaire, but lost all his fortunes and then some in the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 90â€s. To get away from his debt collectors and to avoid jail, he took refuge in Bali, where heâ€s living with a small standard of living ever since, surfing every day and just enjoying the good life. It was a tremendous joy to meeting that guy and sharing stories and experiences.

There are definitely more like us, who get out and ask themselves the question, why should be put up with all of that?

Check out the mentioned poem in full length here and change your own life – now!

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The post nomad4ever.com featured in GQ China 07/2011 first appeared on nomad4ever.

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun–
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky –
The wall…

Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Poem by Langston Hughes, found in The Bali Times

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The post As I Grew Older first appeared on nomad4ever.

A cost factor, that constantly has to be optimized, downsized and monitored for return on investment; restructured and adjusted to fit the firmâ€s strategies and policies.

What happened to the human factor? To Work-Life-Balance?

Come on – donâ€t kid yourself! If you donâ€t watch out for that, nobody else will.

Here is the latest fairy tale from the corporate world, which might just prove that point:

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Todays Perfect Corporate World

When I was still working for one of the largest European IT firms, we had 1 complete structural overhaul at least every 12 months.

Sometimes 2.

This resulted in higher workloads, countless new projects, longer working hours, endless meetings and video conferences, stressed and frustrated employees, backstabbers galore, colleagues unwilling to cooperate in your projects, change of working location, increasing amounts of overnight or multiday business trips, 24/7 availability via mobile phone, intranet and work groups.

You will get permanent black ‘Panda Eyes†after a while. (Yes, they even have a word for it). But you keep going; after all – the next Starbucks infusion is just a block away, right!

Life is hard, isnâ€t it?

Hey guess what, my previous company wasnâ€t a bad employer or any exception to the rule.

Unfortunately this is the norm now in most modern companies these days. Thinking from quarter to quarter, ever-increasing velocity and introduction of new product and service cycles, stipulating new and old customer demands and the relentless competition nowadays force just about any company on the planet to adapt with the speed of light or be gone in a few months or years.

Iâ€ve seen enough

The CEO of my 100.000+ employee company died of a stroke at the age of 46 – ironically during his first holiday after 2 years with the company.

My direct superior in my last years with the firm died of a heart attack in his early 40â€s, while he was jogging through Berlin. He was responsible for the Asia region, with some of our strategic customers  having their headquarters in Americas and our own HQ in Germany. Traveling on 3 continents surely is exhausting!

Yet another Top Manager I knew personally, died at the age of 42 when running a triathlon in Singapore in his free time.

Is that normal?

All of them were bright minds, young and smart people, high earners, married, sporty, in the prime of their lives. They all left wives and children or older relatives behind. Those incidents I witnessed during my own corporate life – they were life-changing for me.

Believe me, I had a reason, why I wanted to leave the corporate life behind after being in it just 14 years, at the age of 34.  I was burned out already and sick of all the office politics played in front of me or behind someone else’s back. Nobody was spared. It affected my health, my mood, my happiness, my capacity to lead a fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle.

The annual longer vacation was at the end merely enough to recharge my batteries by half.

The money they pay you is really just damages or reimbursement for the physical and psychological suffering over the years.

With sadness I noticed today the Facebook update of a former colleague, who is just a few years older than me. He had a longer abstinence from Facebook, but today he wrote the following:

Brain Aneurism resulted in stroke and loss of sight on left eye. Surgery on brain on 18th May. 12th July eye surgery to remove blood clot. Functional capacity of limbs gained with slight weakness of left foot. Eye is better and should be normal in 2-3 weeks.

Back to office in August.

Thank you for the support and prayers over the last 3 months which were the darkest moments in my life.

1 hour ago

This comes from a Top Dog in the firm and his industry. He is a former Air Force Pilot of his country, still flies smaller planes in his private life – you definitely have to have an exceptional health to fly Jet Fighters. This aside – he is one of the smartest people I know.

He is married with kids, sporty as hell – he skydives with parachutes – he doesnâ€t wear his nickname ‘Iron Man†for nothing.

Now, Iâ€m no doctor or benefitted with any special knowledge about health, genes or similar. But I ask you, how come that someone’s health can deteriorate that much in a short period of time, not even a decade, in the middle of your life – when you should be at your strongest? And why does it seem to affect more and more young people in their work lives?

Of course, other factors or family predispositions might play their roles as well.

But I bet my grandfather on it that the corporate world has something to do with it.

(By the way, my grandfather – may he rest in peace – died at the age of 85, after a long and hard-working life, smoked like a train for the most part of his life, having seen 2 World Wars, having lost limbs and a heart pacemaker implanted for the last 20 years).

So, what can YOU do, to not end like a corporate slave? Or do you want to be a candle, burning on both ends at the same time?

Life is still beautiful, but you have to plan ahead, if you want to enjoy the fruits of the modern day slavery you subscribed to for now.

To retire early, you canâ€t just work from pay check to pay check, hoping ‘everythingâ€s gonna be alrightâ€. You are not Bob Marley, mate!

Tyler Durden says: ‘Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else.â€

‘Back to office in August� And after that ordeal? Man, it makes me sooo sad to hear that!

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And YOU, my dear reader?

If you want to retire earlier than what your government is telling you, you better start to change your life.

Right. Now.

Go ask yourself some questions. How little money do you need to retire? Do you really need that huge house for yourself and your family? Are you constantly doing the same mistakes over and over again, which keep you from achieving your goals?

Now start to change things. The cheese has moved already long time ago. But you need to move also. Check your expenses, savings and income streams and build new ones. Eliminate your debt.

Plan and execute, because ‘there is no spoon, Neoâ€!

Let me close this post with another quote of my soul brother:

You’re not your job. 
You’re not how much money you have in the bank. 
You’re not the car you drive. 
You’re not the contents of your wallet. 
You’re not your fucking khakis. 
You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

Now go, make the best out of it! Your life is what you make it.

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The post It’s A Cruel Cruel (Corporate) World… first appeared on nomad4ever.