nomad4ever

How to get your Electronic Gadget Fix in Bali

Chris — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:49:40 +0000

If you are into Electronic Gadgets, you might think that a holiday destination like Bali is not the right place to buy or bargain for the latest toys. Tech hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok dominate this area in Asia.

In general, you are better off purchasing your new Laptop or Android Smartphone in one of those places. But thankfully, things are changing fast and the population of Bali (and its Expat Community) are getting more and more tech affine. This provides new opportunities to sell IT and gadget gear here also and suppliers make increasingly use of it.

So where are the places to go and get your fix, if you have a gadget addiction?

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Bali – Electronic Gadget Heaven?

Bali has currently between 4-5 Million residents, depending on whom you ask and what season you come here. While most of its population is still working in agriculture or is employed in the tourism industry, electronic helpers like laptops, smartphones and even iPads can increasingly be seen in public. If you think that most of this stuff is imported, you are only partially right, as more and more options are available locally for desperate tech geeks.

IT and Computer Products

Bangkok has its Panthip Plaza or Powerbuy Shops, Kuala Lumpur its Low Yat Plaza, Singapore is blessed with a Funan IT Mall or Sim Lim Tower/Square and Electronic Supermarkets like Challenger, Harvey Norman, Best Denki or Courts. Here you can find great bargains and products with Asia- or even Worldwide warranty. The equivalent to go to in Bali (sans international warranty) is Rimo Center in Denpasar’s Jalan Deponegoro.

While housed in a 3-stories high building with around 100 shops all under one roof, it’s nowhere near as big as its big brethren in the former Asian capitols. Still it has its charm.

Some good bargains can be had here also, if you do your homework and know the standard prices for the stuff you want. The vendors there would have no shame to sell you any electronics for a multiple of what its worth, but if you know its value, you can negotiate your hearts out and leave home with a great deal and without spending time and money on a return flight to an Electronic Haven elsewhere in Asia.

Laptops of Acer, Asus, Toshiba and MSI seem to be the popular Laptop/Notebook brands here, but there are also some Chinese or cheaper local brands.

For nerds, modders or people just looking for the latest software title for bargain prices: In Rimo you can find the full spectrum of PC products and accessories; be it complete PC’s, Laptops, Netbooks, desktop cases, graphic cards, power supplies, hard drives, printers, coolers, cartridges, speakers, mice, joysticks, memory cards, camera and what else.

Also, some Telecom companies have permanent booths here, advertising their internet products like Telkom Speedy, Flash, Smart EVDO and others.

Another central location to visit would be Carrefour in Jalan Sunset/Bypass, as it sells quite an extensive range of household items, IT technology and other Electronics. Most prices seem to be higher though, than for same products in Rimo, although you usually get a better exchange policy or official warranty.

A tip: if your favorite item is out of stock here, head over to Carrefour Dua (the former Alfa Market) just around the corner in Jalan Imam Bonjol, as it sees less customers, but sometimes gets more stock than it can actually sell.

For Apple products, you can head to the main Carrefour building as well, which has an official Apple Center on its 2nd level. There seems to be another one somewhere in Jalan Teuku Umar, although I never saw it, as am not using Apple Products.

Handphone/Mobile Phones and accessories

The best place to go for mobile phones, repair/service and accessories is without question Jalan Imam Bonjol and its extension Teuku Umar.

Especially the later part of Teuku Umar Barat is practically plastered with Phone Shops. Big showrooms with various brands and models are door to door with smaller distributors. Here you can also find most Service Centers of the bigger brands of mass feature phones, like Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson or Nexian, a very competitive local handset manufacturer and overall the Number 2 of phone companies in the country.

Nexian is also working hand in hand with most network providers in the country (ESIA, Telkom, Fren, Indosat, XL, Telkomsel), providing them with more innovative phone models. Besides the normal GSM and CDMA feature phone models, they also offer for instance budget Touchscreen, Dual SIM and even Android phones for budget prices, for which most bigger brands are not willing to compete anymore.

You can get their already cheap handsets even for subsidized prices, if you decide to sign a contract with one of the bigger mobile providers.

Be aware however, that most SIM cards sold here are still prepaid and people are changing their numbers often, when cheaper offers and promotions become available.

If you crave for something more upmarket, Blackberry as well as HTC (Windows Mobile and Android Smartphones) are present in Bali and have a joined shop in Denpasar’s Jalan Panglima Sudiman, near to Robinson’s and McDonalds. Although prices here are around 20-30% higher than in Singapore and if your phone breaks, they will be sent abroad for repair, as the attached service center has only limited repair capabilities, mainly only for software/firmware related problems. Apple’s iPhone is not offcially available in Bali, although some imported ones can be found regularly (along with iPads) appearing in Free Advertising papers like Bali Advertiser but for exorbitant prices.

For Pulsa (the local equivalent for Top Up/Load or whatever else you want to call your mobile credits), the whole of Bali has small shops selling physical (per Scratch Card) or electronic pulsa at almost every corner. Just be aware that you usually end up paying more than the value you receive, as those sellers usually add between 1K to 4K Rupiah to the value on top of the discounts they already receive by mobile operators.

In the Service Centers of Telkomsel (i.e. Jalan Bypass near Airport, Jalan Diponegoro in DPS), XL (Jalan Bypass opposite Carrefour, Jalan Legian near Cafe Moka), Indosat (Jalan Bypass near Airport) and the like you should be able to get Pulsa without those extra money for middle men, although you would have to drive around a bit.

Entertainment Electronics and Household appliances

The biggest stock of those you can find probably again in Carrefour. Washing Machines, TV’s, DVD Players, but also Coffee Machines, Blenders, Rice Cookers, Electronic Fans, Toasters, Air Con Units. For a broader choice of do-it-yourself items, Ace Hardware near Kuta Galleria could be your choice, with comparable prices and usually great warranty options.

Other options are the larger electronic shops along Jalan Teuku Umar (before the Roundabout and Teuku Umar Barat), with generally lower prices than Carrefour or Ace Hardware.

It pays also to visit the Hardy’s chain of shops, which have lesser choice, but competitive prices. The Ramayana and Matahari chains of shopping centers are similar and comparable to Hardy’s, with mainly Home Electronic, like Stereo/Radios, Watches, Clocks or cooking equipment, while the Hypermarket supermarkets are more like Carrefour, focusing on food and drinks also, but carry home electronics from TV’s to computers as side offers.

Courts (in DPS and Jalan Bypass near the airport) is here also and sells besides its main focus furniture, electronic household devices, home theaters, LCD and Plasma TV’s and home music equipment.

Bintang Supermarket in Jalan Legian should be your last resort, as they carry only a few products with generally higher prices, as they mainly cater to permanents residents and Expats in the Legian/Seminyak area.

The same goes for Bali DFS Mall Galeria, as besides a Hypermarket it mainly houses specialty shops with generally higher prices, catering to rich tourists. A Sony Center can be found here also.

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Another great options to purchase Electronics in Bali could be Online Shopping, unfortunately some of the biggest retailers like Amazon still have Indonesia on their blacklist of countries. Too often things get lost in the shipping process and there are legends of boxes and containers stuck in customs, waiting for their recipients to pick them up for a ‘special fee’, so there is obviously still a bit of catching up to do with the real world.

Where do you get your Electronic Gadget Fix? Did I miss out on some cheaper options with more choice?

Please help to fill the void and comment about your tips and tricks!

Comment Login and Threading Under Construction!

Chris — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:34:28 +0000

I’m currently trying to implement the long-requested threaded comments and an easier identification option via Facebook Connect. The old Avatars and MyBlogLog Profile Pics will go, as they are outdated and too geeky.

Please bear with me, if site or comment formatting is currently distorted, as am doing open heart surgery at the site. Hoping to get it done within the next few days, but most likely you will see an interim status before the final solution.

Thanks for your patience and keep commenting meanwhile. No comments should get lost!

No related posts.

Cost of Living – Bali 2010 (in Rupiah, Dollar and Euro)

Chris — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:06:34 +0000

I was asked many times over, to update the Cost of Living spreadsheet on this page. Time is definitely ripe for an update, as prices in Bali soared over the last 3 years.

The economic crisis, a weakening Euro and an Indonesian Inflation (unofficially in the double digits) did all their part as well to change Bali from a backpacker’s paradise into a full-blown ‘Tourist Dollar Money Making Machine’.

Tourist numbers rose already to pre-crisis levels in Bali and are still climbing steadily. While most prices also went clearly up, there are still a handful of exceptions.

Read on, to find out where there are still some good bargains to be had:

General observations

Please be aware that those are all local average prices – like everywhere else, you can spend a whole fortune here in a short time; if you don’t calculate, pay attention to your spending or where your money goes. This spreadsheet is simply meant to give you some basic ideas of how the overall Costs of Living are in Bali.

Your mileage will obviously vary depending on many factors, like your disposable income, standard of living, area of residence, length of stay and your ability to haggle and negotiate better prices.

Also most prices for consumables are a mirror of the Kuta area, where the best value of money still can be had for budget travelers.

Property, rental and housing prices soared within the last 3 years and that reflects truly in the spreadsheet.

To compare better, I used a color scheme this time, red stands for prices that increased, green for prices that are lower than during the last update and black for stable prices.

This is the new spreadsheet or chart of Cost of Living expenses in Bali:

Credits: My friend and neighbor Jurgen Morhofer helped this time to look over the prices and edit the spreadsheet for accuracy.

If you want to compare prices with the old spreadsheet, last updated in December 2008, you can find that one here.

Considerations

Please keep in mind that prices go up all the time. The official inflation rate in Indonesia is currently 5.5% for 2010, in 2009 it was still above 9%. I would rate that inflation rate for goods and services in Bali much higher in reality.

Good for you – if you earn your money in a country with less inflation and your base currency is stable or appreciating, you still save more or spend less over a year – even with rising prices in Rupiah.

Unfortunately currency appreciation wasn’t the case for most leading currencies (especially the Euro, but also USD, Yen – maybe with the exception of the AUD) in 2008-2009.Still, things will look brighter as the world economies keep improving.

Costs in Bali are generally higher than in most other parts of Indonesia, with the exception of Jakarta. Some items here, like internet – even though they came down price-wise recently – are surely still way more expensive than in other parts of Asia or the old World.

Also the bandwidth and quality of service is nowhere near as good as in developed countries. But you didn’t expect that anyway, did you?

It’s still sufficient for daily internet needs, like browsing, chatting, updating your Facebook Status or even uploading your holiday pictures over the course of 1 night. If you run a business here, you will probably anyway go with one of the dedicated service providers and would give the mass internet via 3G SIM cards or internet cafes a miss.

Would you like to see additional items or expenses in this list?

Please let me know via the Comment Form and I will update the spreadsheet accordingly.

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.

–

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!