Jul 09

nomad4ever - Best Personal Travel Blog - Award of Excellence - Highly recommended 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.

written by Chris

Aug 23

Jack Daniels in Llogara, AlbaniaThis is what happens, if you drink too much of some special alcoholic beverages. Be it Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker or others.

The author of this drink menu had obviously too much of Jack Daniels or Gin.

And why not? Life in Albania might be soooooo much easier, with oiling your throat properly.

The picture was taken by my friend Steffos, who started this Overland trip from Germany to India mid last year, coming back earlier this year in February. Have to ask him, how the people in this town – Llogara in Albania – look like and behave.

written by Chris

Jun 19

No Sports - play basketball til you drop 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.

written by Chris

Jun 07

Mixed Wedding in Indonesia 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:

written by Chris

May 11

Early Philippine Election Results 2010 - Noynoy wins by a landslide 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?

written by Chris

Mar 18

paradise islands with white sand and crystal-clear waters around El Nido 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!

written by Chris

Jan 22

Pirate Ship cruising around the Gili Islands, Lombok 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?

written by Chris

Dec 25

Famous Boracay, the whitest beach in the Philippines and in Asia 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:

written by Chris