nomad4ever

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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:

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

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

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

Big mistake!