nomad4ever

USD 1 Million? 2 Million? 5 Million? Or just 200.000? Are you kidding me – how can I *retire* now!?

How shall I finance my retirement? I will need *loads* of Cash, Gold, Insurance or Credit! I need my Hummer, the BMW X3 for the wife, my penthouse for the mistress, the Wanker’s Club Membership and my Arian German Sheppard!

Oh really?

Poor you – because if you’re really thinking of retiring early in your life – the question shouldn’t be: “How much do I need?”.

written by Chris

That is what true freedom really means for me. Freedom of time, mind, action, day in and day out. Freedom to do, what you want to do – when you want to do it. May it be a jog at sunrise, staying in bed all day, swimming at dawn or horseback riding at sunset.

Thankfully you can fulfil a lot of those freedom dreams in Asia.

written by Chris

Wednesday morning, 10am. Or is it 11am already? Doesn’t matter! You are just about to wake up. Ahhh, another nice holiday in paradise.

The temperatures hover already steadily above 30 degrees centigrade (in the 100’s Fahrenheit) and the sweat is running down your back. Your tongue is dry and feels like it’s stuck swollen on the palate of your mouth.

What can help to ease this serious situation?

Jump on your bike and find out where the next vendor is selling ‘Es Kelapa’ – Ice Coconut!

written by Chris

Do you use your mobile phone when traveling in foreign countries? Yes? No? Apart from the comfort of not having to change your SIM card and just calling and getting called like you’d do everyday; the usually outrageous roaming charges will surely knock you out of your travel budget soon.

But – it doesn’t have to be that way. Just get a local SIM card!

Is it really that easy? Yes and No.

written by Chris

I was asked by Arelle to write some more about the Philippines. Especially the beaches of the Philippines. So here we go:

Are the Philippines worth visiting? You bet!

It’s an amazing country. With friendly people, cheap accomodation and 7.000 islands to chose from. Lonely Planet calls the Philippines the ‘forgotten islands of South-East Asia’, which is a shame; because the Philippines have a lot to offer.

Especially, if you like water sports, soft sand, ocean waves and beach life. Where to go? Where to start?

written by Chris

Last night we joined our friends Nurul and Esti for a real highlight in Legian in Bali. It happens every sunday and is some kind of many Magic Moments at once – not to be missed!

The place to be is in front of Zanzibar and Blue Ocean Restaurant at Jalan DoubleSix Beach, right infront of the ocean waves. Sundays around 5.30pm it slowly starts to happen:

Locals and Expats alike bring their drums along and position themselves in a half circle, facing the glowing ball of the setting sun. Then one of them starts, drumming ahead while others fall-in to follow. Soon after everything is a crazy, amazing, multi-drumming, dancing, chanting, bombastic sound scene. :-)

written by Chris

When traveling to other countries, you will most likely have to deal with local currencies. Baht, Rupiah, Rupee, Peso, Dong, Remimbi, Won, Riel, Yen and various kinds of Dollars are only a few currencies you can run across Asia.

Depending on what your home currency is, you have to exchange your home money from time to time into a local currency.

I have bank accounts in Germany (Euro) and Singapore (SGD), so depending on which currency offers a better exchange rate compared to the country I’m currently in; I decide from which account to draw money.

written by Chris

Actually I wanted to post this one here 3 days ago. But nothing worked – obviously.

An earthquake disrupted internet services in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. I currently still have heavy problems accessing my e-mail not to talk about websurfing. Seems to be one of the biggest disaster since 1999, when a major internet outage occured in Asia.

written by Chris