nomad4ever

The Indonesian Rupiah declined over the last couple of weeks substantially. This week it even hit a new 7-year low of less than Rp 12.000 for 1 Dollar, exchange rates not seen way back in 2001.

Just this week it lost almost 7% of its value against the US Dollar, while the exchange rate to the Euro remained more stable.

While that is certainly good news for Travelers and Expats in Indonesia with assets in US Dollar, the Rupiah is coming down pretty fast.

So what’s the reason?

written by Chris

Living in Asia the past 6 years, I regularly try to stay up-to-date with Immunizations and precautions. As a pampered and spoiled European you naturally don’t have the immune system or the antibodies to fight diseases like Hepatitis, Typhoid, Polio, Malaria or Dengue.

Not that it’s recommended you do that at all.

But while you can’t take Malaria prophylaxis like Lariam, Malarone or Doxycycline over all the years you want to live here (some mosquitos anyway develop a resistance to it and it’s better to use precautions not to be bitten at all), you can do something about diseases like Hepatitis.

written by Chris

Setting up home in Goa the past 8 days, it’s about time to post some first observations. With a rented scooter it’s a pleasure to explore the beaches, towns and hinterlands to get a first feel for the place.

Traffic is surprisingly moderate, I was expecting more mayhem, but then it’s not high season yet. Some things are similar to Bali, like the tourist area vendors; others are completely different. For instance does it seem impossible for foreigners to buy and register a vehicle in your name.

Everywhere where is light there is shadow – here are 11 more impressions:

written by Chris

Flying from Singapore into Chennai, India, we took Tiger Airways, one of Asia’s most successful Budget Airlines. Operating out of Singapore you should be able to bank on its efficiency and service quality.

It seems with Tiger Airways efficiency is going sometimes a bit too far, up to the point when you as the passenger feel harassed or bullied and more of a necessary hassle for the airline than a human being.

I want to introduce one example of an Airline, from whom Tiger Airways could learn a great deal about Courtesy, Professionalism and Service Quality.

written by Chris

Found this sign in Jalan Teuku Umar Barat in Bali and it left me a bit puzzled. Are Australians really authentic native English Speakers?

I mean, of course our beloved Aussies grow up speaking English as their first language. But is that the real, authentic English you want to learn to improve your language skills, mate?

What is authentic language anyway?

Is it like asking a Bavarian to teach you German: “Yo mei? O’zapft is!”. Or a Swiss or Austrian?

How about a Balinese to teach you Bahasa Indonesia? Or a Singaporean to teach you Singlish?

written by Chris

Over the last couple of months I was a glowing supporter of XL’s 3G service in Indonesia. Check out my promoting report here. Not only did it work neatly fast for the last 12 months, it had good stability, decent coverage and reliable download speeds.

Unfortunately all this has changed over the last 2-3 weeks dramatically – so I can’t recommend it anymore with good conscience.

Especially the last 2 weeks were a royal pain in the backside, there wasn’t a single day where the service worked as advertised:

Seriously flawed

written by Chris

Back in the days, when still living in Germany, I used to eat very irregularly. 4 days a week on the road, you just stuff anything edible in your mouth. Mostly things like Fast Food, Pizza and some ‘German Classics’ like Doener Kebab or Currywurst.

Needless to say I always had a bit more pounds on my hips than necessary. Usually 5-10, but up to 20 pounds during the worst of times. And I didn’t have much to do for that.

written by Chris

…that is called ECS G10IL. And what is that? The successor of R2D2?

No, it’s the new Netbook PC of Elitegroup with a strange name – it weighs less than 1 kg and it speaks 3G.

While Asus can lay claims of having invented a complete new line or range of small, budget notebooks – the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) or Netbooks – the fierce competition is currently heating up more and bringing out new and similar gadgets every week with better value for money or smaller form factors.

written by Chris