Traveling where the dollar is strong

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’re earning a salary in US currency and are unlucky enough to spend it traveling internationally, you know the pain of the depreciating dollar.

The rest of the world has become frighteningly expensive as the dollar continues its slide. My recent trip to North Korea, for example, was $800 more expensive than it would have been two years ago for the mere fact that I had to pay for the tour in euros. Man, did this hurt! Unfortunately, such increased costs have become a factor in many travelers’ vacation plans as prohibitive prices continue to limit options.

But this isn’t the case everywhere. Certain parts of the world are still “on sale” due to local currencies that even weaker than the dollar.

Countries where dollars go the distance is a handy LA Times article that explores some of these remaining bargain locations–Vietnam, Morocco, Bolivia, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Albania–and provides a fantastic short list of wonderful places that would still be worth going to even if they weren’t “on sale.”

Help Gadling buy this woman a cow

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’ve ever traveled to a third world country and fell in love with its people, you know that feeling of guilt that inevitably arises when you realize just how difficult life can be for those less privileged than you.

Most travelers caught up in this epiphany often wonder what they can do to help, how can they give something back to the wonderful locals who made their trip so memorable? Unfortunately, so many of us return from our travels with good intentions, but poor follow-through.

If this happens to be you, than today is your lucky day; Gadling is here to help and it’s not going to cost you a thing.

Just in time for the Holidays, Gadling is teaming up with Kiva, a unique non-profit that provides micro loans to “help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence.”

The concept is simple. Local entrepreneurs contact Kiva’s field partners around the globe requesting small loans to help out their businesses–which are often not much more than a single cow or perhaps a roadside stand selling melons. The field partners determine risk, and if acceptable, will then post a description of the loan on the Kiva website. In addition, the field partners will also post information about the borrower, thus adding a human face to the transaction.

Anyone interested in providing a micro loan can then sign on to the Kiva website and lend money ($25 minimum) to the entrepreneur(s) of their choice.

So this is where you come in. Gadling is looking for your guidance to help direct our loan to a deserving individual whose business we will then spotlight over the next 8-12 months while the loan is being repaid.

We’ve included six choices below (with descriptions provided by Kiva) but feel free to visit the website and expand the selection. Loans surprisingly move quickly on this popular site–Fatima Huseynova featured in the photo above just received money for her cow last week–so let’s hear your thoughts in the comments section below as quickly as possible and we’ll announce our choice next week.

Tajikistan
Alisher Musoev has been in the bakery business for 7 years. So that he could provide for his family, he started working as a trainee in one of the local bakeries at the age of 16. For one work shift that usually lasted 17 hours he was only paid 6 to 7 loafs of bread, which was not enough for his family. He started looking for a space so he could open his own business. Once he found one, he started his own bakery. In the beginning, he was only baking for special orders for weddings because he was short of cash. After a period of time, when he accumulated more funds, he started producing bread for the sales on the market. Currently, his father and two hired employees, who are paid 450 somoni, are helping him in the business. Alisher is asking for additional funding so that he could increase his production.

Cambodia
Mrs. Sout Sro Em, age 25, is a traditional musician, earning around $5 each day. Her husband works driving a trailer attached to a motor-bike to transport passengers, making about $4 per day. They have one child who is too young to attend school. She would like to request a loan of $1000 in order seek an additional income source by purchasing pigs to breed and sell. She also plans to fix her husband’s broken trailer so he can better operate his business.

Lebanon
Fatima is a 47 year old mother of four children. Fatima is a very serious and committed microentrepreneur. She lives in South Lebanon, in the region of Saida. Fatima works with her husband cooking falafel, chickpeas and beans. She needs a loan of $1200 to buy a new chickpea processor and provisions for the business. This is the sixth time Fatima is asking for a loan from Al Majmoua.

Peru
Farming and the production of fruits are the main activity of most of the settlers of the Peruvian forest. Don Rolando is one of these men, who learned from his parents the skills and secrets of this beautiful activity. This education has now allowed him to be a man with multiple skills for agriculture and most of all it has allowed him to support his dear family in these days of multiple economic problems. He has a partner and his desire is to get married and build a small house and condition it to open a small grocery store to help with the expenses of the house. He is asking for a loan that will allow Rolando to have a bigger income this year and achieve all these goals.

Pakistan
I am Amna Bibi. I am a mother of six: four boys and two girls. Currently, only the elder two attend school while the others are too small. My husband works for skimpy pay and I own a few cows and sell their milk. Last year, I took a loan for my business, which resulted in increased profits, and I was able to save $250. Now I wish to further expand my business and require a loan of $350 for this purpose.

Azerbaijan
Djeyhun (his sister is pictured) has his own business. He was born in 1984 and lives in the Salyan region in the village of Yenikand. This man is single. He has been in this business for 8 years. Now he needs a loan of $1,200 to buy foodstuffs for improving his business.

Independence days and elephants

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve whipped out my International Calendar to see what might be left to tell about November before it slips away from Eastern Standard Time in a few hours. What I see is a whole lot of independence days and a slew of other politically geared occasions.

  • Nov. 1–Antigua-Barbuda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980.
  • Nov. 3–Dominica gained independence from the UK in 1978. Panama gained Independence from Colombia in 1903 and Micronesia gained independence from the U.S. in 1980.
  • Nov. 9–Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953.
  • Nov. 11–Poland gained independence in 1918; Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
  • Nov. 18–Latvia gained independence from Russia in 1918; Morocco from France in 1956.
  • Nov. 25–Suriname gained independence
  • Nov. 28–Mauritania gained Independence from France in 1968 and Albania gained Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, Panama gained independence from Spain in 1821 and East Timor gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
  • Nov. 30-Barbados gained independence from the U.K. in 1966

Other than these, Tonga has had Constitution Day (Nov. 4); Russia, Revolution Day (Nov. 7); Brazil, Republic Day (Nov. 15); and Vanuatu has had National Unity Day, (Nov. 29)

My favorite happening of the bunch of events that occurred this month, though, is the Surin Elephant Round-Up in Thailand.

Angkor Wat: Welcome To The World’s First Super City…

by Brett Atkinson on

If you’ve ever been to the Khmer architectural wonders at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, you’ll know that you need to be super-organised to see the different sites arrayed near the Tonle Sap lake.

You’ll be up early for sunrise at Angkor Wat, and after the journey to the Bayon at Angkor Thom, it’s onto temples further afield by bicycle or tuk tuk. New research by the Greater Angkor Project at the University of Sydney in Australia has now revealed that the size of the urban sprawl surrounding the temple at Angkor Wat is actually ten times larger than previously thought. The combination of aerial photography, on the ground research, and radar has revealed that the ancient conurbation covered nearly 3000 sq km. Almost 100 new temple sites have been discovered, and it’s now estimated the overall population of the area may have topped one million between the 9th and 16th centuries.

Mind you, if you’ve visited the rapidly expanding town of Siem Reap recently, you may think that a similar number is sometimes approached during the tourist season.

Thanks to dragon caiman on Flickr for the great shot of monks at Angkor Wat.

Traffic Accidents #1 Cause of Death for U.S. Citizens Abroad

by Catherine Bodry on

The first time I tried to ride a motorbike “sidesaddle,” I almost fell off. Two months later, and I was whizzing around S.E. Asia on the back of motorbikes, legs to one side, like I’d been doing it my whole life. No helmet. Random driver. I loved the surprise expressed by locals when they saw me in my skirt, riding along sideways like it was nothing. I knew it was dumb, but everyone else was doing it so I figured it was okay. But my instinct influenced me just enough to keep me from bragging to my mother, who would not have been impressed.

Travelers tend to feel invincible when abroad. I know I performed stunts I would never do back home, like riding on the edge of an open truck bed for four hours on a dirt road in Cambodia. When I tried to pull the same trick in Seattle (across a parking lot, mind you) my parents refused to drive one more foot until I was back in the cab.

In retrospect, maybe I was lucky I was never in an accident. I certainly witnessed a few. A friend in the Peace Corps was not allowed to ride motorbikes because, he said, motorbike accidents are the largest cause of Peace Corps deaths. USA today reports that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for traveling Americans. The article cites many reasons, including substandard roads, poor or nonexistent signs, and lax law enforcement. And accidents are not isolated to developing countries, either. About 15% of traveler fatalities occur in high-income countries.

Personally, I found riding sidesaddle on the back of a motorbike much easier than trying to drive on the left side of the road in Ireland. But maybe next time I’m in Asia I’ll forgo the motorbike in favor of a taxicab — and a seatbelt.