The Big Find

Ok - I loved biking the Vosges. But more than that - I loved biking in Holland. Loved it! No - that wasn’t good enough. I loved it so much, I will go back again and again. I will do it with my kids so they can appreciate what a real countryside should look like. I will do this for as long as I have the power to do so and still love the taste of beer and herring. I will do this till I am old and my knees can no longer take it.

Holland is a flat country. It’s completely flat. Cycling is such a joy here. You can bike and bike for hours without tiring your legs. 10 minutes out of Amsterdam - and you’re in the countryside!

First you take a short ferry ride w/ your bike (it’s free, mind you). Just go to the back of the Central Train Station.

And this is the view you get 10 minutes out of town! Really! (It’s called the Overland Route, btw, just in case you do attempt this one day).

The route is full of quaint little towns, with cute houses and neatly trimmed lawns.

Pit stop! Time for some beer and sausages! I don’t know about you, but I can do this all day. All day! And the next! No, seriously. I can’t stop raving about this. It’s really great fun, if you love the outdoors and your idea of fun is spending a day in the sun, drinking beer, and eating sausages, herring, and cheese. Check it out!

Prague

It’s a really beautiful city - but way too many tourists! It’s best viewed at night -when the crowds are gone.

Passau

Passau is about 2.5 hours from Cesky Krumlov. It’s a really beautiful ride to Passau, passing through a long lake, rolling pastures, forests, and a few quaint towns. Passau is at the confluence of three great rivers - the Ilz, the Inn, and the Donau (aka the Danube).

Here we are at the junction of the three rivers. The current looks really strong. One thing about the German countryside - it’s more orderly than the Czech countryside - but it’s also more sterile! Eg - one gets the sense that German houses are only allowed to have certain colors, or certain roofing materials, or specific styles. That’s not bad, and it looks very pretty. But the Czech houses though seem to be more varied - and I personally find the Czech countryside to be more charming!

In fact, I think Prague is even prettier than Paris. Prettier because of all that baroque architecture that one doesn’t find in Paris. The architectural landscape is just more diverse, and somehow that gives Prague more individuality - and more character.

And here we are running into some locals in an Oompah band wearing lederhosen. What could be more German than that?

Cesky Krumlov - Part II

One of thing that amazed me about the Czechs was their appreciation for the Arts. Cesky Krumlov, in particular, seems to attract a good number of artists (for such a small town). A Slavic Sagada, if you will. You can tell from the breadth of art supplies (eg canvas, oils, acrylic paints, paintbrushes, pastels, etc) available locally, that there’s a strong artist community here. There were concerts twice a week - TWICE a week! And the locals seemed to patronize the concerts as much a the tourists.

One of the most fun I had was going to an open-air opera, held inside the enormous garden of the Cesky Krumlov palace. Now, I’m not a big fan of Opera. In fact, prior to this, I’ve never watched Opera in my life. And I’m certainly not the sort of person who enjoys listening to a play in a foreign language. But, first of all there is the stage - or more precisely, the theatre. The whole theatre revolves around the garden! There were 5 sets in the garden, and everytime the story would switch from one scene to another, the whole theatre would revolve! What a novel concept. And there was the setting - it was a bit chilly in this “theatre”, and many of the locals brought blankets. When you looked up above, you could see the stars. If you looked above the sets - there were magnificent trees (which I preferred to stare at some times). And the girls - some of them were really gorgeous. (really helps when you don’t understand a word they’re saying! They say the Czech Republic is the porn capital of the world - now I know why). A really enchanting evening - all for P100 per ticket!

Oh - and the music wasn’t bad either! (But I’m no fan of Dvorak)

Cesky Krumlov

After my last trip to Europe, I’d become pretty much jaded with this whole travel thing. After all, what’s the point in seeing all these quaint towns? It’s the people that count - they’ve always been more interesting to me than the sights. But traveling when you’re middle-aged (how I hate calling myself that) is clearly not the same as traveling when you’re young! Because middle-aged travelers don’t hang out in piazzas with Eurail passes and say “hey - what country do we feel like going to next?” And there are very few middle-aged travelers millling about in train cabins looking for company and conversation. But Cesky Krumlov has changed all that.

First of all, the Czechs are very nice people. They’re not as busy as the Western Europeans. In my short stay there, I’ve run into several people who would say “where are you from?”, “the Philippines! Really?” “Well, welcome to the czech republic! Please enjoy your stay here”. In general, my theory is, the richer the country - the more dour and gruff the people are. The poorer the country, the friendlier it is. That’s why I still like the Philippines - for all its faults - because the people are nice - and they’re not as dour and gruff as I am! And that’s why I like the Czech Republic!

But back to Cesky Krumlov. It’s cheap. How cheap you say?

Our hotel cost us $40/night, w/ breakfast. (this is high season, double-occupancy, mind you). And if you think that’s expensive,

you can crash at this hostel for $8/night, per person.

A good meal will cost you about P130. And if you want something really good,with wine, you’ll have to shell out about P500. (that’s how much I paid at this restaurant for a good steak and some Czech Budvar beer).

And it’s amazingly beautiful. (Or as Lonely Planet would put it - “achingly beautiful”). I didn’t realize it then, but I do realize now - that expensive prices dull one’s sensitivity to beauty. It’s true! You get to appreciate beauty more when it comes cheap! Cesky Krumlov is just plain gorgeous. Gorgeous!

Riding through the Vosges

My wife has a sister who once had a farm on the foot of the Ngong Hills - er sorry - it’s really on the mountains of the Vosges. (A nicer setting anyway, than Nairobi). The Tour de Lance had just passed through these same mountains a week ago (I missed it, because I was so busy with the ICANN conference). So I did what any able-bodied tourist would do caught up in the Tour de France frenzy. Why, I picked up a mountain bike, and went ahead full-steam for one of Cols! (Boy, was I ever sorry - or more accurately, was my body ever sore!)

Meet Angelique, her son Hans, and her Canadian-German husband Rick. Angelique is a University of Illinois - Chicago graduate, who has given up her life in the US to live on a farm in the Vosges. They make their own cheese, grown their own herbs, tend their own sheep, and cook some of the best lamb I have ever tasted. Seriously. Behind us is their home, a 200 year old structure.

There’s something that has to be said of Angelique and the quality of life here. On our way up to their farm, she waves at a lot of her neighbors - and they wave back. If she meets someone she knows while driving on the road - they stop and chat. (Never mind that the two cars are blocking oncoming traffic) Her friends - they are simply some of the warmest people I have ever met. I don’t understand a word they say, and they don’t understand a word I say - but the affection is just so palpable - that I keep visiting her friends everytime I drop by this part of the world! It’s a good life - and I do envy them sometimes.

Here’s the outdoor barbecue Angelica prepared for us on the day we arrived.

We also stayed for a few days here. Wow! What solitude! (that’s a ski slope by the way, at the top of the last picture) That’s Hans (aka “tout”) trying to evade the camera.

The weather got warm one day, so we decided to cool off on this lake. I don’t know about you, but all I could think of when I was swimming on this lake was - MY KIDS WOULD LOVE THIS. It really is as pretty as it looks, and sometimes I wonder why we Filipinos have to live with so little. Why don’t we have enough parks so our kids can kick a football around - barefoot, or play w/ frisbees? Why don’t we have any clean lakes or rivers close to Metro Manila that we can swim in? (Ok - so we have Caliraya and Taal lake - but, it just isn’t the same, you know?)

Sigh. I can stay on this topic forever. So I’ll leave it at that; There’s only so much we can do about the situation in the Philippines. There’s no reason why the sins of our forefathers (or more accurately, our politicians) should be visited upon our children.

Incidentally, Angelique and Rick conduct biking tours of the Alsace-Vosges-Switzerland area in the summer, as well as skiing tours in the winter. The Alsace-Lorraine area is also known for its wine tours. The Vosges area is known for its FOIE GRAS. So if you’re a high cholesterol type like me, go for the biking tour and pig out on the cheese and foie gras! (If anyone is interested, contact Angelique Molzahn at angelica.molzahn@tele2.fr) Feel free to cc me (jed@i.ph) if you have difficulty contacting Angelique.

a short glimpse of Europe’s most expensive city

Since I was busy working, I didn’t get much time to check out Luxembourg, but someone else did!

but I did get a whirlwind tour of Europe’s most expensive city (we had an hour to spare to before the train ride out of the city).

It’s an intriguing place. Want to set up servers that cater to the European market? The locals suggest the we use Luxembourg. Why? Because they have the lowest VAT in Europe. (Unlike the US, Europe requires that online sales in Europe be assessed VAT, regardless of where the merchant is located.) This is why Microsoft and Skype host in Luxembourg.

Want a numbered bank account? The Luxembourghese will do that for you. Want to spend your ill-earned money anonymously? The Luxembourg banks will issue a numbered credit card with your numbered bank account. Think about that for a while - a credit card without a name! “We are the pirates of Europe!”, a local gleefully enthuses. Hmmm - I’m a bit amazed you guys were accepted into the EU!

ICANN Luxembourg 2005

Just got back from the ICANN conference in Luxembourg. This is the first time DotPH has set up a booth in an International Convention, and the experience has been quite interesting.

Would you buy a used car from these people? OK - maybe not. But hopefully, some people will buy blogging technology.

We’re pushing Calliope Blogs - the technology that powers i.ph blogs. Want to bundle blog hosting technology with a domain (gTLD or ccTLD)? Talk to us.

Domainers

There is a unique clique of people who treat the domain name business the way a day-trader would treat the stock and options market. They do nothing all day but buy and sell domain names! I was intrigued that such a lifestyle was possible. Here’s the scoop: Good domain names are sold every day for somewhere in the $1T to $10T range. The brokerage will normally charge 4% for the transaction. If the name is good, you can hold onto it for several years and make money *purely* on the traffic that goes to the domain. This is normally enough to cover the cost of renewing the domain. Generally this revenue will come from targetted advertising from Google or Yahoo. (Not Google Adwords, which only pay about 3% of the cost-per-click). A good deal with Yahoo or Google will get you 20% of the cost-per-click revenue. Intriguing.

The key to domain name investing - is to understand the sort of people who buy domains for six to seven figures. Generally these are young people - flush with venture capital cash. These people have a great idea for a product, and want nothing more than a domain that matches this new product. Creating a brand is terribly expensive; you need $20M in the US alone to create brand recall - so a $1M investment on a good domain name will be money well spent for these people. So if you want to make money on domains - think high-tech. Think voip.com or wifiphones.com or wimax.com or wimaxcentral.com. Or think callcenters.ph or outsourcing.ph. You get the idea - think of forthcoming business trends, and imagine the businesses that will rise to exploit these trends - and the domain names these businesses will want to have!

Full disclosure - I run the PH Domain.