favorite traveling locations...

Post by **klauss** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:15 pm

Smart Cathrine wrote:hi, i'm making a favorite vacation location poll for my website and what was wondering what is the majority of people's places to travel to?
come on people... don't be shy!

1) You could open a poll.
2) This goes to offtopic.
3) ... nah... let's read your reply first.

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:18 am

Even those I've never been to?
hehe

If I could I'd go to Boracay, or Dakak, or Pearl Farm, or The Hundred Islands, Siquijor, Bohol, Mactan Island, Batanes. Man

As it turns out, the nearest gorgeous beach I've been to here is somewhere called Calamcam (also the site of artificial reef-building research). Somewhere on the north coast of Mindanao.

All inside the Philippines, of course.

Zeog · Post by **Zeog** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:42 am

Is Smart Cathrine a bot trying to place links to her site?

Post by **klauss** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:57 pm

To an empty site

Hehe... I hadn't seen the link in the sig, even though I could read it.
Clever bot.

And... if there's no reply from "Cathrine" by today, I think I shall remove its post.

Halleck · Post by **Halleck** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:42 pm

Not a bad topic, though.

For me... my favorite place on earth would have to be the island of CuraÃ§ao in the Netherlands Antilles. I was a lucky bastard to have gotten the chance to go there.

plueschinger · Post by **plueschinger** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:34 pm

Hello

If you want to go to a quiet place, go to the village of Troja ( you know the story with the horse) in Turkey. Ibrahim has there a camping place?!? for free, the chickens run around your tent and a teahouse with a small restaurant.
But it's next to a mosque, so you get up early, they have loudspeakers. No tourists nothing, only one bar 500 meters outside the village, where you can buy beer and raki.

And if you want to go to the beach, it's 10 km far from the beach, you have to hire a tractor with a trailor( I hope trailor is the right word) with two people to steer/conduct the tractor for 5 Euro/Dollar a day, and don't drink Ibrahims selfburned raki.

Ibrahim tells also to don't go to the old Troja, there are only stones. O.K. there are a lot of stones, but it's interesting.

Regards
Plueschinger

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:31 am

Wasn't it Troas?
Ibrahim's a bartender?

How does raki taste like?

Plueschinger, are you from turkey? Do you know of Ruffa Guttierez, a filipina... miss universe contestant.. married to Prince Ilmaz there?

Just curious. hehe

I wouldn't follow Ibrahim's advice tho. There are no stone ruins older than those built by spaniards here in the Philippines. Ruins for me, no matter if it's just blocks of old stone is VERY interesting.

...especially Troy.

Post by **klauss** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:27 pm

klauss wrote:And... if there's no reply from "Cathrine" by today, I think I shall remove its post.

Oops - had trouble during the weekend, and now the thread is gathering posts... hm... I'll try to clean up the offending post and leave the rest, if at all possible.

PS: Of all places, Misiones (where Iguazu falls is) happens to be the best place I've ever been - great people, great landscapes, great everything.

plueschinger · Post by **plueschinger** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:05 am

Hello

@Oblivion
Raki looks liike water, but it has 40% to 50% alcohol, and it has the taste of anise,
like licorice, liquorice

In greece you call it Ouzo.
But this is nothing against the portugese drinks, Absinthe (tastes also like anise, if it's bad,
and if it's good like after shave), Bagasso ( the rest of grapes burned like Italian Grappa, but worse) or Medronhio (burned from the arbutusfruit from the strawberrytree).

Don't drink anyhing of this, you only get terrible headaches.
I'm german.

I also know a lot of good places in Portugal, i was living there 9 years, but I don't tell them,
because I want them to be good in the future and not filled up with tourists.
Aren't there around the beaches of the Phillipines a lot of sharks, who can eat you?
I can imagine, you have a lot of beautiful beaches over there

Regards
Plueschinger

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:29 am

Absinthe, definitely not. Isn't it illegal?

Aren't there around the beaches of the Phillipines a lot of sharks, who can eat you?

hoho. great whites, tigers, makos, etc. are rare or absent here. Shark attacks are much more frequent in much more temperate climes. Personally, I've never heard even of one shark attack here. most sharks are quite small and/or too well-fed to be tempted by bathers. And I've never seen sharks either in the water except in our preserved bio specimens.

a lot of beautiful beaches over there

So many, you get bored with it.

Especially over in the Visayas islands. Palawan, Cebu, Bohol... sadly though, there are also paradisical island in the south... the sulu island chains. Quite beautiful. But fear of the Abu Sayyaf (an islamic terrorist group that has ties with Al Qaeda) keeps peopel and tourists away, there were already some incidents here of kidnapping tourists and even filipinos, some ending in tragedy. And the Abu Sayyaf are not even purely filipino, most of them are transients, mercenary jihadists. They travel back and forth Mindanao (our island) and Sabah, Malaysia. They are mostly to blame for the fear and prejudice that the minority muslim population in the Philippines are subjected to. Which is unfair to them. Some parts of southern mindanaoare very dangerous places. People of both religions are suffering there. However, the rest of Mindanao is peaceful, like my humble valley province Bukidnon for instance, or the beaches up north.

Sunfire · Post by **Sunfire** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 5:44 am

you kno....

alaska is pretty cool.... i was in my first earthquake EVER this morning... it was completely awesome!! i hope theres more...

or at least one that lasts longer anyways... (well... as long as im in my car anyways... id hate to be in a building and have it collapse on me or something.... )

i also got to see a 20,000 ft tall mountain today too... (er... i guess 6100 M to those who use the french way of looking at things...

)anyways... not a small mountain... its finally a clear day in anchorage...

not a whole lot of Islamic terrorists here either... there are sharks out in the water... but its a balmy 3 degrees C this time of year...

To Megatherion · Post by **To Megatherion** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:01 pm

Sunfire wrote:you kno....

alaska is pretty cool...
... its a balmy 3 degrees C this time of year...

Well, actually I suspected Alaska to be pretty cool. Nice of you to inform us how cool indeed it is.

Well, I've not been to every place on my list but I think one of the best I've been to is CÃ´te d'Azur / France.

@Sunfire
If you like Earthquakes perhaps you shoul move to Iran, they're quite common there. + fat chance of even less islamic terrorists...well at least they won't attack in Iran, I guess. There's other places they like to bomb.

geoscope · Post by **geoscope** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 11:16 pm

@Megatherion
Too Bad there aren't earthquakes centered in Saudi Arabia. Everyone knows 19 of every 20 terrorists come from there... But don't tell the US govern<ahem>Bushes</ahem>ment that...

Post by **klauss** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:23 am

If you want deep subjects, try characterizing "terrorism", as in why are all those terrorists and not the rest? Why am I not a terrorist? Why is a soldier not a terrorist? Why is a hitman not a terrorist?
If you keep exploring the possibilities, you'll notice "terrorism" is just propaganda. Really... there's no well defined line separating terrorism from almost any other kind of violence, and those exherting violence "against terrorism" use this propaganda to justify themselves.
Yes... "stop terror"... "stop my terror", is their pledge.

So... saying most terrorists come from <someplace>, only says: "most my enemies come from <someplace>". I bet <someplace> thinks quite similarly, only their enemies come from <sompleace else>.

geoscope · Post by **geoscope** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:03 am

@klauss
Terrorism is the effort of a group with minority opinions attempting to persuade and control others, specifically through fear and bloodshed, targeted primarily against members of a society that are non-violent (children, merchants, workers), rather than against an armed aggressor... That is what marks terrorism as different from other forms militarism. A citizen that takes up arms to attack an aggressor is a partisan.... A citizen that takes up arms to attack a hospital, or a public market is a terrorist.

My point was that for the last 80 years, my country has financed and traded with a regime that so disregards it's own people that many out of asbolute lack of hope of change allow themselves to be controlled by pedagogues of another sort, to commit acts of violence not against an immediate threat, but against the everyday people they perceive as the source of that threat; rather than targeting soldiers, military bases, and political leaders, they primarily target civilians (granted the concept of a civilian is fairly new from about 1618 onward).

Meanwhile, this country of mine continues to support the regime that is the breeding-ground and requitment central for about 95% of the terrorists of the particular faction I am speaking. We have not occupied that country, or even focused intelligence resources there. Instead we invaded and occupied 2 other countries... and while I actually do support the occupation of Iraq, it was never for the primary, official "reasons" given (rather, something to do with treaties, and international law regarding terms of cease-fire),

So, in summation, I say:

1. There is something well defined as terrorism that is quite distinct from use of force.
2. Saudi Arabia is a primary source of terrorism.
3. It has not been held accountable for the actions of it's citizens that have resorted to terrorism.
4. All claims to be persuing or attempting to end terrorism (from the source Al-Queda, as stated by the US administration) anywhere other than Saudi Arabia are false.
5. Bush has only made matters worse, while failing to address the root causes and location from which that source of terrorism stems.
6. Making the occupation of Iraq about terrorism has rightfully given Iraqi citizens a reason to take up arms as a partisan force.
7. Terrorists have co-opted that partisanship for it's own purposes, just as the US adminstration has co-opted the call for defense and anti-terrorism to pursue an agenda that has little to do with terrorism or defense.
8. Everyone but the oil companies and those closely associated with them has gotten screwed.
9. The threat of terrorism has increased.
10. Likewise, so has the threat of facism. <--- having this one happen right here at home pisses me off. Thankfully, this should be correcting itself in 2 years.
11. If it doesn't, then I'll be taking up arms, as a partisan.

To Megatherion · Post by **To Megatherion** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:59 am

I think you have quite a point there. The definition of terrorism is especially well phrased.
I myself am not a huge friend of (recent) US politics but I do not think that terrorists therefore should be sympathized with. Terrorists don't care, as mentioned above, who they kill as long as they kill someone who belongs to the so-called enemy or is not an enemy of this enemy.

One thing that got me confused, though: I guess you meant DEMAgogues, not PEDAgogues?

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:39 pm

Madrid - The damn best city in the whole universe!

plueschinger · Post by **plueschinger** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:49 pm

Hello

@sunfire strange name for someone, who likes Alaska,
I always wanted to do the Dalton highway with a bicycle, and I wanted to start from the north, but there are some problems,

1. You can't go to Pruhoe Bay without special permission, so you have to start from Deadhorse, perhaps you can do the last kilometers by feet to the arctic sea, surrounding
the prohibited area. I don't know.
You told that there are no sharks in Alaska, but for this there are running wild bears around

And now back to violant things, but not to the terrorists, is it possible as a tourist to get a good
gun, rifle because of the bears, I know my luck, once I cleaned the dishes in a little river
with my feet in the water and a quiet poisonous snake crawled over my feed.
I slept already in the middle of a colony of scorpions, but I had a good sleepingbag which I closed this night very well. And with centipedes, in a bar a girl had a moneybag with a belt, but also as a belt for her trousers, she opend the moneybag saw the centipede inside and started undressing immediately, then we made 4 peaces of the cenitipede and he run in four directions.

O.K a bicycle with a rifle for shure looks silly.

Regards
Plueschinger

Post by **klauss** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:07 am

You'd have to be extra careful if you want to carry a rifle in a bicycle.
First, make sure you carry it unloaded (even visually inspect the chamber before every day's ride). It's so easy making a mistake once you're up there in the bicycle.
We had tons of little incidents, my friend and I, while bicycling with falling stuff, entangled stuff, things like that. If one of them entangled/fallen stuff was a rifle, you sure want it to be unloaded.
On the other hand, an unloaded rifle won't be of much help on an encounter, so you'd be loading/unloading it often (like... when you camp). That also implies a risk each time you go through the procedure (I never handled guns, I don't know how easy-risky it is to go messing around with it).

So... I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not fond of carrying guns.

plueschinger · Post by **plueschinger** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:26 am

Hello

@Klaus
I don't like weapons at all, I even didn't went to the army, I did my service 16 month in a
hospital for old people.
But if you want to make a trip like this, most people do it with a motorbike or a car, no problem, but it's longer than 600 km and in some parts more than 100 km without a house or a human being, and there are grizzly-bears running around, so with a bicycle you have to stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere, O.K when you sleep and the bear starts eating you, I hope he does it fast, but when you're awake you should have a chance to defend yourself, the only other logical consequence would be to don't do this travel with a bicycle and don't do it in winter.

But several people did it already with a bicycle.

And I think I exaggerate a little bit with the wild bear problem, but even in sweden and rumania every year there are people eaten by bears.

And I think a grizzly-bear is faster than me on a bicycle.

Regards
Plueschinger

Post by **klauss** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:22 am

Yep, I thought you'd say that. Meaning: it might be your only choice, if not doing the trip is not on the list.
Hence the comment: you must be even more careful than usual around guns in those trips. Carrying things in a bike is... well... prone to accidents.

Post by **loki1950** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:57 pm

if firearms are not in the the picture there's bear spray(pepper spray) that is usually recommended

Enjoy the Choice

To Megatherion · Post by **To Megatherion** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:22 pm

I heard of bear-bells. You wear them on your shoestrings or somewhere so's they constantly ring. You've got a shoo-string, then. Dunno if bears really run away if something comes tinkling their way.
On the other hand, if you don't like firearms and haven't ever used one there's a fat chance you miss the bear's vital parts and only make him more aggressive by shooting at him.

plueschinger · Post by **plueschinger** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:32 am

Hello

@To Megatherion , if you have bells around your feet and this for three weeks,
always dingeling the whole day, I don't know if you can enjoy the silence of the nature,
then perhaps better a good ghettoblaster with deathmetal-music.

@Loki1950
I think I can start a first test in a zoo with my son, I give him the pepperspray and tell him to test the spray on bears, for this he gets a lot of yoghi-yoh or pokemon cards ( at this time I'm not in the zoo, only his mother).

I also heard if you meet a bear and you pretend to be dead, it stops his agression, but if he is hungry, perhaps he tries a little bit of your tasty meat.

Regards
Plueschinger

Post by **loki1950** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:19 am

most bear tactics are very dependant on wheather the bear is habituated to humans the drop dead routine is only for black bear females with cubs reallly most other incounters a scary for both parties.

Enjoy the Choice