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Exploring Aktau and its necropolis

Koshkar Ata Necropolis I’m in Aktau because I managed to get a cheap redemption ticket from here to Istanbul whereas flights from other Kazakh cities were pricey. It seemed interesting enough with the Koshkar Ata necropolis which I will visit today. The country, especially this “corner” is dotted with many similar places but most are […]

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Day of failures

Sightseeing fail I stayed in my room and made do with a breakfast of coffee, yoghurt and bread.  As I had seen awesome salads at the nearby big supermarket, I wandered out at 1100 to get some for brunch. To my surprise, I had accomplished seeing a significant part of the new area during a […]

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Lockdown

For an introvert, lockdown wasn’t too difficult.  All businesses except for essential services were closed.  Practically it was only supermarkets that were open.  No cafe, takeaways. OK, it was a hassle to not have a fallback to eat out.  I’m pretty good with cooking.  I did miss my gym, yoga and swimming.  I enjoyed the […]

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Covid-19 flight cancellations and refunds

Many people like to vilify large corporations but I think small businesses can be equally bad. Just before our lockdown, I went to our local neighbourhood greengrocer. Broccoli was $6 and cauliflower was $14 per head, while prices were normal at the nearby supermarket.  I will remember this when choosing where to shop in the future. […]

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Cancelling, cancellations & losses

I was meant to fly out tonight.  But nope.  It would been pure dumb.  But it would also have been impossible with various legs of my itinerary cancelled.  It was a bit of a process to get everything cancelled and refunded.  Timing was critical as I wanted, as much as possible, the provider to initiate […]

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Playing “chicken” with airlines

I have friends and family who are wondering what to do with their travel plans, especially flights, in the coming months.  They have been asking my view on what to do.  No one knows how long this pandemic will disrupt travel for. First of all, if your travel is not imminent, don’t do anything hasty!  […]

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Border closures

In the meantime, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand had all closed its borders to foreigners.  Covid-19 cases climbed rapidly in many countries. Travel was no longer wise.  Travel restrictions and low demand meant that many flights had been cancelled.  The risk of getting stranded was very high, in addition to the risk of getting an […]

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Things start to go wrong

In January 2020, some six weeks before my visit to Manila, Taal volcano blew up.  There goes my day-trip from Manila! Covi-19, a corona-virus outbreak had been brewing in China since late 2019.  In February, things started going international.  By early March, the world outside of China was significantly impacted.  I was still happy to […]

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