Blog Archive: February 2019
'Is tourism harming Venice?' DW Documentary
| Documentaries | 42 seen
Venice is threatened by mass tourism. Some 30 million visitors a year come to the city in Italy, making their way through the narrow streets.
it has been a while since we returned from our latest Italy trip, back at the end of 2015 and start of 2016. We greeted the New year of 2016 in Venice's St Mark square, the place which was so overcrowded that the only way to make decent photography of cathedral was using long exposure photography.
With staying overnight at Hotel Guerrini in the city center without heating I didn't feel welcomed very much here in Venice. Now, I have never been a fan of AirBnb, and I agree it should be somehow limited and more regulated.
With an infrastructure more and more tailored to the needs of tourism, the city’s remaining residents feel left behind. During high season an influx of up to 130 thousand tourists a day means the city authorities have scant resources to cater for the more mundane needs of residents. A constant flotilla of small boats ferries passengers between city landing stages and giant cruise liners moored in the lagoon. Air quality in Venice is often worse than busy city centers.…
Highest Deposit Rates in the World by Country 2019
| Macroeconomics | 78 seen
There are many options to consider when looking to grow your hard earned money - stocks, bonds, the relatively new peer to peer lending, and of course - bank savings or deposits.
As a small and growing investor, I'm always looking for a higher yield investment, and despite deposits doesn't fit in my wealth building strategy, I have made some money in the past.
In 2019 I would favor peer to peer lending marketplace like Mintos.com over the hustle of opening a foreign bank account in a distant country just to chase a higher deposit rate.
- How To Open A Bank Account in U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank
- Opening a Bank Account in Republic of Georgia
Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.
Affiliate link here: Sign up to…
Documentary - Scammed: Investment Fraud Revealed
| Documentaries | 9 seen
Interesting documentary about fraudulent investment schemes in Indiana, US.
From Wall Street to Main Street in cities and towns across Indiana…anyone with money to invest is vulnerable to financial fraud.
Business professionals we thought were trustworthy sometimes lie, cheat, and steal for their own personal gain.
In this documentary, we reveal criminal cases in which fraudsters bilked Hoosiers of millions of dollars. We’ll find out how investors were scammed by deals that sounded too good to be true or by sharing an affinity with the perpetrator. We’ll hear how the scams unraveled, learn from past mistakes, and discover how to prevent future financial fraud through education and recognizing warning signs.
Watch on YouTube
Tbilisi sea
| Lakes | 38 seen
The Tbilisi sea or Tbilisi reservoir is an artificial lake in the vicinity of Tbilisi that serves as a reservoir. The lake has a length of 8.75 km and a width of 2.85 km. It was opened in 1953 and has become a popular recreation spot.
There have been plans to develop the Tbilisi sea into a recreational park with various sports facilities. One of the most active developers in the Tbilisi sea area are Chinese investors from the Hualing group, see Hualing Tbilisi Sea Plaza
I first discovered Tbilisi sea back in the Summer of 2014, when we decided to get here by bikes, see: Cycling to Tbilisi sea and back
Tbilisi reservoir
There are many interesting objects located near the Tbilisi sea, like in the above picture you can see The Chronicle of Georgia, Monument Near Tbilisi Sea
Tbilisi sea is very popular in hot summer for locals and city guests
Tbilisi sea is situated 650-800 meters above sea level and is a perfect "Get-A-Way" from the hot town in the summer.
Tbilisi sea
Pokaiņi Forest
| Tourism objects | 58 seen
The Pokaini Forest, located 80 km south-west of Riga, Latvia near the small town of Dobele is a place where myths, superstition and mysterious events co-exist.
The Pokaini Forest is a picturesque location and an ancient holy site famous for the wondrous legends told about it. Take a walk along the path and find out more about this energetic place.
I first visited Pokaini forest back in 2008 or 2009. A lot has changed (developed) since then. During my latest trip here in May 2018, I did find many things have greatly improved like there is a kind of a tourism information center built, more trails are made and actually, the territory seems much larger than it was some 10 years ago. Not sure about the energetics but for a lazy Sunday walk this is a great place.
Currently, there are walking paths totaling 15 km in length in the forest. The stone agglomerates have been carefully cleaned, and certain stones were given names.
Trails at Pokaini
Mysterious Pokaini Forest has long been long been shrouded in legends and myths. It is a very special and strange place that many consider being a strong anomalous zone. …
How and Why To Invest in Mintos Secondary market
| Peer to Peer Lending | 67 seen
I'm not a huge fan of any secondary markets (Except probably just Tbilisi flea market), but at the end of February 2019 Mintos run out of the GEL loans (the last time it happened at the end of August).
As more than half of my portfolio consists of investments in GEL and I have no plans to exchange them overnight to EUR or any other currency I decided to explore my options.
And here comes in the secondary market.
In the past, I've used Mintos secondary market just twice, first time I used it in March 2017 ( seems just to experiment) and the second time on February 22, 2019, to buy GEL loans from the secondary market.
No loans in the Primary market
A huge was my surprise seeing no GEL loans available.
In short, I believe it's more a temporary issue than a long term problem. On the other hand, I remember from August 2018 GEL loan shortfall I got about half of my loans bought back and one of the loan originators (BIG) left the marketplace.
I hope this is not the case now. As there are just a few GEL loan originators (Creamfinance, Lendo and ID Finance).
Now it was the time to head to…
Top Peer to Peer Lending Sites 2019 (Highest Yields)
| Peer to Peer Lending | 14 seen
Peer to peer lending is a hot topic in 2019. Both novice and seasoned investors are putting some serious money into peer to peer lending.
I've been familiar with this type of investment since 2016, and starting 2017 have actually invested some money. When speaking about me - there is just one peer to peer platform I personally have tried, still, use, and could kind of recommend to others - and I'm talking about Latvian fintech giant - Mintos.
I've written countless articles about my experience with Mintos, you could just follow this topic, or see my latest review here: Mintos.com Review After 24 Month of Investing in Peer to Peer Lending
Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.
Affiliate link here: Sign up to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration…
Degusto (Aghmashenebeli avenue 148-150)
| Restaurant reviews | 26 seen
Degusto is a popular diving chain in Tbilisi. The food here is sold by weight for very budget-friendly prices.
They have excellent sweets and really tasty cappuccinos served at Degusto. The one located on Aghmashenebeli avenue 148-150, Tbilisi is just next to the Champions Academy, and sometimes I visit it after the gym.
The food court at Degusto
There are some cold and hot dishes available, from the cold dishes there are salads, while from the hot ones you can choose to have, sausages, chicken strips, pancakes and more. Sometimes they have a fish.
Caesar salad, cucumber & tomato salad + fish
Top 20 Best Selling Gaming Laptops / Notebooks with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Graphics card
| Laptop Reviews | 20 seen
Take on today's most challenging, graphics-intensive games without missing a beat. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards deliver the incredible speed and power of NVIDIA Pascal™—the most advanced gaming GPU architecture ever created. This is the ultimate gaming platform.
In today's article, I've listed top 20 best selling gaming laptop/notebook computers with NVIDIA GeForce GTRX 1070 8 GB graphics card available for sale on Amazon.com
Most of the top best selling Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 laptops are powered with the latest 8th generation Intel Core i7 8750H processor.
Alternatively, see
- Top 20 Best Selling Gaming Laptops 2019
- Top 20 Gaming Laptops with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Graphics card
A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for laptops listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product Advertising API and is updated daily. For…
Rustavi Auto Market (Buying a Car in Georgia)
| Shopping Venues | 73 seen
Rustavi auto market is one of the most popular and useful places for buying a used car in Georgia (imported mostly from the US, but probably also from Asia and Europe).
It was at the end of 2018, we decided to buy a car here in Georgia. After research on the most popular Georgian auto website myauto.ge we decided to stick with a Volkswagen Touareg car (yes, damn expensive in exploitation, but safe)
To get to the Rustavi I decided to call my old pal - Ramaz, sincere taxi driver. Ramaz helped to inspect cars, translate conversations and at the end even to screw car plates on our new car. Rustavi is really close to Tbilisi, the drive didn't take more than 30-40 minutes.
Rustavi auto market
Turns out Rustavi International Motorpark is located just next to the auto market.
Buyers from neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan are common guests here, as seems it's cheaper to buy a car in Georgia and then re-export it to Armenia/Azerbaijan.
The market is divided into kind of sectors starting economy class cars ending high-end premium class vehicles. In the auto markets territory…
Panorama Riga Observation Deck (Latvian Academy of Sciences)
| Tourism objects | 55 seen
The 107-meter tall building is considered the first high-rise in Latvia. It has been a prominent fixture of the Riga cityscape since the 1950s.
There are a total of 766 rooms on the 23 floors, occupied by scientists, researchers, historians, and various companies.
It was in May 2018, when I first visited the observation deck located in Latvian Academy of Sciences building) and I was really impressed. So impressed that I would call this place actually the Empire State Building of Riga. Instead of paying USD 65 and waiting a couple of hours in the line (like in the NYC) here we paid EUR 5 entry ticket and without any line were taken up to the observation deck. Awesome.
The Empire State Building & Observation Deck Tour
Latvian Academy of Sciences building
Couldn't fit in a landscape mode, and don't love portraiture. lol
The Academy of Sciences is one of the most notable examples of the so-called Socialist Realism in Latvia. The building was originally meant to become the Kolkhoz Workers’ Building or a hotel and dormitory for collective farm workers who come…
Top 5-star hotels in Astana, Kazakhstan
| Hotel reviews | 23 seen
Astana took over the role of the capital city from Almaty (the largest city) in December 1998. Now, it is undergoing a transformation costing billions of dollars, where top international architects assist in trying to make Astana a worthy capital - not only of Kazakhstan but of all Central Asia. Thus, Astana presents an interesting and intriguing blend of old Soviet architecture with the modern designs of Norman Foster and the likes.
Astana is growing, but still does not offer the comforts and thrills of its Western counterparts, or Almaty, but has its own charms and pleasures.
According to Booking.com, there are not many 5 star hotels in Astana. In today's article, I've listed the top 5 star hotels in Astana, Kazakhstan
Disclosure: this article contains links to Booking.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a reservation on Booking.com site, I might earn an affiliate income, at no cost to you
Rixos President Hotel AstanaLocated in Astana’s government district, this 5-star hotel has 2 elegant restaurants and a large spa with pool. Its air-conditioned rooms and suites include a spa bath and free WiFi…
Dzveli Duqani
| Restaurant reviews | 26 seen
Dzveli Duqani is a typical Georgian cuisine restaurant located next to Didi Dighomi II Micro District on Davit Aghmanashabeli avenue's 12th km (you can get here when driving from Tbilisi mall back to the city)
Discovered by accident in January 2019, after returning from Mtskheta. Next, to the restaurant, there is a small parking space under the bridge.
Prices at Dzveli Duqani is considerably lower than those in the city center, but what's most important, food served here is really delicious.
Homemade style French fries at Dzveli duqani in Tbilisi
Wow, just amazing, the best portion of French fries you can see above, cost just GEL 5 here (as of January 2019)
Chicken and pork barbecue at Dzveli Duqani
Hualing Tbilisi Sea Plaza
| Shopping Venues | 97 seen
Tbilisi Sea Plaza trading center is located in the eastern suburbs of Tbilisi City, near the Tbilisi Sea.
I first heard about this "project" back in 2013 or something, and actually tried to visit it already in 2015, without luck. Turns out this place has been opened for the public just since the end of 2016. Despite been opened for public for a while already this place is not close as popular as Tbilisi Mall or East Point shopping malls located in the suburbs of Tbilisi. I believe the reason is the missing anchor tenant, some large food store
It was at the end of December 2018, we were wandering around Tbilisi in our new Volkswagen Tuareg car, and decided to locate this place finally.
And we succeeded. Unfortunately, at the end of 2018, this place looked more like a ghost town, though after a couple of minutes of wandering here we did find some actual trading inside the main building.
Hualing Tbilisi Sea Plaza
Warehouses on the left, main building on the right. In the background neighborhood of Varketili.
Total construction area of “Tbilisi Sea Plaza” is 150,000 m2, out of which 24 000 m2 of the grand…
Cafe "Kāpenieki" in Aizpute
| Restaurant reviews | 12 seen
Cafe Kāpenieki has been one of my best finds in the Aizpute town in Western Latvia. Tasty, traditional Latvian cuisine for a very decent price.
The fun fact, at this place in May 2018 I opened my first online brokerage account and soon started to acquire European and the US stocks. Also, they sell tasty Kvass, which is manufactured by a company listed on Nasdaq Baltics (Gubernija). lol
Traditional Latvian Cold soup
The main course at cafe Kāpenieki in Aizpute
Too big to fail, too large to eat in the first attempt. Damn tasty though.
Located inside the old and neglected, but renovated Soviet-era building, Cafe Kāpenieki attracts locals and visitors from nearby towns and cities.
Cafe Kāpenieki