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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
OK, I’ll kick off this forum.
I’ve traveled quite a bit – lived in Saudi Arabia for 5 years, and Thailand for 13 years. Met some interesting people along the way, seen some fascinating sights. Travel is near and dear to my heart.
Lost count of the number of countries I’ve been in, but my favorite traveling spots are predominately Buddhist areas in Asia.
What about you?
Cebu is a southern Island of the Philipines its laid back ostensibly off the tourist track (apart from some high end tourist “Ghetto” style resorts) although well known to backpackers. The first tourist there was there was Ferdinand Magellan which the locals promptly dispatched in the 15th century. Mercifully they seem to have lost that unwelcome approach. Its a collection of some colonial Spanish forts and churches and the capital (Cebu city) is the usual bustling take your life in your own hands driving experience/crossing the road. Well you’ve been to Thailand same deal only on the other side of the road. Bus travel is the usual Asian experience off the less travelled highways its best not to delve too deeply in to the apparent “bald” tires or the Mountain pass jaunts where the Bus stops and some one dives under the Bus to cool the brakes with a bucket of water and emerges in a cloud of steam and a smile. Its generally a safe destination (usual big city anywhere in the world precautions apply) when you get out in the rural areas your more an object of curiosity then a potential “walking bank account.” The lagoon side of the island is the place to be with waterfalls, excellent diving, stunning reef’s great sunsets, with Mt Kanlaon smoking gently in the distance with an almost deafening silence, none of the Racous salacious night life that unfortunately tarnishes SE Asia’s image as a destination. Even better these days as quite a few airlines fly in to CEB direct thus avoiding the mayhem of MNL (Manila) Loved CEB so much been back 11 times. The rest of the Phils. is OK but the southern Islands Mindanao, Sqiujor, Jolo, Basilan. Pretty much a No, No due to the usual religious nonsense going on around the globe. I never go south of CEB ever and all the Govt. web sites State dept. UK foreign office, CAN global affairs advise against it. The good thing is as the Phils is an archipelago of 7104 islands, so as with the “Vegas” mantra “what happens on an Island-stays on an Island” and for the most part true. So what ever you do don’t spread this around as there maybe a “Farang” or “Puti” (local dialect same thing) invasion and there goes my quiet chilling out retirement when or if that’ll ever happen hehehe 
Sorry crossed timelines (re) reading etc. BKK’s fine lots of good stuff to see Wat Arun, Wat Sahket, the palace of course, Klhong bankok noi, but once you have seen and, dare I say, done it; There’s really not the attraction. Just a hassle to navigate to get where your going. The eternal nightmare of newbies “badgering” you for the wilder elements of the lifestyle there and clinging on to you for grim death clutching the little yellow “SE Asia on a shoe string bible.” because its they’re first time out in Asia. No I certainly don’t wish to denigrate the Thai capital at all. Thai people are awesome! but your right the political situation there is a little untenable but the Thai folk will get through it with a smile as they always have. I suppose I have travelled a little too much in my old age (with sarcasm to match but enduring patience). Its almost like you wish to say to the newbies “try China on a shoestring.” I set out for Xian and Beijing many moons ago and once you get out of “Guangdong province” any English and whatever smattering of Cantonese you have picked up “goes out the window” Shenzhen (your “fave”) and Guangzhou are in the province next to one of my other “faves” HKG. One day perhaps i’ll make it. 
I particularly enjoy Japan. I’ve been there thirteen times since 2005, and am going back there in two weeks for the Blue Note Jazz Fest in Yokohama. I booked my flights weeks ago. I got a $669 round trip on United. Donald Fagen being the headliner should be intriguing with the death of Walter Becker this past Sunday. Reports had a number of Steely Dan songs already in the concert list.
What enthralls me about Japan is that I can switch from one interest of mine to another very swiftly and easily without bewilderment from people who may, or may not, know me.
I highly recommend Geogria. Beautiful nature, high mountains, black sea, cheap (and awesome) food, MOSTLY nice people, sulfur spa, … and Stalin museum 
I have been there for 14 days and I will come back in the future. Tbilisi is tremendous city.
Armenia is not so good and Azerbaijan is forbidden (you wont be allowed to enter from Armenia) – some local conflicts, you know..
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
I have to agree, New Zealand is great! Wife and I just returned from our first-ever trip there as the COVID-19 thing was starting to get bad, but truly enjoyed our 3 weeks’ long quick tour of the north and south islands. So much variety squeezed into a small area, and the people and wine are great!
I’d highly recommend Croatia. It’s Italy on a budget. Sparkling clean, you don’t even see butts on the streets! The food is awesome and fresh you wouldn’t believe, they actually have a law that sea food has to be served within 24 hrs of leaving the ocean! I especially like one resturant we visited, sorry can’t remember the name, but they actually got in a row boat and went out and harvested our meal, showed it to us then cooked it! It’s a project to rehabilitate Vets of the wars. My favorite foods were the local prosciutto, especially on Croatian Pizza, and the cherry grappa! The island of Vis.
Croatian Pizza:
Grappa fermenting on the window sill.
Here’s the fresh harvested seafood:
Anyplace with red dirt and rugged landscape to put feet into action. Southeastern terrain of Utah, southern Arizona. Living on the edge is always at the top of the list. Fresh air, high desert, clear mind.
MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS
The nicest place I have ever visited was in the mountains of Colorado. I went to camp there one summer when I was in high school. The air was fresh and cool, and the milk was delicious!
Personally, I like the Desert. “Social Distancing” is a lifestyle here LOL. The Sierra’s are an easy drive and the spring bloom is awesome. Most people don’t like it in the Desert ( which is fine with me ) because of the isolation, heat in the summer, cold in the winter, etc., but it can be a spectacular place to live if you can see the beauty in it. The only bad part is that it’s under California’s thumb.
Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).
Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Iceland, New Zealand spring to mind for more well-known places, but for more off-the-beaten-track I would recommend Central Asia.
Particularly Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It probably takes a lot to excite a keen Scrabble player, but those names should! Last year I started at the Aral Sea (its history in the last 60 years is a shocking story of human stupidity and a man-made environmental disaster) and then visited the magnificent Silk Road cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, then crossed into Tajikistan to head to the area where the Tian Shan, Pamir, Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountain ranges all meet. The highest peak in the area is 7,495 metres (24,590 ft) high. Followed the border with Afghanistan for a few days (it’s safe and quiet) and then headed north on the Pamir “Highway” to Kyrgyzstan.
My wife decided not to go since she (inexplicably) didn’t see the appeal of boiled mutton, zero-star accommodation, cold bucket showers and outside pit-toilets in the Pamirs. Women are soooo fussy these days
If you ever decided to go to the area independently I’d be happy to point you in the right direction.
Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie
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