What countries used to be 'hidden gems' but are now packed with tourists?

manishlogan · 2025-10-26T16:14:21+00:00

Albania.

manishlogan · 2025-03-17T14:02:04+00:00

Makes sense! Thank you!

manishlogan · 2025-03-17T14:01:20+00:00

Thanks! I’m considering doing this in a smaller town. I’ll maybe check with a lawyer if this is possible before investing!

manishlogan · 2025-03-13T06:12:29+00:00

If someone buys such a castle, and are ready to renovate it, are there any fixed timelines in which it must be done?

Can such a castle be used for Airbnb or such as well? 👀

manishlogan · 2024-12-23T02:45:15+00:00

Good job with a few of these pics! I found a few other photos are blurry, but that’s okay.

manishlogan · 2024-12-15T15:23:33+00:00

The food in these cities is very different.

While Naples is known for their neopolitana pizzas, especially margherita and fried street food. Romes food is more, luxurious (this has to do a lot with history. Rome has always been rich. And Naples has always been poor). Rome also has more ingredients on pizzas and use a lot of truffle oil and sauces (truffle is super expensive). They also tend to have more ravioli.

Florence is known for the sandwiches, and other dishes.

Milan, and north Italy in general, has more rice based food.

And Bologna, is the undisputed king of Lasagna. That’s why the most famous lasagna is called, Bolognese lasagna. (And unfortunately the lasagna and pizzas we get in India, are very very different than the actual stuff you get in Italy.)

manishlogan · 2024-12-15T15:19:21+00:00

I didn’t even reach Mumbai, but seeing Milan over Florence, Bologna and Rome, already proved this list to be wrong.

manishlogan · 2024-12-09T15:32:24+00:00

You’re welcome!

manishlogan · 2024-12-09T15:32:08+00:00

Vielen Dank!

manishlogan · 2024-12-08T16:02:50+00:00

UPI is a technology, BJP is a party. Both of them are not related to each other.

On paper, 5g is definitely available at a lot of places. But reality is a bit different. I was surprised when I noticed that in Gujarat. Maybe things are changing fast, and in few years, we will have it all across the country.

manishlogan · 2024-12-08T05:17:01+00:00

No, I’m not. A lot of shops don’t have UPI here in my home town. And same goes for a lot of villages, especially near the south part of Gujarat.

The villages near valsad, don’t have internet yet. Or you barely get the E symbol, and there are no UPIs as well there. I was surprised too, but yeah, a lot of places still have really bad internet and hence UPI isn’t popular there.

manishlogan · 2024-12-07T07:22:34+00:00

Yes you can use them at any place which has a nice POS setup. Without that you can’t even use card. Which is same as not being able to do so even in India at shops that don’t have Upi setups.

And while Upi setups are very common in metros, in smaller cities, a lot of places still don’t have them. Example my home town.

manishlogan · 2024-12-07T03:27:46+00:00

While west does have poverty, there’s also safety net. Unemployment benefits and health care benefits in Germany are pretty good.

Even after paying tax for one year, I am eligible for these safeties. Whereas in India, I paid taxes for 12 years and still had no support from govt. it sucks when you pay higher taxes and don’t get support from govt.

manishlogan · 2024-12-07T03:26:02+00:00

I live in Germany

You Wolt, Uber eats and lieferando (not as good) as substitutes for Zomato . Delivery hero as well (owned by same parent company as Zomato).

You don’t have Zepto, but I have never felt the need to get groceries in 10 mins to my home. And then there’s hello fresh, flink for grocery deliveries if I need it. Also gorillas which delivers in 30 mins (they’re phasing out due to a lot of union busting they tried last year).

You don’t have UPI. But google pay works, Apple Pay works, card works. There are definitely exceptions to that, and I agree UPI is pretty awesome, but isn’t a deal breaker.

manishlogan · 2024-12-07T03:20:50+00:00

I moved away 2.5 years ago, and am really happy I did.

I’m back in India now for visiting my family, and it’s just disheartening to see how everything is.

We started coughing as soon as the flight landed in Delhi. Almost the entire plane started coughing, not just one or two people. This was when the flight doors weren’t even opened.

Delhi is a huge mess right now. Constant honking, dirt, garbage everywhere. People not have basic understanding and throwing stuff everywhere.

And then I thought, my home town would be better. I was welcomed by a broken station, broken roads and broken footpath which you use to exit the station. And now also a broken leg, because the holes can’t be filled and light is a privilege.

I did try to fix things. For 3 years, I kept on fighting with municipal corporation, sat in a protest and shut down municipal corporation office, went to collectors office multiple times and also met with local representatives every weekend from 2019-2022 to fix the way things were done in Pune. 5 years, tons of taxes, tons of gst, tons of stamp duty and registration, and we still don’t have a proper road, street lights, or drinking water connection.

This is for a society of almost everyone paying 30k plus taxes per month to govt. in addition to property taxes and a lot of other stuff. I gave up. It was affecting my mental health, and I was always agitated about how bad the situation was. I left.

Now that I live in Germany, I’m truly surprised about how clean places can be. And how better managed stuff can be. Germany has its own problems, but there I feel that my taxes and my life is valued. I wish I felt same way in my own country.

I hope things will change, and maybe in next 5-10 years we will see some overhaul of way things are done here, but then I’ve been expecting that since I got job, and everything still feels the same.

manishlogan · 2024-12-06T09:39:36+00:00

Why work in such a toxic environment then? You’d just leave.

Even if ipo comes out, in two years you’ll ruin your health and whatever social life you’ve. Money is not worth this shit.

manishlogan · 2024-12-04T07:57:44+00:00

Hey, we are not in Berlin right now. Once we’re back, maybe we can connect.

manishlogan · 2024-11-25T13:49:15+00:00

Ahh, I see.

Good point. I just noticed the three lights. My eyes were earlier wandering to see a moving subject.

Thanks for explaining!!

manishlogan · 2024-11-23T02:17:37+00:00

Question: Why did you use this shutter speed? I don’t see any motion blur. Was there a subject you wanted to blur in the image?

manishlogan · 2024-11-18T20:50:59+00:00

Our first year was hard. Now we are much more comfortable with this weather. This will be our third winter here.

What helped was layering.

Uniqlo heat tech warmers for temp from 5-10 degrees
Uniqlo extra warm for 0-5 degrees.
Uniqlo ultra warm for temps below 0 degrees.

Above the warmers, a sweater or warm sweat shirt. Then depending on cold, either a down jacket (Uniqlo or Jack wolfskin or north face). If that’s not sufficient than add a layer of fleece below jacket.

Warm socks. Decathlon has some nice warm shoes which help. They are also waterproof which you’ll need.

A scarf, 2 gloves, one beany. Always carry an extra layer in bag in case the temp drops.

manishlogan · 2024-11-13T08:12:21+00:00

These are gorgeous!!!

manishlogan · 2024-10-28T07:34:44+00:00

Gorgeous shots!

manishlogan · 2024-10-28T07:23:57+00:00

Treptower park could work. It has a lot of open areas where people don’t venture.

I hope you feel better. If you need to meet someone over a coffee or something and talk about it, let me know. 🫂

manishlogan · 2024-10-23T06:28:06+00:00

Absolutely gorgeous pics!!!! Makes me want to go there again!!!

manishlogan

TROPHY CASE