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Travelling overseas? Take your hotmail.com account with you. Hotmail webmail can now be installed on mobile phones with the help of POP3/SMTP protocol - and instead of going to www.hotmail.com, you can download and read emails directly on your mobile phone.

Hotmail is the oldest and most widely used Webmail system, offered by Microsoft. It is by far the most popular web-based email address. Hotmail.com (accessed with www.hotmail.com or www.hotmail.com.au) was one of the first “cool” services that appeared on the internet years ago in 1996.

Hotmail is one of the first programs that thought about people flexibility and the importance of being able to access your email anytime, anywhere. Now, with mobile phones, it is trully possible.

Find out more about www.hotmail.com POP3 and Hotmail SMTP services at AusBusiness.

There is a new web site that was launched this week - www.flightstokabul.com. It provides information on airlines that fly to Afghanistan - connecting citires, web site addresses, travel information and how to obtain visa to Afghanistan. For all info on flights to Afghanistan - visit www.FlightsToKabul.com

There is an option to provide feedback on the information that is there, so, please contribute.

How to find flight information - Flights to Kabul and Flights from Kabul

I went to Afghanistan back in September 2008. Back then there were only two airlines flying to Kabul - Ariana - Afghanistan’s State owned airline and KamAir - a commercial airline, also from Afghanistan. I flew in with KamAir. I booked my ticket online, received the booking ID, then I had to send it to a friend in Kabul where he went to KanAir head office and paid my airfare in cash.

Flights to Kabul - KamAir

The web site I used was www.flykamair.com It’s been updated, but I doesn’t look like it accepts payments on-line, still. There is another KamAir web site that appeared since - www.flykamairline.com - not sure why two web sites, but the latter seems to accept credit cards.

Flights to Kabul - Ariana

FlyAriana web site: www.flyariana.com I haven’t used this site of flown with Ariana but I heard that flights are often cancelled, if the aircraft is used by some Afghan official. On the day I flew to Kabul from Dubal - the timetable display said that all Ariana flights from Dubal to Kabul were cancelled that day.

Flights to Kabul - Pamir Air

Pamir Air - www.pamirairways.net - another private airline in  Afghanistan. It was the first to receive the Air Operator Certificate from the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Islamic Government of Afghanistan. It appears that you can book online and pay by credit card.

Flights to Kabul - Other Airlines

I think, the best way to fly to Kabul is from Dubal. It’s only a 2.5 hr flight and Dubai is a major connection point. I found that the best way to find what airlines fly to Afghanistan and when, is to go to Dubai Airport web site and see the list of today’s flights to and from Kabul. So, go to www.dubaiairport.com then, go to “Flight Information” > “Arrival-Departure”. Then, select Kabul in the “Destination/Originated From” drop-down menu. Leave all other fields blank and click search. The result page will list all flights to or from Kabul and the departure/ arrival time too. It will also show what airlines are flying in to Kabul. You can then go and Google them for more info.

Goog luck. If you have people in Afghanistan, it’s always best to check them them first, what airline they think is best at the time. More info - visit http://www.ausbusiness.net/review/flights-to-kabul/

More info:
+www.flightstokabul.com

Where your heart goes, there your feet will go. Afghan proverb

Having spent a week in Afghanistan doesn’t make me an expert on the current situation. There is no explanation to the killing of Gayle on Monday - but it is a sign that the situation is getting worse. NGOs in Afghanistan are an important part of the country’s development process and (I read it somewhere) combined, form the largest employer in the country. The Taliban are playing a scare technique, now inside Kabul, to distabilise the situation and possibly drive out the foreign nationals out of the country. The killing of an aid worker in Kabul is obviously having a great psycological effect, outstretching the real consequences. They want the locals to belive that the aid workers are a there to undermide the country’s values and impose the western beliefs. Maybe it’s also an attempt to demonstrate that the military forces occupying the country are not even able to protect their own nationals (not that the two related). It’s an attempt to scare, destabilise, blocade. It’s a war of perception. Taliban are trying to win back people’s trust, “defending” what is at the very hart of every Afghani national - their culture and religion. (We’ve seen it before. In Russia. Once being dismantled and declared illegal in the arly 90’s, the communist party is back in full swing, with a strong following of people claiming that the “old times” were better than present). It reminds me that verse from the Big Book: “Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.” (Proverbs 7.10).

We have dear friends working in Kabul who are going through tough times. Should they stay or should they go? We obviusly want them to be safe, but whatever decision they make we will sure support them.

And now I want to state something very obvious, which I feel I just need to say: Most, the great majority, of people living in Afghanistan are good, nice people. These are the people our frieds are helping.

And here is that “Clash” song for Phil..

Darling you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here ’til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

It’s always tease, tease, tease
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
One day is fine the next is black
So if you want me off your back
Well come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know…

I’m back home (in Perth, Australia). Very tired. Very satisfied. A lot is on my mind to process. A lot of ideas, business ideas, a lot of opportunities to explore in Russia, Afghanistan, Dubai… Let’s see what comes out of it all.

This post it to say how impressed I am with Singapore Airlines. This was the first time I flew with them (PER > SIN > DXB and back) and I have to say, that they are very good. My flight from Dubai to Singapore was 2 hours late. Singapore Airlines gave us a free dinner at Saffar Restaurant at the Airport. Because the flight was later, I missed my connection to Perth in Singapore. When I arrived there, there were people waiting for me with a seat booked on the next flight (6hr wait). They also gave me a room at a 5-star hotel in Singapore, 3 free meals and free taxi transfer to and from the airport. It’s nice to be looked after.

And here are a couple of photos from Singapore.

Today I had another day in Dubai. My flights from Moscow with Emirates didn’t quite connect with my transfer to Singapore/Perth, so I thought it would be a good idea to spend another day in the Emirates. I had no plans for the day, so I slept in and then went for a walk in the city. My two-start hotel is in the old part of Dubai and there are a lot of little middle-eastern-looking shops. The area must be known for its air conditioning vibe - every second store is selling air conditioners or parts for them. The rest has “Car Rental” or “Typing” signs on them. Not sure what they do. Surely not typing. I also didn’t see any rental cars.

Booze timing. The little “Panorama Hotel” (with a panorama view on a dusty street outside) where I stayed had something that looked like a bar. However I very much doubt people drunk there as they don’t sell alcohol in Dubai. When I arrived in the hotel at midnight last night (from my flight from Moscow), there was Arabic music blasting from the door and there were quite a few people sitting there inside. Must be drinking tea and smoking something. The interesting thing is that the bar was called “Booze”. And there is a sign at the door “Booze Timing”. As Borat says, “Ver-ry Na-a-ice!”

It was hot today (probably around 45C) and I caught a taxi to the “Mall of Emirates” - an undercover shopping mall, a size of Fremantle with a snow mountain inside. There shopping guides in Arabic, English and Russian. I didn’t think I’d buy anything there as most of shops sell label stuff, but I thought I’d just check it out. I stopped at a property developer’s stand to ask a few questions about Dubai market. With the city growing so fast, I was interested to talk to someone who deals with it every day. So, here I am, talking to Inga.  Where are you from? Ukraine. Oh, privet.. and we switched to Russian. Then after asking me why I didn’t just speak Russian to her (how would I know?) she called her manager (an Aussie bloke) who then took me for a drive to their office. I asked him how he was coping with those glamorous Russian girls at the stand. He seemed to enjoy it. He actually managers a team of 40 people - in a property development company - 40 of whom a Russian girls. Looked very much like a Russian brides store. Russian brides for everyone!

Today I also went through some industrial and building site of the city, visited the tallest building in the world - see some photos below.

Now here I am, again, sitting at the airport and typing this. Airports seem to inspire me and give birth of many of my thoughts, reflections and new ideas. Tomorrow I’ll be back in Perth. Welcome back, Australia. Welcome back into my life. It has been a great holiday.

Domodedovo Airport (DME), Moscow, Russia. Just paid 219 Roubles for another extremely average cup of coffee. 219 Roubles is $11 AUD. They don’t even have a what we call “flat white”. If you want it white, you have to buy a cappuccino or a latte and they think they are so cool and cafe latte is so super duper that they can just charge you this astronomical price for this dodgy cup of coffee that is not even full. This is mind blowing and it seems to be normal in today’s Russia. This is the side of the new Russia which I hate from the very bottom of my heart. It’s expensive.

Russia is also very sweet. Yes it is. There is a lot of sugar. People eat a lot of sugar. People put a lot of sugar in their tea and coffee. People just eat plain sugar cubes (and lollies, honey, sugar and then lollies again) just like that. People eat lollies, chocolate with high-sugar drinks like dodgy fruit juices and then they complain. We like to complain. I was invited to a friend’s place for dinner, a young family with a 2-yr old son. A word is apparently around that their son is “very active” and the mother herself called him “hyper” when I got there. Guess what he ate while we were having potato and marinated mushrooms for dinner? Lollies! Actually, no. First, he ate some chocolate. Then some lollies. And then he collected cream topping from our cake pieces, which he really enjoyed. Then he found a hairdryer and started jumping up and down and banging it in the wall. In the meantime the mother was sharing her concerns with me that the boy had tooth caries and they couldn’t find a quick fix for it. A different mother with a little boy (1.7yr) boarded the same train with me, going to Moscow. After saying hello’s she complained that her son never sits still, probably just wanted to warm me. Then she pulled out a bag of lollies and one of those juice boxes and was feeding it to her baby till he fell asleep. When he woke up (it was an overnight train), she just stuck that juice bottle in his mouth. For breakfast she gave him cream biscuits and more sweet juice. Some one tell the Russian mothers that there may be a link between the amount of sugar and hyperactivity of their children!!!

Russia is very late. People wake up late and go to bed late. Kids go to bed after 9pm. The children’s “good night kids” show on tv is at 8:45PM and I think it goes for 30mins. People also tend to catch up later. 8 or 9pm is often a  normal time to go and visit a friend. When going home after that, there are still old women selling apples in a bucked at a bus stop at 11.30pm. Why sleep when you can sleep in.

Russia is good. No country is without fautls. But there is always that special connection to the place where you were born.

Lysye Gory. Back in 1800-1900s my Grandparents  had the only brick house in the village. They were farmers and had horses. The church in the photo was probably the place an orthodox priest made a record of my mother’s birth in 1930. When communists came to power, someone in the village didn’t like the fact that my grandparents’ family was quite well off (i.e, run a small farm) and they blackmailed my grandfather, which resulted in him being convicted to 11 years in Gulag gaol. Having become an “enemy of the state” my mother’s family ended up on the streets, moving from house to house living with people who were kind enough to let them board a room. They eventually moved to the city (Tambov) in 1941 - just when the Germans invaded Russia - and settled on the same property we are now. The government since sub-divided the property into 6 small blocks. Because of communists, they lost everything.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I visited my mother’s birth place, even though it’s only 15km away from Tambov. I’m pretty sure this is where the businessman in me comes from. My forefathers were proactive people, running a self-sustained farm in a village 100+ years ago.

Here are some more photos from Russia - from Moscow and Tambov. A few things still amaze me here, like the size of bilboards (ads), price of a cup of coffee ($7-$10), bereaucracy filled with indifference and other stuff like that. The other thing that people talk about is that there are not enough young, available men - due to numerous wars and the problem of alcohol. But Russia is a great place. Good to be here.

I am in Russia and, to be honest, it’s refreshing to be in a country that is not afraid to stand up to the US and other Western ideologies. These are my personal observations as a well-traveled Russian with equal experience of living in Russia and overseas (Australia).

It is indeed refreshing to be in a country that is not afraid to tell our friends in america what it thinks about their foreign policies and to continue reminding them to mind their own business.

Since the war in Georgia, every western media outlet talks about Russian aggression and the “disproportional use of force”. Somehow they avoid the fact that it was Georgia that started the war and that Russia had no choice but to respond in order to protect innocent civilians. I guess the west would be happier to see Russian soldiers responding to bombs with slingshots. It seems that the west can’t wait to see Russia loose and become bobmable, not able to respond. Who knows, then maybe the US will do Russia a favour and invade to install a democracy, like they do in Iraq. Somehow the world assumed that the western ideology is the only one that every nation should have. “Believe in the US and it will be credited to you as righteousness”. This is probably already a part of the US bible.

Now, back to the “disproportional use of force”. I saw a couple of places in Afghanistan that were previously bombed by the “coalition of the willing”. Innocent people were injured, lives lost. Many left without places to live and work. Many lost close family members, friends. Or how about a family of Iraqis waiting for a flight back to Baghdad in Dubai airport. A father, mother and three young kids. All with hearing aids. Total loss of hearing. They were probably next to one of those “democracy-installing” bombs that exploded. Damaged for life. “Disproportional use of force”. No one seems to suggest sunctions againts the country that caused that suffering.

Here is a joke that I read in one of the central newspapers here in Russia. “When God wants to punish Americans, He sends them floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. But when God wants to punish other nations, He sends them Americans”.

I often get asked (by my Australian friends) what I think about the “Russians” etc. and they expect me to automatically condemn whatever the “Russians” are currently up to. Don’t believe everything you hear from TV. People like you and me, wherever they are, want peace. They want their mum and dads, their sons and daughters to be safe. They don’t want to fight. Ok. I’ve said enough.