Cebu, Jewel of the Philippines

Travel Cebu

Although tourism as an industry suffered from a significant drop in the twelve months from June 2008 to June 2009, it should be noted that there were countries and cities which actually increased the number of visitors during that time – no small achievement in a period when belt-tightening was the order of the day in many people’s estimation. One of the areas to increase its visitor numbers was the Philippine city and larger metropolitan area of Cebu. The Philippines is one of Asia’s largest and most diverse countries, and this makes it attractive to tourists. It hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 1998 and the East Asian Tourism Forum four years later.

Tourists to Cebu can be guaranteed of seeing a city and larger province that has a varied landscape – one moment you can be in the excellent shopping district and the next you are out among leafy parks and public gardens. It is this type of easy, natural variety that makes the city and the province so attractive to so many people. This is not a place that will only appeal to a certain kind of visitor. Shopping is definitely an option for visitors to Cebu, with some wonderful malls neighbouring smaller more specialised stores and providing everything the visitor could wish for. Unlike  many other cities, Cebu does this without looking or being terribly congested or built-up. At the same time it is historic without being anachronistic.

Strange though it may seem Cebu has something in common with Los Angeles – an area going by the name Beverley Hills. While the LA version is home to a great many of the world’s most famous people, Cebu’s version is known more for its Taoist Temple. Set 300 meters above sea level and built as recently as 1972, the Cebu Taoist Temple is an attraction which really should be seen. It is a towering center of worship that is accessible by any one of three meandering routes that take the visitor through trees and other greenery. It is visited by every school student in the area as part of their education, and is a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. It is the centerpiece of the city’s tourist industry, but by no means the full extent of it.

There is always plenty to see and do in Cebu city and neighbouring cities and towns and although the journey to get there can take some time from a Western starting point – over a day by air from New York, for example – it is worth it for some of the finest buildings, best shopping and finest dining in Asia. There are numerous five star hotels and resorts to stay in, and beyond the Taoist Temple there are a few national parks as well as excellent beaches. The Basilica Minore del Santo Nino is also worth seeing, as it is home to the oldest religious relic in all of the Philippines. Frankly, there are so many reasons to go to Cebu for a break, it is no wonder the tourist numbers visiting have increased.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Travelnowsimply.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on July 24, 2009.

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Credit Card Adding More Benefits

New CIBC Aventura Credit Card Benefits

As travel credit card competition is heating up, CIBC has refreshed its Aventura proprietary travel rewards points credit cards. These new benefits will kick in starting Oct 15, 2018. Although most of these benefits apply to both CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite and CIBC Aventura Visa Gold credit cards, the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite is the better one as Aventura Gold is missing some insurance benefits. Both have a $120 annual fee.

New benefits that will apply:

- Priority Pass lounge membership with 4 free passes per year

- NEXUS application fee rebate every 5 years

- Enhanced trip cancellation insurance, hotel burglary insurance

- Mobile Device Insurance

I haven’t seen a feature like the NEXUS border entry application fee rebate in Canada before. You will get free lounge entrances with many other Canadian travel credit cards, but not for only a $120 annual fee. CIBC Aventura premium credit cards are definitely miles ahead, giving more benefits for only a $120 annual fee.

The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Credit Card could have been a perfect travel credit card, but it has its shortcomings. It does not offer zero foreign currency transaction fee (it charges 2.5% on foreign currency transactions) and its rewards structure is very poor.

The earn rate is proprietary 1.5 points at gas, grocery, and pharmacy and 1 point at everything else. So basically you are earning 1 to 1.5 percent, which is a very low earn rate.

CIBC Aventura Visa Credit Cards should not be your primary credit cards for everyday spending, but they’re definitely worth adding to your credit card portfolio for the features and benefits they’re offering.

I talk more about CIBC Aventura credit cards in the following video.

Refreshed CIBC Aventura Credit Card Benefits Dwarf Other Travel Credit Cards

Why Are Poor Countries Poor and Stay Poor?

Why Are Poor Countries Poor?

First Published: ADawnJournal.com : July 9, 2013

Although it sounds like an easy question to answer, in reality this is not something so simple. There could be hundreds of bizarre reasons why some countries are poor and stay that way. Also, this is one of the most controversial and debated topics on earth, and everyone can come up with their own arguments. Today, I will discuss my own three reasons to touch base on this.

1. Lack of Specialization

If you look at majority of the poor countries on earth, you will see that most of them are agricultural or are a raw material-based society where the majority of the population make a living based on agriculture or raw material production. If they want to produce these more to make money, it simply won’t happen due to the diminishing returns to scale. It simply means that if poor countries will produce more to make more money, they will actually make less money. This is because when you produce something that does not require any specialization or innovation, producing more without increased productivity will lower its prices – and each additional worker assigned to produce without productivity and innovation will produce less than the person before. Thus, producing more will decrease prices – making things even worse.

2. Corruption

Regardless where you look at, from Bangladesh to Burundi or Philippines to Paraguay, one thing all these countries have in common is corruption. There is corruption everywhere on most of the world’s poor countries, including in all levels of government, police, and the very anti-corruption departments that are supposed to look after corruption. When the government can not guarantee the basic rule of law, everything falls apart in the society. Think of this: Why would be a police officer interested in catching a robber who just killed a businessman for $100? He won’t – because he knows if he tries to prosecute the robber, he would lose his job as the robber looks after interests for one of the ministers. So it makes more sense for the police officer to grab $20 (of the $100 the criminal robbed) and let him go. It’s a win-win situation for all, except the businessman who just lost his life for such a small amount. Find it hard to believe? If you are from one of the top least corrupt countries on the Corruption Perception Index list, you will have a hard time believing it. But if you are one of the worst corrupt countries on the same list, you already know that this is very common in your country.

3. Poverty Itself

This may sound little a bit bizarre, but poverty itself may be the reason that prevents countries from getting out of poverty. Populations in poor countries are engaged in securing enough income to feed their families. It’s not an option for lots of them to enhance their knowledge in education, science & technology, arts, specialized skills, etc. to go beyond their boundaries to earn more income. If you look at it on a larger scale, the same applies to the government level. Government does not have enough money to invest in research and development to secure a better future and higher standard of living for their citizens. Even though if there was enough money, government would not spend it for the benefits of its citizens because politicians are occupied stealing money from every possible resource to buy properties, increase their bank balances, and securing higher education for their kids in 1st world countries. If you look at the high-ranking government officials in any of the poor countries, you will find out that their families and children are going to the universities in countries such as Canada, America, Australia, and so on. These families and children do not rent to live in those 1st world countries – they own their properties and drive high-end cars that even impossible to afford for many people in the first world countries.

What I have discussed so far are just some of the highlights from many reasons why some countries are poor and will remain poor. Actually, this topic can be neverending, as there are so many other factors that can come into play. However, my belief is that corruption is one of the most important factors (if not the most important) that makes countries poor and keep them poor for good. If you think deeply, you will see that most of the obstacles poor countries have (that keep them poor) can be easily avoided if bad people stop stealing money, which will stop the leakage that drains out the money. You can not fill up a tank, regardless how much water you pour in, if there are holes in the tank. It does not matter if you buy new tanks, color the tanks, use better material to build better tanks – because you are ignoring the basic fact, which is you have to close the leaks in those tanks first.

Barriers to Personal Development; And How To Overcome Them

Personal Development Obstacles Come From Your Own Mind

We have said a lot in the past about how personal development can be a long journey, and how the first step on that journey can be the most important one. It is completely natural to be somewhat daunted by the idea of making that step, but it really just makes it all the more worthwhile. The bad news is that even once you get going on the road to self improvement, you will still encounter difficulties. These difficulties may well lead you to question whether it is worth persisting with your personal development journey, and they must be given short shrift. It certainly is worth carrying on, you just need to find a way to make it easier.

It may be that you have skeptical people around you. This skepticism may well not be about you, or your ability. In all likelihood, if the skeptical people are friends or family, they will have plenty of faith in you. What they doubt is more likely to be the validity of your chosen method of self-improvement. They may even utter vague remarks like “You’re just fine the way you are”, in the belief that they are helping. Although we all like to hear affirmation, chances are that you’re not doing it for them. This is your own personal decision, taken for your own reasons, and what you need is encouragement. Your friends will understand and appreciate this, if they are good friends. They will make every effort to encourage you and see things from your point of view.

Occasionally, the obstacles will come from your own mind. It takes a very strong person to take a decision that they are going to change their life, and it is no admission of weakness to have doubts even once that decision has been made. When those doubts come it is a test of your resolve, and if you can face up to them it will make you all the stronger and more ready to deal with whatever life is going to throw at you. All of us have doubts at one time or another. It is in powering through these doubts that we learn more about ourselves, and grow as people.

We may also encounter unfortunate and unavoidable circumstances which make it hard to continue with our personal development. These are the only cases in which it may be advisable to step away from your plan for a time. If you fall ill, have a family crisis or lose your job – or something happens which is similar to these circumstances – then it may actually be detrimental to your self improvement to try and forge ahead regardless.

This relies on you using your own judgement and there is a very clear difference between an excuse (which sees you using a minor problem to step off when you are bored with your project) and a reason (something which clearly interferes with your plans, may well be traumatic and needs to be dealt with on its own merits). You need to give yourself the best chance of completing your project, and if this requires a temporary hiatus then that is something you should not be afraid to take.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Simplepersonaldevelopment.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on April 12, 2009.

Why Aren’t American Express Cards Accepted Everywhere?

Photo Courtesy: American Express Canada

Leaving Home With Only American Express Is Not A Good Idea

First Published: April 29, 2013 A Dawn Journal

We often hear that there are so many places that won’t accept American Express (Amex) cards. If Amex is such a big name then why they are not universally accepted like VISA and MasterCard?

There are a myriad number of reasons why some merchants won’t use Amex. However, if we dig down to its basics, there are a few I came up with.

American Express offers both conventional credit cards where you can carry your balances and charge cards where you are required to pay in full every month. Unlike other major credit card companies who rely on high volumes to make money, American Express relies on higher margins to make profit by targeting affluent customers. Its affluent customers are spending a lot more money in lower volumes as opposed to higher volumes with smaller transactions.

Retailers pay much higher fees to provide American Express services than other credit cards. Also, other credit cards use a 3rd party to facilitate their services (like an issuing bank, trust company, etc.), but American Express does it all by itself and keeps all charges for itself for higher profits. For some retailers, it will not make sense to pay higher fees to American Express as they may not be able to make money on fewer transactions. However, merchants who have businesses where they can make a lot more money with fewer transactions (as affluent consumers will spend lot more than average consumers) will be glad to offer American Express.

There are other reasons for merchants not to accept Amex, but what I have discussed above are the most common deciding factors on accepting American Express.