100 things I learned and did in 2010

  1. Time is the most precious commodity.
  2. Twitter made me become a lazy blogger.
  3. This year I fulfilled 2 of my 10 things to do in life.
  4. It’s estimated that illegal trade accounts for one-fifth of the global GDP.
  5. Indonesia stock exchange and Thai stock exchange are 2 of the best performing exchanges in the world, with more than 40% increase ytd.
  6. But the winner is Mongolian stock exchange with 133.79% increase ytd, followed by Sri Lanka stock exchange with 95% increase ytd.
  7. The separatist rebel group in Southern Philippines is called Moro Islamic Liberal Front, or in short MILF. HA!
  8. The term MILF hunting has a completely different meaning for the Philippines government.
  9. I proposed a marriage at a Slash live in concert, using a t-shirt that says: Mimi will you marry me?
  10. The best thing in life doesn’t always have to be expensive.
  11. In Varanasi, India, people live side by side with corpses.
  12. The government of India doesn’t count Sadhu (holy men) as exist.
  13. Aghory Sadhu is a cannibal.
  14. Cannibals don’t eat random people, they usually have a purpose on eating that particular person.
  15. Myanmar changed their national flag from uptight to Rastaman. This is what happened when a bunch of military junta is having a midlife crisis.
  16. Miyabi has a tattoo in her body, but always edited in her movies.
  17. Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister, is actually the victim of a much larger political mafia.
  18. I take back everything bad I said about him. I took news at the face value, without understanding the big picture.
  19. Joined the global hype and got married at 10-10-2010. At 10am.
  20. Much of current Europe’s culture were developed during the Renaissance period. And all thanks to the Medici family of Florence.
  21. Jakarta’s governor, Fauzi Bowo, cut all benefits for its DKI employees and force its department heads to provide him monthly money for his travels to Europe.
  22. There’s a town in Canada called Dildo.
  23. And there’s a city called Batman in southeast Turkey.
  24. Despite billions of dollars in oil revenue, 70% of people in Nigeria live below the poverty line.
  25. 31 “security” contractors control Iraq. Blackwater controls these contractors. CIA controls Blackwater. CIA is, well, the US government. Therefore, despite saying they have withdrawn troops from Iraq, the US still pretty much control Iraq.
  26. The more I travel the more I’m convinced that my character have most in common with backpackers, regardless of nationality.
  27. The German beer Erdinger is ubber expensive.
  28. After being suspicious for quite some time, I’m now sure that The Economist is biased towards the Western Governments’ interests and hidden agendas.
  29. Google isn’t a country, but if it were it would be the world’s 87th biggest economy, just behind Ethiopia and just ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.
  30. Kosovo has a cool-looking flag.
  31. Finally accept that Goldman Sachs is evil. Read: http://bit.ly/bFMlHH
  32. Flash Forward is the smartest TV series I’ve ever watched.
  33. And the award for this year’s hardest word to pronounce goes to: Eyjafjallajökull.
  34. Found myself another role model: Cyrus the Great.
  35. This year I broke my own rule of not exchanging contact details with fellow travellers.
  36. I swap name cards with a German environmentalist lawyer in Halong Bay, Vietnam.
  37. Justin Bieber brings out the inner Japanese-schoolgirl in me.
  38. Sometimes aid supplies unintentionally feed the warring militants, making the aid a big part of the problem. Like in Rwanda 1994 and DR Congo.
  39. I think everyone can agree with me, this year’s best movie got to be 3 idiots.
  40. Whoever invented Egg McMuffin should win a Nobel Prize, pure genius!
  41. The word Sudan means ‘the land of black people’, but it’s always been ruled by an Arabic-speaking (from the North) representing less than 6% of the population.
  42. Hence, South Sudan partition is inevitable, but oil, as always, get in the way.
  43. The Temples of Angkor are much much MUCH better in person. Pictures don’t do any justice to their absolute beauty and charm.
  44. The creation of Israel in 1948 was illegal, violating 1947 UN Partition Plan.
  45. The British was irresponsible, setting a leaving date without first mediate the clash between the Jews and Arabs, which Israel took advantage by claiming “Independence” on 14 May 1948, 1 day before Britain leaves.
  46. UN and the international community shockingly recognized Israel’s claim of independence, and a brutal ethnic cleansing for Palestinians followed shortly. (Read: The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe)
  47. Why did the squirrel swim upside down? To keep his nuts dry.
  48. Kim Kardashian is a big-time self-centered diva. But a smoking hot diva at that.
  49. I haven’t had a decent sleep since the first day of World Cup, 19 June.
  50. Bank Indonesia was right to bail out Bank Century during a very sensitive time.
  51. But the real question is why did Bank Indonesia allow Bank Century to keep operating that long, while having big troubles, till it’s dead crucial to be bailed out?
  52. Georgia’s Finance Minister, Vera Kobalia, is a hottie.
  53. According to the book “MI6: The History of the SIS 1909-1949 by Keith Jeffery” James Bond character was inspired by a Dutch spy Pieter Tazelaar.
  54. Got lost in Hanoi’s Old French Quarter, and discovered for a glimpse what Lonely Planet describe as Nowhere.
  55. My person of the year is definitely Julian Assange.
  56. WikiLeaks does not violate any US law. This is based on US First Amendment, and is enforced by 1971 US Supreme Court case “New York Times Co v the government of the United States” in which New York Times won the case to publish then-classified Pentagon files.
  57. And WikiLeaks does not violate any International Law. Read this joint statement by ‘UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Rights to Freedom of Opinion and Expression’ and ‘Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.’
  58. So the US can only charge Assange with a hideous sex allegation in Sweden, in an attempt to extradite him to the US. The most senior prosecutor in Sweden was strangely removed and replaced, after he said there was no evidence or even suspicion of rape for Assange.
  59. In Guatemala, their Air Force is called Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca, or in short FAG.
  60. The first banking system wasn’t established by a group of merchants, but by a strict religious sect called The Templars. Amazing story.
  61. During the colonial times in Africa, the British Army only allow 2 Africans to rise up in the military ranking. 1 of them happens to be Idi Amin. Whoops.
  62. In Saudi Arabia, the locals really appreciate us if we dress up like them.
  63. I did that, and got warm receptions everywhere I went, and quickly made some friends.
  64. Lee Evans is my new stand-up comic favourite.
  65. The nicest person I’ve met this year is indisputably OL, my tuk tuk driver during my stay in Cambodia. If ever you’re in Siem Reap, just give him a call: +85592186578
  66. There’s a city in Mozambique called Tete (Indonesian-English dictionary: Tete is tits). It’s the capital for Tete Province, in Northwestern Mozambique.
  67. Tete has a huge coal mine, and once production begins Mozambique’s GDP could grow by a staggering 30%. Wow, well done Tete.
  68. In forming Nazi, Hitler studied the propaganda techniques of Marxism, Britain in WW1, US Advertising, Freudian psychology and the organisational of Catholic Church.
  69. Sometimes in the financial market it helps to be nuts to stay sane.
  70. Ukraine’s former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, is a slamming hottie.
  71. FARC (the Colombian rebel group) direct cocaine sales to Mexico Cartels, cutting the middlemen, has generated them $1 billion a year. That’s business acumen right there.
  72. In the aftermath of Asian Crisis 1997, $200 billion of Indonesian capital was in Singapore, compared with Indonesian GDP of $350 billion.
  73. The thing is with momentum… Sometimes when the right one comes, it comes in a rush, when you’re least expect it.
  74. The word ‘Konak’ is Turkish for ‘mansion.’ (Indonesian-English dictionary: Konak is having a boner).
  75. Book of the year: McMafia by Misha Glenny.
  76. Africa by Richard Dowden and Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald are also fantastic books.
  77. Went for Umroh pilgrimage, touched the Ka’abah, left the earthly pleasure for a week and devotedly praying and reading Al Qur’an translation at all times.
  78. And I learned that I can’t live without music.
  79. Since 25 November me and my missus wears a red string in our right hand. It was blessed by a Buddhist in Angkor Wat.
  80. In Cambodia, wearing a red string in our wrist also mean married.
  81. Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet of “Gliese 581g” in Goldilocks Zone, 20 light years away from earth.
  82. The movie Lord of War is inspired by the life of real-life criminal Viktor Bout.
  83. Shiva is one cool Hindu god.
  84. Sahara is Arabic word for desert. So Sahara desert literally means desert desert. That’s not really creative is it?
  85. The asshole of the year award goes to: it’s a tie between George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
  86. The word ‘boker’ is Polish for book. (Indonesian-English dictionary: boker is having a crap).
  87. The Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles is still the coolest band in the world for me.
  88. Their collaboration with Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade in ‘Vivire Para Ti’ gives a new vibe to their music.
  89. US is supplying Israel with $2 billion each year, thanks to AIPAC. Who’s your daddy?
  90. Iraq war: civilian deaths 66,081. That’s equal to one 9/11 every 4 months for the last 7 years. No monuments. No minute silence.
  91. People who live in heaven shouldn’t judge those who live in hell.
  92. According to a Pew Forum survey, only 54% of Americans know that the Qur’an is the holy book of Islam.
  93. And the notoriously right-wing and highly bias Fox News that stirs false propaganda is “America’s most trusted TV news outlet.”
  94. Ignorance is stupidity in action.
  95. Bangkok has a seriously long official name: Krungthep mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwer mahasathan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit.
  96. How to mess with an auditor’s head: give him a huge pile of random data, and tell him that they’re all connected.
  97. Peru gave Bolivia a beach this year. How nice. Now the Bolivian Navy no longer look like an idiot in a river, and have an actual sea to operate in.
  98. I believe the sentence that I use the most this year is holy crap!
  99. My motto in life is enforced with all the things I did this year. Life is indeed an adventure.
  100. The adventure of 2010 has been phenomenal!