Minimum Wages in Baltic States 2015

28 December, 2014 | Macroeconomics | 11 seen

The Baltic States, which include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have been recognized as one of the fastest-growing regions in the European Union. The region has experienced significant economic development, attracting foreign investment, and becoming a hub for technology, finance, and other sectors. One crucial aspect of this growth is the regulation of minimum wages.

In 2015, the minimum wages in the Baltic States were as follows:

It is important to note that the minimum…

Exploring the Future of Transportation: The Dallas-Houston High-Speed Rail

28 December, 2014 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 15 seen

Back in 2013, we embarked on an epic journey across the United States that began at JFK Airport in New York City and ended in Houston, Texas. Although we had initially planned to reach the West Coast, we eventually decided to cut our trip short due to two reasons: we were travelling on a budget using Megabus, and we were exhausted after a month on the road.

While Megabus was an affordable option for us, there were no other economical choices to reach the West Coast. This led us to reflect on the transportation options in the United States. It became clear that unlike in Europe, high-speed trains were not a popular mode of transportation in the United States. Instead, many Americans preferred air travel, even for short distances like Dallas to Houston.

However, after seven years, a time and cost-effective alternative may soon become available. Plans are underway to build a high-speed rail network connecting Dallas and Houston, which would be the first of its kind in the United States. This 240-mile project is expected to take only 90 minutes, with an estimated completion date of 2021, pending federal approval and funding.

During a public meeting…

5 Essential Tips for Optimizing Your Website for Mobile SEO

27 December, 2014 | Blogging | 7 seen

With the rise of mobile devices and the increasing number of mobile searches, optimizing your website for mobile SEO has become more important than ever. In fact, Google has even announced that mobile-first indexing will become the default for all new websites starting from March 2021.

This means that your website's mobile version will be the primary version Google will index and use for ranking purposes.

So, what can you do to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile SEO? Here are some tips:

Istanbul - Konya - New High Speed Train in Turkey

23 December, 2014 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 6 seen

<p>I have travelled by train in Turkey just once back in 2011 from Ankara to Izmir. That route went some 15-17 hours... It's damned boring thing. Well I'm glad I took that ride of course, but I'm more glad to learn that Turkey is investing much in it's train infrastructure. And I'm sure I will use Istanbul - Konya high speed line in future.</p><p>Recently (on December 17, 2014) a new high speed line Istanbul - Konya has been launched and here is the real gain:</p><p><strong>The Istanbul-Konya journey time on the high speed line is four hours 15 minutes, compared to 13 hours on the old trains</strong></p><p>President (Turkish) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated a high speed train link from Istanbul to the Central Anatolian city of Konya on Dec. 17, which cuts journey times by nearly nine hours.</p><p>Erdoğan himself opened the line at a ceremony in Konya, 460 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, and declared that <strong>all travel on it would be free for the first week</strong>.</p><p>The president said the line was the latest step in his multi-billion dollar drive to…

Nginx redirect domain name to another domain

21 December, 2014 | Servers | 24 seen

Redirecting website visitors to a different domain name using Nginx is simple.

Add the following code to your server config: 

Restart Nginx

Food Blogger: Gingerbread Dough Recipe

21 December, 2014 | Food blogger | 6 seen

<p>In this article I'm going to show how one (perhaps you) can prepare a gingerbread dough at home.&nbsp;</p><h2>Ingredients:</h2><p><strong>You will need:</strong> <em>butter, flour, eggs, salt&amp;sugar, malt, spices</em></p><p>It all starts with butter</p><p><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/butter.jpg&quot; alt="Butter" title="Butter" width="640" height="640"></p><p><em>Butter&nbsp;</em></p><p>Since I'm <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/living-georgia">living in Georgia</a> - most of the ingredients used in this recipe are local Georgian</p><p><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/fluor_0.jpg&quot; alt="Fluor" title="Fluor" width="640" height="640"></p><p><em>Flour</em></p><p><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/eggs.jpg&quot; alt="Eggs" title="Eggs" width=…

History of Tram and Trolleybus systems in Tbilisi and Georgia

18 December, 2014 | Living in Georgia | 481 seen

Currently (2022) there are no tram or trolley lines in Tbilisi, but not so long ago in history, there were plenty of tram and trolleybus lines not only in Tbilisi but also in Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori, Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Poti, Rustavi, and even Chiatura. 

What has happened to once pretty impressive routes of trams and trolleys in Georgia?  I guess the harsh history happened. After the Collapse of the Soviet Union - Georgia got troubled with civil wars, and economic hardships so neither trams nor trolleys were a priority.

While you are exploring bits of Georgian history, consider Batumi Real Estate Crypto Investment

I have found an interesting resource http://photo.tramvaj.ru/ (In the Russian language) where some almost 20-year-old pictures (dated 2003) with trams and trolleys in Georgia are listed. Author of all images listed below: © Mike Russell, Reading, GB. Pictures were taken at the begging of September 2003.

You can read the original here: http://photo.tramvaj.ru/georg2003.htm

From Wikipedia: Tbilisi had a tram network, since 1883 starting from horse…

First High Speed Railway Launched in Poland

17 December, 2014 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 113 seen

<p>On this lovely 17th December afternoon I decided to add a new blog category to my blog - <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/railway">Railway</a>.</p><p>Railway is a transport system I have been interested ever since I can remember my self.&nbsp;</p><p>Railways (<strong>as I like to think</strong>) is a back-bone of country's economy. Railway system is a mirror which reflects economical growth and stability.<strong> On the other hand Railway has lost it's importance it had in 19th century</strong>. Railway symbolizes industrialization (<strong>again, at least for me</strong>).</p><p>Though we are living in times when importance of Railway is decreasing there are still many regions in World where Railway is just yet to be developed.&nbsp;</p><p>For a last 3 years I have been paid some interest of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project (it's more cargo) connecting <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/caucasus-overview">Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey</a>. I have paid a huge interest of Rail Baltic project which should connect…

About Georgia: Newspappers and Internet Sites in English Language

17 December, 2014 | Living in Georgia | 8 seen

<p>The other day I was contacted by one of the local Georgian English-language newspaper offering me to write some articles for them.</p><p>I don't know did this offer included some payment as well (actually I have no idea how journalists receives salary - either they have some contract salary, maybe they receive per written words or it's all about sponsored stories - if you are a journalist - please leave me a comment regarding this)</p><p>Though this offer might sound tempting - I doubt I have any journalist talent, and instead of building traffic and awareness for others I prefer <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/blog-statistics">build traffic and awareness for my blog</a>. But I agree such deal might sound tempting and there is nothing wrong with it.</p><p>Anyway I decided to give a brief overview of newsletters in Georgia written in English language:</p><h2>Georgian Journal</h2><p><span>Welcome to the first English-speaking news channel in Georgia, provided by the Palitra&nbsp;Media House - the largest independent publishing house in the country. With our brand…

Zakhar Zakharich - Tbilisi Restaurant Review

16 December, 2014 | Restaurant reviews | 36 seen

Welcome to another review of another great Tbilisi Restaurant. Today I'll share my thoughts of one of the hidden treasures I discovered just yesterday - Zakhar Zakharich restaurant.

For a prelude: I'm an expat living in Georgia (Tbilisi). You can find some articles covering topic Living in Georgia. I'm huge lover of restaurants and coffee shops, and Living in Georgia I have came even a bigger fan of eating outside the home. 

Since I'm eating out pretty regular - there are my favourite places, then there are places, that once was my favourite places, and then there are places better to avoid. 

I'm willing to make an description of them and to photograph the food I have tasted on those places.

Please note, this is just my subjective opinion.  For taking photographs I'm using my Samsung phone and using Instagram (then taking them from Instagram and adding to posts - you can read a blog post on how I turned my Instagram account into a photo blog

Now - Zakhar Zakharich restaurant is located just right next to Dry Bridge on the Right bank (please see map at the end of this post, for…

ProCredit Bank Georgia will use Toyota Hybrid cars

14 December, 2014 | Living in Georgia | 9 seen

<p><span>Checking my internet bank for savings report I found an article informing that ProCredit bank Georgia has bought 10 hybrid Toyota cars and starting now they will be used in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi.</span></p><p><span>I guess it won't impact much my savings but it's good know, that bank which services I'm using is concerned of&nbsp;sustainable&nbsp;energy. So it's my pleasure to promote them on my blog.</span></p><p><span><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/procreditbank.jpg&quot; alt="Toyota Hybrid cars" title="Toyota Hybrid cars" width="960" height="692"></span></p><p><em>Toyota Hybrid cars</em></p><p><span>ProCredit Bank stands for environmental leadership in its operations. In line with this commitment, the bank upgraded its vehicle fleet by purchasing new 10 hybrid Toyota cars.</span><br><span>Hybrid cars have improved fuel efficiency and caused lower CO2 emissions, especially in cities. If the speed is not more than 60 km/h, the…

Does Turkey is seeking closer ties with Russia and coming Eurasian Union?

14 December, 2014 | Emerging Markets | 15 seen

More than year a ago I published article Turkey could join Eurasian Union were I tried to compare economy of Turkey by using GDP and GDP per capita for time period 2000-2012.

I found that Turkey might reach $1 trillion of GDP by the end of 2016, so did I found that Economy of Turkey has increased for about 3 times (2000-2012)

I did used following words a year ago:

That said makes me think, that Turkey has no serious plans to join Eurasian Union. IMHO Turkey is teasing European Union. And why shouldn't? Turkey has long, long history on it's attempts to join European Union, but there always are some obstacles from EU side. And that makes Turkey angry.

I ended that article with following words:

So that's said - I still not believe in any serious Turkey attempts to join Eurasian Union, I doubt Turkey's will to relay on Customs Union trade agreements, which would more likely to slow down Turkey's economy. I'm sure that will be accepted Germany offer for Turkey like it's with Norway. EU + Turkey.

On other hand - the ball is on Russian side now - Russians should act quickly, if they want to see Turkey in Eurasian Union. They should offer…

Shopping in Georgia: Tbilisi Mall

14 December, 2014 | Shopping Venues | 42 seen

Though I have been living in Georgia for 3 and a half years, I have never talked much about shopping in Georgia or Tbilisi. Starting today I decided to change that.

My first recommendation for those who are looking for shopping fun in Tbilisi will be Tbilisi Mall.

If I remember correctly - it was first opened at the end of 2012 and soon find its way to the hearts of customers.

One of the anchor tenants here is the Carrefour store, according to my observations it makes the most use of Tbilisi Mall. Though you will find here many other shops (non-food-related), like Prada, LC Waikiki, Marks&Spencer (are just a few from the brand represented here).

Plenty of Wine at Tbilisi Mall (Carrefour)

Seafood at Carrefour

Cheese at Carrefour (Tbilisi Mall)

Vegetables at Tbilisi Mall (Carrefour)

Christmas tree at Tbilisi Mall

Cafeteria at Tbilisi Mall

Located in the west end of the city, Tbilisi Mall is the largest shopping mall within the Caucasus dedicated to creating discovery of a new lifestyle and living for all its customers.…

Fire Wok Tbilisi

13 December, 2014 | Restaurant reviews | 42 seen

Fire wok Tbilisi is a small, I would call it a boutique Wok place located on Shalva Dadiani street (close to Liberty square).

Here you can have noodles or rice woks for a really democratic prices.

Fire Wok Tbilisi

There is not much place inside - so if you are planing to take you loved ones to Fire Wok  - it won't be best place to sit around a table and talk about your impressions of Tbilisi. Instead you can order food for takeaway and have it at your hotel/hostel.

Menu at Fire Wok Tbilisi

Menu offer a Fire Wok is simple - you can have either noodle or rice based dishes. Chicken, Beef and Veggie are pretty straightforward terms - what is chao mian you should ask on place.

Prices are really democratic - 5 Gel for a wok. 

Unfortunately  I hadn't chance to try how it actually tastes, because of I didn't have enough cash with myself - debt cards are not accepted at Fire Wok.

Noodles and Rice at Fire Wok

Chef at Fire Wok

Though this place is more grab and go - I'm glad such place exists in Tbilisi.

If you are…

15 places and things to do in Georgia I have discovered in 2014

11 December, 2014 | Travel guides | 6 seen

No, you won't find here visit to Narikala fortress or Sameba church, you will learn that I have discovered Tbilisi Botanical garden instead.

Drinking wine? Well - not this year!

36 Reasons to Visit Georgia and Tbilisi

What about rafting with a crazy instructor from Ukraine? Or a ride to Tbilisi sea at +40° . Something romantic? - how about a ride on an aerial tram in Batumi to watch the sunset in the Black Sea? Something tasty? Italian ice cream at Luca Polare. Something unusual? - A dairy farm in Tbilisi suburbs. 

I have been living in Georgia for already 4 years - and this country never ends surprising me.

I decided to create a blog post of 15 interesting places and activities to do in Georgia I have discovered just in 2014.