Stratfor: How Currency Woes Undermine Georgia, Moldova

17 March, 2015 | Emerging Markets | 21 seen

Governments across the former Soviet Union have felt the impact of currency devaluations, but currency depreciations and related economic problems in Georgia and Moldova are exposing their governments to major political pitfalls this year, including even potential government collapse. Both countries have been pursuing greater integration with the West but are still heavily linked to Russia, making them susceptible to Russia's economic downturn. Economic difficulties will undermine both countries' efforts to achieve greater political and economic integration with the European Union and will be a boon to Russia's strategy of slowing the West's push into the former Soviet periphery.

The former Soviet Union has experienced substantial currency devaluations in the past several months. Russia and Ukraine, preoccupied with the conflict in eastern Ukraine, have predictably been the most affected. The Russian ruble lost 43 percent of its value in 2014 and has fallen an additional 11 percent since the start of 2015. Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia, has lost nearly 40 percent of its value in 2015. But the two countries are not alone. Countries that export and…

Hiking trails near Turtle Lake (Tbilisi) - Photos And Route Map

16 March, 2015 | Outdoor Activities | 20 seen

Welcome to another hiking / trekking post in Tbilisi. 

This time in a company of three we made a route from Turtle Lake - Round Garden (Eristavi street). 

As warm weather is more approaching, I'm more into outdoor activities. So - last week we took our bikes and headed to Lisi lake.

Speaking of hiking near Turtle lake - this was already third time this year (first two were made on January) - so it actually doesn't matter what are the weather conditions, right?

This time I did record this route using MapMyRide app and made plenty of photos (Lately I'm really into macros)

This was a 6.3 km route in Tbilisi, Georgia near Turle lake. The route has a total ascent of 209.46 m and has a maximum elevation of 912.2 m. 

Former Aerial tram stop at Turtle lake

Out Of Service Aerial Tram

Hikers at Turtle lake trails

Mountainous flowers near Turtle Lake

First buds 

View to Turtle Lake from Svan Tower

First macro of a butterfly

Met some cows

…

Spring Is In The Air - Colourful Photos From Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar

13 March, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 13 seen

On the lovely date of March 8 which in Georgia and many other countries is celebrated as International Women's Day I headed to Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar to capture impressions of that day.

I was hoping to capture smiling man with flowers in hand but instead I did photographed a lot of vegetables, fruits and yes flowers as well.

As well I managed to capture both happy and unhappy sales persons in action.

Take a look

Narcissus for Sale at Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar

Radishes and sorrels for sale at market

At least I believe those are some sorels, but maybe they are beet leaves?

Colored paprika

Pineapples and bananas at market

Cherry Tomatoes

At Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar

Oranges at Tbilisi market

Price for 1Kg tomatoes at Tbilisi market

At Tbilisi Dezerter market

Carrots

Cabbages for sale at Tbilisi market

Unhappy sales woman

Spring Onions at Tbilisi market

Radishes at Tbilisi market

At Tbilisi Dezerter…

Enabled Cache For Drupal Views Gives A Better Performace

12 March, 2015 | Drupal Development | 9 seen

The other day talking with my dad on Facebook, he asked me, why my blog is so slow today - it's so slow that he cannot open my site at all. I straight went to my Linode VPS to investigate server logs. Nothing unusual did find there. I used http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ to test speed of my site and it actually was really slow.

Since my blog is heavily based on Drupal views, and I had not before enabled cache neither for CSS or JS (I'm still not aggregating CSS and JS) I decided to give a try and to enable cache for all of my views.

The result? Pretty fast right now.

Actually I did a lot of up keeping my disabling and uninstalling unused modules. There is still much left to do - my next big thing is to compress images or better use adaptive image approach to save bandwidth and improve page load times. As well I'm looking how to get fix Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content and other issues.

But yes - enabled views cache did help a lot :)

Drupal views block cache

Under Other change Caching from None to Time-based. In next window choose your…

How To Make Fresh Egg Pasta Noodles Using Macaroni machine

12 March, 2015 | Food blogger | 10 seen

Welcome to my third attempt of being a food bloger, today I will demonstrate how one (perhaps you) can make a home-made noodles by using a macaroni machine.

I believe just like in my previous food blog posts I will learn some new English culinary language.

Ingredients you will need: flour, eggs, salt and a macaroni machine.

We bought our macaroni machine here in Georgia some years ago already, if you don't have one, take your chances and browse on amazon.com

[amazon:B0009U5OSO:full]

Lets dig in:

Ingredients for fresh Egg Pasta - Flour, Eggs and salt

Add Flour to a bowl (make a small cavity to put eggs in)

Add egg to a flour

Add eggs to a flour

Knead your pasta

Oh, I spent some 40 minutes of kneading this egg pasta, it requires a lot of muscle strength and patience. 

Kneaded pasta

Once you have finished your pasta kneading, make a ball shape of it and put it in fridge for some 30 minutes (at least)

A Macaroni Machine

Meanwhile fix your macaroni machine on the table

…

Cycling Near Lisi Lake In Tbilisi (Route Map + Photos)

11 March, 2015 | Outdoor Activities | 35 seen

Welcome to another cycling in Tbilisi post series. Today I will write about our latest cycling route near the Lisi lake, will provide you with a cycling map and plenty of photos I managed to capture here. 

During this cycling route, we discovered a few and very interesting places in Tbilisi I had previously barely heard but never had visited them before. Places like Tbilisi Hippodrome and Tbilisi Dog Shelter. 

It all started with a call to a friend with a mini-van. Damn, we are like typical tourists, why should you wheel if you can call a friend and ask to drive you up in the hill (Lisi lake is located in mountainous suburbs of Tbilisi). See Organized tours in Georgia,  if you are looking for minivan transfers in Tbilisi or around Georgia.

This is a 10.05 km route in Tbilisi, Georgia (Near Lisi lake) The route has a total ascent of 38.06 m and has a maximum elevation of 670.55 m. This route was completed in 3 Hours 49 minutes and 12 seconds (I didn't pause MapMyRide app during breaks, visit of Tbilisi Hippodrome and Tbilisi Dog Shelter)

Route starting point near Lisi Lake…

Haven't Received Amazon Associates Payment By Check? Contact Support

11 March, 2015 | Blogging | 37 seen

Tbilisi Dog Shelter Near Lisi Lake

10 March, 2015 | Professional services | 126 seen

The other day, while cycling near Lisi Lake in Tbilisi, we discovered a few interesting places. I have already written a blog post about Tbilisi Hippodrome, which we stumbled upon by accident.

By accident, we also discovered a Tbilisi dog shelter. 

While cycling from Tbilisi Hippodrome back to Lisi Lake, my eyes caught an interesting scene—in the middle of nowhere, people were doing some exercises. So we decided to approach, and the closer we got, the louder a dog started barking. And there it was—A Tbilisi Dog Shelter.

I first heard about this organization at the last Christmas Charity Fair held at Sheraton Hotel. I even subscribed to a volunteer list by providing my email, but I never got a response. Well, things are as they are.

We were quickly handed two dogs to take for a walk in the nearby meadows, so we did.

It was lame, funny, and socially responsible all at once. First, we must acknowledge the problem of stray pets in Tbilisi and Georgia, so we must be socially responsible. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry would say:

We are responsible for those we have tamed.

It was lame because we were not prepared to walk a…

Tbilisi Hippodrome Near Lisi Lake (Jockey Club)

9 March, 2015 | Entertainment | 200 seen

After a longer break of my cycling advetures, on a lovely Saturday morning we took our bikes and headed to Lisi Lake.

Turned out that just a few hundred meters away from Lisi Lake there is located a place called 'Tbilisi Hippodrom LTD' - At start I was kinda suspicious, because only one for me known Hippodrome in Tbilisi (now we should call it a former hippodrome) is located along the Vake-Saburtalo road.

I'm not an expert in this field - if owner of this place wanted to call it a hippodrome - fine with me.

I managed to take 18 pictures of this place:

Construction works at Tbilisi Hippodrome

Horse stables at Tbilisi hippodrome

Girl with a horse at Tbilisi hippodrome

Tbilisi Hippodrom LTD

Parking a bike

We were asked to park our bikes at the entrance to not to scare horses

Horse stables at Tbilisi Hippodrome

At Tbilisi Hippodrome

Working hours at Tbilisi Hippodrome 9:00-19:00

Jockey and a horse at a training ring

A horse and a horse handler lady

At Tbilisi…

Yamato Sushi Bar in Tbilisi Review

8 March, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 15 seen

Welcome to another post in series of Tbilisi restaurant reviews.

Today I will write about a Yamato Sushi bar located on Alexander Kazbegi avenue in Tbilisi.

As usual we bought a coupon on local Georgian groupon clone style site hotsale.ge.

Offer was for around 20 GEL ($10.00 / EUR 9.00) or probably even cheaper and included a sushi set and a miso soup.

As usual 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 

Yamato Sushi Bar in Tbilisi

Iamato Sushi bari (Georgian Transliteration)

Inside interior at Yamato Sushi Bar

Inside interior at Yamato Sushi Bar

Miso soup at Yamato Sushi Bar

I'm not very familiar with Japanese cuisine, just some random stereotypes I guess, so it's hard for me to tell - was it a real Japanese miso soup or local version of that. Well I believe the second version is the correct answer - in this variation of miso…

15 Best Recommended Hotels in Girona, Spain on Booking.com (Close to Cathedral; Price Range EUR 50 - 100)

7 March, 2015 | Hotel reviews | 13 seen

Last autumn I made a week long trip to Spain, region of Catalonia, after landing at Barcelona El Prat Airport, we took our car from rental company and went straight to Girona. You can read more about my first impressions of Girona, but here is a quick tip - major tourist attractions in Girona are: Girona Cathedral and Jewish Quarter. 

Back then we stayed at Hotel Gran Hotel, which actually is pretty good bet, but I decided to list another great Girona hotels and apartments. 

Depending on your travel budget you will learn that you can get your Girona hotel in average EUR 50 - EUR 100. 

As said the closer your hotel is located to Girona Cathedral and Jewih Quarter - the better.

Those hotels listed bellow are most recommended in Girona among Booking.com users

Hotel Gran Ultonia is situated just 500 metres from Girona Cathedral and the historic Barri Vell district. Each air-conditioned room includes a rain shower, free Wi-Fi and a flat-screen TV.

The stylish, functional rooms at the Gran Ultonia feature soft lighting and hardwood floors. They all have a minibar, a…

Restaurant 'Shengen' Review in Tbilisi

7 March, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 11 seen

Welcome to another great Tbilisi restaurant review - today I will write about restaurant Shengen located on Sioni street in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town.

The reason I was intrigued to visit this place was simple - I really enjoyed their name - I mean Shengen from Schengen area - it made me smile.

To get here - as usual using local Georgian groupon clone sites - vovovo.ge this time - be bought a coupon here for a steak and glass of wine.

This offer was as low as 12GEL ($5.50 / EUR 5.00) per person. 

Those of you have seen a comedy EuroTrip (2004) - probably will find some similarities after American youngsters got lost in Slovakia :)

Entrance corridor at restaurant Shengen 

Though this restaurant is located in Tbilisi Old Town on Sioni street, we entered here from river Mtkvari embankment side (but you can get to this place from Sioni street if you will enter this corridor right next to Konka station)

Corridor connecting with Sioni street

Inside interior at Shengen Restaurant

Probably a cozy sitting place next to the window

…

How To Display Social Share Buttons On Drupal Taxonomy Pages

6 March, 2015 | Drupal Development | 7 seen

Home Made 'Pirozhki' (Baked Stuffed Pies) And Cinnamon Buns

5 March, 2015 | Food blogger | 11 seen

Blog Online Income Report - February 2015 - $900.05

5 March, 2015 | Blogging | 22 seen

Welcome to already fourteen of my blog's online income report. Today I will cover earnings I made solely with my blog during month of February 2015.

I'm doing those report since start of 2014 and they (reports) help me track my online success or failures. I hope they can inspire others as well.

In total I earned $940.05 what is up by 25.02% if compared to my earnings in month of January, when I earned $752.65

$940.05 in a month equals to $33.57 in a day

Technically speaking, my February earnings would be the same as a minimum wage in Malta or a little bit more than average salary in Croatia. I haven't been to neither of these countries yet, but I would like to visit them one day for sure.

Blog Traffic February 2015 (Source: Google Analytics)

In February I got a major traffic drop, when overall traffic dropped my some -25% and resulted in 14,579 users. Despite a traffic drop I managed to earn more this month than last month - pretty interesting trend to observe I must admit.

On the other hand my blog is attracting pretty much international traffic, so for…