AffairBoard

Banderas’ Malaga

When you are planning your trip to Malaga, Spain, hotel accommodations are certainly going to be a big part of the preparation.  The hotel is the center of the journey, and the place to always return to.  It should be extremely comfortable, luxurious, and sumptuous.  We’ve chosen our hotels for their consistent ability to meet or exceed the highest standards in service and style, so that you don’t have to do all the painstaking research.  Our hotels are influenced by the exquisite tastes of the people of southern Spain, so you can be sure they have a strong sense of old world charm.  But of course, they also have their fair share of contemporary pizazz, being on the cutting edge of design and fashion.  Here, you will have a fantastic dream of a perfect place in Spain, except come true to life, and just for you.

Malaga is a gorgeous place, being right on the southern coast, and deep in the heart of one of the warmest countries on the planet.  Literally, it does have the warmest winters in all of Europe, and its subtropical climate means a lot of days of sunshine.  This would suggest that one of the places to see while you’re here is the beach.  It’s certainly a huge attraction, but you’ll be rathe pleasantly stunned when you see the city.  Malaga is one of the largest cities in Spain, not unmanageable, but certainly bustling with activity.  You can easily lose a day shopping and people watching, and you might even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of its most favorite sons, Antonio Banderas.

Banderas doesn’t get back to his hometown as often as he likes, but he does spend part of his year here, with his wife Melanie Griffith and Alexander and Dakota, their children.  He grew up here, spending his formative years playing soccer until an injury at age 14.  Then the young Banderas pursued his passion for acting with a vengeance.  He worked at street theatre, performing in Brecht plays, and sometimes getting arrested for violating Franco’s policies of censoring questionable material.  This certainly added a nice feather to his cap, giving him a glimpse of the power of art.  Then he met up with the legendary filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, and their work together has been as substantial as the director’s work with Penelope Cruz.  He went on to star in some of the most memorable roles of our time, including Zorro, Siquieros, and the swashbuckling cat in Shrek.

Tags: Antonio Banderaa, Malaga Spain Hotel

Stuck in Delhi

My friend just got back from India. he has gone to school here and lived here for nearly 20 years. Got his PhD and works in the scientific laboratories at Cornell U. He had gone home to India to see his parents he had not been back since he had left nearly 20 years ago. i was surprised to learn his returning to the US was being held up due to needing approval of his visa. This was surprising to me as I thought he should be able to come and go like anyone else with his residency and job. But apparently it is not the case. Luckily he was able to spend the extra time there in India in Delhi luxury making the pain of having to stay longer than he wanted to a little less biting. Daily inquiries made to the embassy indicted the visa application was in process. I suppose they have a lot to process, I jut had no idea how the process goes. While there he expressed his frustration with the situation, having no control over the bureaucrat making the decision. Just waiting, being told his app was in process, no idea of status or any clue as to when a decision positive or negative would be decided. Fortunately and happily one morning I was on line and got a note that the visa was approved and going to be sent by courier to him the next Monday. What a relief to be able to now book a flight and get back to the routine of working and a normal life. Fortunately the job was understanding and he is so specialized replacing him would be difficult but to think these bureaucrats had so much control over one person and to have no ability to get the situation moved along. A victim of the system resigned to waiting it out.

Tags: Delhi luxury, embassy, visa

Mindshare in Goa

For many years, I have been thinking of India as a place to discover and perhaps, some day, even work and live there. I’ve heard accounts from friends and peers about the energy level as being high. Fast growing companies are growing at a frenzied rate. I’ve read books that helped me develop some assumptions, which I now need to check out first hand. Mainly around how there is a scarcity of leadership and managerial skills with all the younger, successful businesses.

My boyfriend from Colorado invited me to participate with a diversity workshop at a well know computer business and my part was to do some on-site preparatory work for him in Goa. He had already my reservations for me at one of the four star hotels Goa has beginning next month. Now, I don’t need any more prompting than that, a room already waiting for me. This was a perfect motive for me going there to do my own networking. When I got to Goa, I found out that the workshop was cancelled due to the main facilitator having a family emergency. But, since the room was already paid for, my boyfriend told me it was no problem staying there. I discovered Goa and began networking with those fast growing businesses from scratch proved to be challenging. I was hoping to piggy-back off the workshop. I made the decision to tackle my challenges and dive right in. I set up meetings with people I’ve never even met and initiated my own personal network and accesses to the market for my set of skills and my expert services.

Relying on a few ex-colleagues and wonderful friends to introduce me to their contacts, I began, on my own, to reach out over email and phone calls. So, when my time was up in Goa, despite difficulties getting peers to mindshare from afar, a handful had agreed to meet me over email! This was better than I’d hoped for. So, even though I had to go back to the States, I made some first contacts, which is a good beginning.

Tags: diversity workshop, four star hotels Goa, India

Walk on The Wild Side in New York

New York City is the place where, Lou Reed once took a walk on the wild side. It’s an interesting piece of music trivia to realize that while many tourists staying in one of the small hotels New York are familiar with both the New York streets and city dynamics, and are also likely very aware of Lou Reed’s famous song, they probably are not familiar with the details of the associations between the song’s main characters and themes, to a particular period in New York’s history and culture.

Reed himself was born in Brooklyn New York in 1942 and was well aware of his city’s changes, statuses and major cultural situations and dynamics. Much of his musical career was spent at the main songwriter and singer for the legendary rock band The Velvet Underground. The major hit Walk on the Wild Side was recorded after he began his long solo career, which started in 1971. He has been associated with performance artists and fellow musician Laurie Anderson for many years and they were married in 2008.

Wild Side was a short chronology of a particular scene in New York’s culture. It was based on some associations of Andy Warhol and his studio, The Factory. Some of the key actors and personalities associated with the eclectic community became the lead characters of the song. These are Holly Woodlawn who is a transsexual and appeared in many of Warhol’s films, Candy Darling who was also a transsexual actor for Warhol and was well regarding for her beauty, Joe Dallesandro who was often considered to be the sexiest male actor in underground films, and of course, Jackie Curtis the dynamic personality, performer and writer who easily navigated the gender spectrum.

Tags: Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed’s, New York, small hotels

Protoculture in Cape Town

When it comes to luxury hotels, Cape Town has cornered the market for hospitality and style.  There is a veritable feast of choices when it comes to planning your stay in Cape Town, and that’s why we’ve carefully selected hotels that meet extremely high standards in service and design.  There is a delicious mixture of the best of the old world and new world here, so that the charm of yesterday merges with the technology and convenience of today.  You’ll be well-connected to the world at large, but certainly tempted to melt into the luxuries here and just get away from it all.

After a splendid sleep and a meal served by one of our world-class chefs, it’s a good time to enjoy Cape Town.  Any time is a good time, in fact.  Cape Town is an extremely lively urban center, with a number of attractions that will appeal to visitors of all ages.  There are plenty of activities for kids, with museums, zoos, lots of wildlife parks nearby, beaches, and an aviary.  For adults looking for a vibrant night scene, you can certainly find that here as well.  It’s one of the most cosmopolitan centers of the country, and the music scene has been in a state of continual evolution for years (for thousands of years, technically speaking).  As a result, some of the hottest clubs in the world are here, and there are many exciting live music acts one can see on any given night.  The electronic music scene is also at a fever pitch here, and one DJ to watch these days is Protoculture.

He’s scarcely this side of thirty, and already making a splendid name for himself internationally.  Born Nate Raubenheimer, Protoculture is marked as one of the best djs in the country, and this is no small feat in a place where music is taken very seriously.  In the clubs, all the seriousness will wash away when his pounding psy trance rhythms start to work their way into your pores.  You’ll find yourself moving with the local culture, and enjoying rhythms that have been all over the world, including Brazil, Japan, and the U.K.  It’s a splendid way to get to know Cape Town.

Tags: Cape Town, luxury hotels, Protoculture

Single Women Walking Barcelona

I was introduced to a great women’s tour company called Women on Tour. It’s a UK based company and it’s for women only and run by women only. They had a great tour package for Barcelona. The tour would include meditation workshops, drawing, and creative writing. But what I liked the most was the walking tour through out Barcelona and some of Spain.
 
I’d be staying at one of the top Barcelona hotels and would be totally taken care of by my travel guide. I liked the idea of the possiblities of exploring new avenues in a friendly and safe company. I choose to travel alone which is what they specialize in, because they are aware that incompatible diaries of others or the need of independent travel or the simple freedom of not having to fall in with other people’s preferences could hinder ones tour. They totally understand fthe pulled between the need for adventure and exploration and the need for security and companionship.
 
For me, as a women travelling alone, the prospect of having to wine and dine in the hotel every night of my stay or of feeling, at times, uncomfortable in unfamiliar circumstances, I could feel dampened and stop all my other plans. So, this company is here to help facilitate a safe and relaxed environment for me to enjoy new experiences, to explore, whether its an inward journey or an outward journey or both; whether I’m travelling alone or accompainied.
 
I think for the first time, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy my travels to Barcelona, worry free. This Women of Tour company will provide me the opportunity to also meet up with other women travelling alone from all over the world. I’ll be able to exchange knowledge and expand my horizon at the same time.

Tags: Barcelona, hotels

Anti-Money Laundering Efforts in Tanzania

The anti-money laundering efforts, along with the fight against terrorism in Tanzania took a hit during the month.  During a meeting of the finance ministers, the government split when trying to come to an agreement about whether or not to allow a report to be approved, a report that confirmed the state of affairs for the country in regards to the corruption, which is not good.  They prevented the approval of that report, which disregarded the efforts of the fight.

The reports had been approved previously by the regional officials, who were organizing the fight against terrorism and they were expected to be approved on the Ministerial level, while South Africa submitted the reports, the region of Tanzania did not. The Financial Action Task force from France, was part of the inter-governmental organization over-seeing the council meeting and the postponement of the submission by Tanzania was a surprise stated the president, Paul Vlaanderen.

This has not only an effect on the fight against the corruption but may have serious implications for the banks, as now this too looks suspicious, and foreign banks may not want to continue having dealings with the unknown, the unknown being just how bad are the money laundering cases in Tanzania.   One of the reasons for this is that when a high percentage of a banks transactions involve cash, those transactions become hard to keep track off.

Tanzania is a developing country, and the norm in those countries is to deal more with cash than in countries that are developed.  As the global recession ()continues the people begin to lose confidence in banks and the financial institutions, this too causes more and more people to just deal with cash.  It is a cycle that is becoming hard to break.  It was shown in the report from Tanzania that on the island of Zanzibar the laws regarding anti-money laundering have not yet been implemented, and some of the officials are just turning a blind eye to the situation.  The finance minister of Tanzania stated that it was not what was in the report that caused them to postpone the approval, but that the report itself needed to be worked on, and rescheduled the meeting to so for this coming December.

Tags: anti-money laundering, financial action task, global recession, Tanzania

Becoming Aware in Singapore

Singapore is a pretty boring place. Let me explain, it’s boring because there are no school massacres, no corruption or scandals, not gang warfare and not much crime. The elections are low key and not exciting and are a pretty predictable fair. Even the private banks of Singapore are doing well with all the global economy in the tank. But, lately, Singaporeans have been treated to a bit of excitement. People are all a buzz about it and it’s getting wide coverage by the local media. The Internet is humming with all kinds of opinions and because it has a little bit of a religious element to it, this is why I’m discussing it in my blog.

It’s only today that I will address this, so don’t worry or stress out, because I will return to my usual subject tomorrow. There’s an organization called AWARE which has promoted women’s rights for over 26 years. Like everything you’d expect from a modern progressive women’s advocacy group. Well, last month, AWARE had their annual meeting and a large group of members who has only joined the organization last month, voted out all the old members and over took the running of the organization. What was more astonishing was that six of the eleven new officers all just happen to be members of the same religious organization. If you’ve been living in Singapore even just today, you will know which organized religious over took AWARE. I will not mention them and give them credit.

The new AWARE committee have publicly stated that they did not know each other previous to their election and that they haven’t yet decided whether there will be a new policy on gender issues and that they intend to keep their religious views in the background. After that announcement, my Singaporeans reported seeing pigs fly. I’ve heard rumors that the ousted committee has planned to do the same thing, become underhanded, dubious and even immoral in order to win back the organization. Now, stay tuned, tomorrow, I’ll be writing about my normal stuff, even though it’s not as exciting.

Tags: Aware, private banks of Singapore

Returning to Perth

I grew up in Perth, Australia. As a child and then an adolescence, I was overshadowed by the religion with which my parents projected on me. I was raised with very rigid rules and regulations which gave me no choice but to conform and to adopt my parents beliefs that were constantly being programmed into me. This impacted tremendously me as I grew up. As a result of me not being able to express my own opinions, emotions and having very little opportunities to develop socially, my entire well being suffered. I has so much difficulty making friends at all my schools, and I felt I didn’t fit in anywhere or with anyone. Even at the age of 19, I developed a belief that I was incapable of having a girlfriend.

But, one night, all of that changed for me when I had a spiritual awakening in 99′. For the first time of my life, I connected deeply within. I felt the presents of a higher self. Grace entered my life and I experienced the oneness of all things. I felt the presence of an energy and love that was always within myself and it’s beyond anything I can put into words or anything I couldn’ve ever imagined. From that night on, I knew that there was a greater truth for me to explore and experience. I left the church where I grew up, left Australia and became world traveler seeking others who have had the spiritual awakening as I have had. My excitement and energy has never waned. My journey around the world was intentional were I wanted a more global perspective of the world, I wanted to find out if my truth was the same as others truth.

My trip, my long journey was amazing and very enlightening. I learned so much about humanity, different ways of life, cultures, I made many many friends from all over the globe. But, more important, I learned about myself. About 2 and a half years into my travelling, my intuition told be to come back home. I made reservations at one of the Perth boutique hotels, near where my folks live. I didn’t want to hurt them more than I already have, but I did want to thank them and let them know just how much I love them, even though I know I’ve disappointed them, but I want to let them know that they have not disappointed me, but mostly, I want to introduce them to my wife.

Tags: Australia, Botique hotel Perth, grace, spiritual awakening

Awareness in Spain

Today’s mission is awareness. Awareness of me, how I feel, what I think and how I react to the encounters I have in the world today. Today from my best Madrid hotel I sit on the balcony and feel the warm morning sun on my face. Aware of its warmth and its increasing as I sat with face pointed sun ward. Awareness is a chore. With all the distractions in the mind and from the outside world awareness is generally fleeting at best. Remaining focused on awareness requires work, focus and most of all awareness. breathing I feel the air pass over my upper lip and flow into my nostrils cool and dry filling my chest and belly. At he top of my breath I begin to release it slowly feeling the warm moist air pass out of my nostrils and over my upper lip and back into the ocean of air we are all connected to. The breathing continues rolling in and out like waves on the ocean drawing in from the seemingly limitless ocean of air into my lungs and the releasing it back to that same ocean that we all are breathing from. Aware that I am one of billions of creatures currently connected to this ocean of air. All dependant on the same ocean and involved in the same rhythm of drawing in and releasing back into the same ocean of air. I continue on for a few more moments when this awareness is changed to the awareness that my stomach is growling. This brings in the awareness that things are ever changing and it is time to get something to eat. Yet the food preparation, and the eating process are act of awareness in themselves. Awareness of colors, shapes, textures, smells and flavors. The input to the senses is great, the awareness of all the input can be difficult and therefore sometimes easier to wander off into the world of distractions. After eating breakfast with awareness I continued throughout my day with this same intention and desire to be aware!

Tags: awareness, Best hotel Madrid, meditating, Spain