Working Nomad

After years of attempting I still can’t get the hang of using chopsticks. I spent the other evening with three nurses from Ireland (shame, two were male) wrestling with my fried chicken and rice in KL’s Chinatown.

We went on to a nightclub called the Beach Club. Above the centre of the bar is a fish tank with two sharks swimming about. There has been quite a lot of discussion (among those who know the place) as to whether these poor beggars are real or not.

Well I can exclusively reveal they are real! The theory is that they are mechanical bacause if you watch them they follow the exact same path. The other night one decided to attack the other blowing away this theory.

Anyway I don’t know what was more depressing. Watching the sharks go crazy or the 100 or so Filopino sex workers plying their trade. I can’t really recommend the Beach club.

I fly back to Bali this afternoon and despite having only been away for a few days I am very much looking forward to being back there among friends.

Before I start I’d just like to say Happy Birthday Mum! I’ll be calling you a little later…

So I have a tip for you guys struggling to get your sites noticed and it involves using MSN and their ‘Spaces’.

I heard on the grapevine this week that if you register a space and submit it to search engines it could appear in the indexes pretty quickly for the keywords you use within the space. There is no promise of a high placement but it is probably worth a go.

What you do with the space is up to you but you could put some affiliate links on there or links to your web sites.

The reason your space might get high up in the search engines is that MSN is obviously an authority site with a high ranking and you are in effect creating a sub domain within this.

Like I said there is no guarantee this technique will work but it has to be worth a go. You have nothing to lose apart from the 15 mins to set up the site, add a few links and submit it to the search engines.

If you are completely new to web sites this could be your way in to owning one and building your empire.

Some might say this is a bit spammy and I don’t want to encourage people down this route but I see no issue providing you make the space useful for your visitor.

Don’t just put lots of links on there. Get some useful information on board and help people out. If you are helping out other folk you are not spamming.

http://spaces.msn.com

This month was set to be a record for my Internet earnings but the last three days have been a big disappointment. Traditionally Tuesday and Wednesday are my strongest days for web earnings so I am a little surprised about this!

One thing you must shy away from is panicking if things like this happen. You should always look at the bigger picture. I will still be near my £1500 for this month which is acceptable.

I am back in KL for a few days before heading back to Bali for my final few weeks. I am beginning to formulate some plans for the summer in Europe now. I will be going back to Ipswich (thanks Mum!) initially and then we will see from there.

If you have been following the http://www.workingnomad.com/forum you will have seen the http://www.workingnomad.com/forum/viewtopic about a possible trip around Europe. I am looking at getting some company sponsorship for this trip and this will be my focus over the next few weeks.

There is no going back to some dull office in London for me. That chapter of my life has finished. This way of working has left me very excited about the future.

I am off now to buy my ticket home.

Yesterday I managed to remove most of the skin from the underside of my feet playing football on the beach (England v Indonesia, we won, just) so today I have been hobbling around like an old man.

I am having to leave Bali tomorrow as my visa expires but I will be back in a few days time. I managed to get a cheap return ticket to Kuala Lumpur.

When I enter Bali again I will be in my final month of this working nomad trip! On other trips I have always felt ready to go home but I have n’t really experienced it on this trip. Being able to work and travel is a truly magical combination.

The Working Nomad will not be stopping when he gets home. I have some trips around Europe already planned and this blog will still be very much alive and kicking.

Whoever is spamming WN with comments do yourself a favour and stop wasting your time. All comments are moderated and it just took me 3 seconds to delete the 100 or so waiting for me.

Changing the subject I used to feel a bit guilty and slightly ashamed that I could only speak one language fluently. My time in Asia has eroded this guilt mainly due to the fact that the whole continent seems hell bent on learning it.

I had a chat with an Expat Brit the other day who seemed convinced that English has become so prominent because of our little country. Well perhaps this was the case 100 years ago at the height of the British Empire but not now.

I tried to explain that America and its global dominance in just about everything (World Cup aside) is why Indonesians love talking to us and Japanese spend lots of money sending their children language schools!

Here’s a little fact for you to finish off with. Did you know that we might have all been learning German now and watching Hollywood films with English subtitles? Apparently there was a discussion a few days after US independence whether they should adopt English or German as the national lingo. Good choice made.