Some beach songs during the pandemic

I am a fan of Romanian music, and I like INNA's music. I decided to share a few of my favorite songs that have a beach video and summer vibes in this post since we are stuck by a horrible never-ending pandemic. :) These songs are primarily from Romanian singers and artists.

1. INNA - Amazing

This song was released during my first summer in Lisboa - mid-June 2013. I still remember going to the Praia dos Matosinhos in Porto, and falling in love with Porto. It was quite sad, going back to Sri Lanka from Portugal for the summer vacation. Interestingly, this song was shot in Praia das Maçãs in Sintra. While we were living in Portugal, somehow we failed to visit this beach. I visited this beach only when I went back to Portugal in 2019 for my Ph.D. defense. It was cloudy, and the beach was smaller than I expected. The video made it look never-ending. But overall, the village, the small train, and the beach environment with a stream were all good.

2. INNA - Shining Star

One of my favorites. I like the lyrics because of the memories I have with this song. The song was released in February 2013 when I was still early in Lisboa. Great memories.

3. ANTONIA - Iubirea Mea

During the summer 2017, we were visiting Timișoara, Romania. It was nice to listen to Romanian music while we were in Romania!

4. Mia Martina - Latin Moon


Relatively an old one. But I like that sunset vibes and Mia Martina's voice.

Here are 10 of my favorite songs on repeat:
1. INNA: Amazing🇷🇴
2. SING女團: 團團圓圓🇨🇳
3. ANTONIA: Dor de Tine🇷🇴
4. பேட்ட: இளமை திரும்புதே🇮🇳
5. Mia Martina: Latin Moon🇨🇦
6. 許詩茵: 白衣少年🇨🇳
7. மின்னலே: வசீகரா🇮🇳
8. 鞠婧祎: 每一天🇨🇳
9. வசீகரா: ஒரு தடவை🇮🇳
10. 티아라: DAY BY DAY🇰🇷

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) March 28, 2020

Finally, I hope the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic ends soon so that we all can get back to our life soon.

Tales of Currency Conversion.

Enjoying my dinner at a restaurant in Rocky Point, Mexico.

Each travel teaches us something new. When I live long enough in a country, I get used to the environment and life style, and start to feel the pattern. A travel to a foreign country makes us question our own assumptions. Till last year, I was not aware that currency conversion can be complicated. Interestingly, I learned that during my trip back to my home country. When I queried how much would they give me for 1 Euro, the guy at the reception of Prasanna Money Exchange in Wellawatte mentioned 157 Rupees. I said, "ok, I have 400 Euro". He said that is fine. When I showed him 20, 20 Euro notes, he changed his word "No, I can only give 155 Rupees". I could not understand. He said, 157 Euro for 100 and 50 Euro notes. For the notes below (such as 20 and 10 Euro notes), he can only give 155 Rupees per 1 Euro". I did not understand. He did not like my questioning, and stopped serving me. So I decided to go to the nearest money exchange, "Royal Money Exchangers". 

They also said, "157 Rupees for 1 Euro". I asked, "Is it the same for 20 Euro notes?" The cashier mentioned, "No, it would be a bit lesser". I asked how much that would be. He checked and told me "156.50 Rupees". I accepted that offer. So I recommend, Royal Money Exchangers. They give more value, and more polite, compared to Prasanna.

Another interesting observation. While I was waiting in the queue, a western couple jumped the queue, with their local host. I told to my mom (in English), "When westerners come to our country, they also learn to jump the queues". Embarrassed to hear what I said, the gentleman from the western country looked back and said "oops, sorry. I did not notice you were here", and he moved backwards to follow the queue. We, humans, are the best adaptive systems in the world.

When I told my Serbian friend how I was charged more at Mexico when paid in USD, she reminded me, "You should just have paid using your bank card. Usually the card machines charge in the local currency". It just did not come to my mind. All I was thinking - it was unnecessary to convert some USD to Mexican Peso.


Update on 18/08/2017: After ending up with around 300 Romanian Lei after my visit to Romania, I have this essential question. How effectively convert money to the local currency, and how to spend them all! Using debit/credit card may not work for multiple reasons. First, the bank does not give you the best coversion rate. It is more economic to convert in local converters. Second, not all the places accept the card. So you still need the cash. I used to convert the remaining currency back to Euro at the airport. However, I ended up losing more money as buying and selling rates are different, and airports and Travelex give the worst of the coversion rate. For example, we got 4.45 RON for a Euro in Romania (Timisoara city center), where Travelex gave only around 3.9 RON for a Euro, even after we booked online! They all claim 0 commission, despite this joke of a conversion. I keep the remaining change with me in the hope of returning to the country in a latter day. It worked for countries that I visit frequently, such as USA and Sweden. But not sure whether it will work for Romania, as it is not a country that I am going to visit multiple times. Let's see. We do not know what might bring me back to Romania.

Balkans in the summer, once more!

Finally, this summer, I managed to take one country off my top-20 list to visit. :) It is Romania. I was selected to EMDC and DMKM for my masters (that started 5 years ago in 2012 August Falls semester). DMKM (data mining and knowledge management) Erasmus Mundus masters had a mobility of Lyon, France -> Bucharest, Romania. Eventually, I chose EMDC and I am very happy about my decision. However, ever since, I had the desire to visit Romania. I made it a reality after 5 years. In the mean time, I had also become a huge fan of Romanian music. So it was an exciting trip. Summer in Timisoara was great!

This is also my second time to visit Balkans. I visited Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia in 2015 while I did my short-term scientific mission as part of my PhD (EMJD-DC) in the summer. It was nice to be back to the Eastern Europe, once again in the sunny summer!

Crossing the borders

I like border crossings by land. The way a country changes into another, gradually, is enticing. This time, I had one more chance for a Balkan to Schengen area border crossing after 2 years, once more in the summer. This time crossing from Timisoara, Romania to Szeged, Hungary. Since we bought the bus tickets on-board (Flixbus), it was more expensive than buying online. It costs 129 Lei per person, each way. Online, it was 15.90 euro (73 Lei). Unfortunately, the online payment system was failing for both cards and paypal (an obvious temporary issue with their system). This is almost the double.  Szeged is a beautiful city. So it was worth the visit.

Make sure you have the passport and visa to the destination country before you board the bus. You need a visa to return to the country of origin, if you plan to return to the country (same as if you would use a flight). If you do not have the valid identity document (usually passport, and it is the safest option) or visa, you need to return to the country of origin. Since the borders are in a weird remote locations, it will be tough for you to return. You may either need to hichhike into vehicles or walk a long distance to find the nearest town. I do not want to try this. Be well prepared, specially if you are coming from a third country that requires you a visa for both the countries that are you traveling between.

Good luck with your border crossings.