So in New York, those "99-cent pizza" joints don't actually sell pizza for 99 cents. And sure, it'd be one thing if they were just adding tax. But one of these places wanted $4 for a slice :(

That said, the city's really charming in its little details. You can stumble into a Jewish deli run by Yemeni Muslims in the Caribbean quarter, or randomly discover a superhero shop, or spot a historic marker at the place where the first recorded fatal car accident happened, and you can even find the Ghostbusters headquarters. And honestly, I could go on for ages. Feels like you could spend a year here and still not see everything.

So I'm trying to plan a business trip to the States and I'm absolutely blown away by the housing prices. I'll have some free time over the weekend and I'm thinking about making a quick trip to Boston. Looking for somewhere to stay. The cheapest hostel in Boston costs over a hundred bucks. It's literally just a bed in an 8-person room. For a sketchy guesthouse with cockroaches, rats, and a 1.6 rating on Booking (one point six, come on!) they want $130. Per night.

Hotels are asking for $350+. Per night. For a single room. In Sarajevo, I could live for a week on that money in a big 3-bedroom apartment near the center (talking about short-term rental, for long-term, you can find a place for a month in Bosnia's capital for $300-400).

And this isn't even for the long weekend of May 25-27 with Memorial Day, when the whole country is frantically trying to get away somewhere, and not during the Boston Marathon days, when prices predictably shoot through the roof. If you shift the dates from the weekend to weekdays, it'll be about 30% cheaper. Better, but still not great.

You can find something for under $100 a night only in a room (not an apartment, a room) on Airbnb. But it'll be nowhere near the center. Some Priceline cheerfully offers motels for 100 bucks half an hour away by car, which I won't have.

I stayed outside the center of Sarajevo and discovered a completely different city. The center sits in a river valley where everything is flat. But take a step to the side and the hills start. The slopes have really dense development and the street layout is super old. It's actually pretty fun to walk around there.

Driving there though? Not so comfortable. The streets are incredibly narrow, sharp right-angle turns constantly, and barely any room to maneuver. Two cars coming from opposite directions can't pass each other. And Google Maps routes you through backyards taking the shortest path. I had to memorize the main wide roads. They take longer, sure, but you can drive more peacefully and sometimes even faster. Now I can confidently get around without GPS between the main spots :)

By the way, these photos aren't from the outskirts—they're within a kilometer of Baščaršija, one of the city's main attractions.

PS. Yesterday marked 32 years since the start of the Sarajevo siege. I happened to catch a children's ensemble performance marking the occasion.

You can take a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. It was hard to resist. And I even managed not to repeat the fate of Patrick O'Brien, who boarded the same ferry without documents in 1952 and then spent 11 months sailing back and forth because neither Macau nor Hong Kong would let him in (he even became a local celebrity among regular ferry passengers).

Macau is way simpler than Hong Kong. The only real grandeur is in the casino district, but since I'm not into gambling, I wasn't too tempted. Interestingly, online sources say the gaming industry's revenue and turnover here is several times bigger than in Las Vegas. That said, it's all much more private inside. The casinos are separated by screens, and there's no crazy overload of slot machines everywhere. It's like the focus is more on games with live dealers.

From the observation points, you can see the vastness of mainland China. And the contrast really stands out. It feels like casino money doesn't do much for the city's development.

By the end of the day, I wanted to get back to Hong Kong as quickly as possible. On top of that, my GPS started acting up and showed my location about 600 meters off :)

Finally sorted through my Hong Kong photos. Wanted to post them before I leave again. I also have Macau pics, but that's coming tomorrow.

HK is an amazing city I'd really love to go back to. Highly recommend it.

Since I've already started talking about banks, here's something interesting: even though Hong Kong is considered part of China, it has its own currency. But here's the kicker—it's not printed by the local central bank. Instead, three commercial banks print it: HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bank of China. And each one has their own design (sometimes even multiple versions). Talk about a counterfeiter's paradise! :)

The only exception is the ten-dollar note. That one's printed by the central bank itself.

I've never voted from abroad before. I've got a layover in Hong Kong in a few days. I managed to make it to the consulate around noon today. I even had to wait in line – somehow a bunch of people showed up at exactly the same time.

I really liked this offhand comment one of the staff members made: "It's like everyone agreed to come right now." And they really did.

The whole process isn't really different from voting back home. The only thing is they confiscate your phones at the entrance (it's a consulate after all). And the local building security was pretty stressed about the sudden crowd. The consulate itself is pretty small, so they had to set up the queue in the foyer on a different floor.

In the Philippines, neighborhoods with massive skyscrapers sit right next to slums. Gigantic modern malls (there's even one styled like Venice with canals and gondoliers) stand not far from street markets that remind you of Moscow's Cherkizovo market.

I didn't make it all the way to the slums themselves, but I found a couple of pictures online (they're credited to their sources).

People on the streets don't really bother you much, but it's good to keep an eye on your stuff. There are quite a few Badjao guys around here (like in the second-to-last photo). A lot of them live on the streets—they're sometimes called "sea gypsies"—and some of them might resort to theft. Locals told me several times that it's better not to flash your gadgets and money around on the streets.

Anyway, it was pretty interesting here. I'll come back sometime. Salamat po.

I wouldn't want to work as an electrician in Manila.

In the Philippines, the cheapest way to get around is by jeepney. These are super colorful minibuses that started popping up everywhere after the Americans left and left behind a bunch of military jeeps that got converted to carry passengers (plus there was something similar but way less common before World War II here too).

13 pesos (~0.2€‎) and you're good to go. Exit's in the back, no doors, usually no windows either (but there's a curtain for when it rains). The weather's usually decent for it. Locals say there are basically 2 types of weather here: either sunshine or rain.

The only tricky part is figuring out if it's actually going where you need it to go. There are no route numbers, usually just the starting and ending stations written on it. And those aren't exactly huge either.

2/4. The skyscrapers and road signs clearly moved straight out of New York. They even have the Statue of Liberty (:​

1/4. A slice of India with Hindu temples and mosques, Indian food and Indian people. The only thing missing is chaotic traffic and the constant honking of tuk-tuks.

For years now, Singapore has been seeing territorial disputes between local otter gangs. Clashes often result in serious injuries or even deaths for those involved.

These events regularly make the local news and sometimes go international (here, here, here). Wikipedia has a detailed writeup on the largest family — Bishan.

Bishan is also the most aggressive bunch. They control the most territory and haven't lost a single fight! A lot of that is thanks to their numbers. Close behind them is the Marina family. They adapt really well to new environments, but keep getting beaten down by Bishan, losing territory and having to move to worse neighborhoods.

The local police? Totally hands-off... but honestly, they don't need to do anything. Because these territorial disputes are happening between smooth-coated otters :)

If you're thinking it'd be cool to see a Netflix series about them, well, at least there's an episode about Singapore's otters in Night on Earth. Plus Google even gave them some love with a Doodle.

Video credit here. There's actually a whole community of otter watchers on Facebook. They share maps and honestly, they're awesome.

PS I wonder if an otter from the Bishan family could fall for a Marina girl? :)

I spent a whole hour trying to convince the check-in staff in Belgrade that I absolutely needed to be registered for the flight. They spent a whole hour convincing me otherwise.

Timatic apparently showed them that I needed a Singapore visa, which I didn't have. But on the government website it says you don't need one if you have a ticket to a third country within 96 hours of arrival (which I did).

There was quite a heated discussion with colleagues on-site, three calls with different airline departments, and a couple of times they said there was no chance without a visa and I should just go home.

Eventually we figured it out. They apologized profusely for the misunderstanding and issued me a boarding pass. No problems with Singapore immigration officers.

Singapore airport is awesome. The greenest one I've ever seen. I'll go explore the country since they let me in.