A day in Banja Luka

Playing chess in the heart of Banja Luka

We took things quietly for our Saturday in Banja Luka.    The main part of the town is quite modern.  There's a wide main street with the main civic buildings as well several squares and small parks adjoining it.   Many of the shops are quite modern, but we were reminded when we passed by the Saturday morning market that life isn't easy for everyone.    Some of the vendors were selling very small items, such as little items of hardware and batteries, from just a small stand.

There are lots of cafes where you can pass the time having a drink, a coffee and a smoke (not necessarily in that order!), but restaurants seem few and far between.   In the mid-range, there are a couple of pizza places, but otherwise, as far as we have been able to tell, your best mid-range option is to have a small course at a full service restaurant.    And Banja Luka must be the first city I've ever been in where there is not one Chinese restaurant (nor any Thai, Indian or other such).  If they're here, they're not readily apparent.  Nor have I seen a single exchange booth (all pervasive in Belgrade), although there are lots of banks and ATMs.

Main street Banja Luka

Castle wall

We walked around the old castle.  It's not in very good condition, and  inside the walls, at one end,  is a children's playground.  At the other end, a stage was being set up - it seems that another concert is planned for the near future (but there was a fence around it, so presumably payment is required).

After lunch at one of the restaurants by the river, we visited the  Museum of the Republika Srpska.

  This contains a comprehensive display of the history of the area, from the cave man era through to the recent conflicts.   There were numerous items of clothing from various eras.  Some of the comments on WW2 very hard-hitting, and the displays on the more recent conflicts were pretty frank, too.   Only some of the descriptions were in English, but for me there wasn't any doubt as to the perspective that the historians involved were coming from!

Lunch venue

Now (Sunday) we're off to Sarajevo.

Museum display

Museum display

To Banja Luka

The bus trip from Belgrade to Banja Luka went without a hitch. It was easily booked at the Belgrade bus station a couple of days ago, the bus was reasonably modern and left spot on time at 9 am, and arrival in Banja Luka was just a few minutes after the scheduled arrival time of 3 pm.   It included 2 coffee breaks (at least one of our fellow travellers couldn't wait to get off the bus each time to have his ciggie(s)) as well as 2 border crossings.   The border crossings are explained by the fact that the quickest route from Belgrade to Banja Luka for the first part of the trip is via the Belgrade to Zagreb motorway.  Hence, we had to cross from Serbia into Croatia then from Croatia into Bosnia Herzegovina.   Each crossing involved an inspection of our passports both by the state we were leaving from and  the state we were entering.

The coffee breaks presented something of a currency challenge.  The first one was in Croatia, and we passed up on the coffee because we didn't have any local currency and didn't want to get a pocket full of Croatian currency by way of change if we paid by euro.   The second stop was in Bosnia.  It was at this point that it dawned on me that I hadn't acquired any Bosnian currency before leaving Belgrade (which I could easily have done).   And I knew that the bus station in Banja Luka was out of town and a taxi would be needed.  The upshot was that we paid for our coffee in euro and received change (at a fairly dismal exchange rate) in Bosnian marks, which ended up saving the day when we arrived in Banja Luka.    Here, we were deposited at the bus station set down point which was at the back end of the bus station, no where near any exchange booth or ATM machine - but right next to the head of the taxi rank!   I suppose the taxi driver would have accepted euros, but I think we would have ended up paying an even higher price than the  fare that we were forced to negotiate.  In short, although euros seem acceptable in most places in an emergency, I am reminded of my rule (honoured in the breach on this occasion) not to arrive in a country without having at least a taxi fare in the local currency in my pocket.

All this leads to the point - where to stay in Banja Luka?    I had done some research, and had narrowed the choice down to a couple of hotels on the basis that they were centrally located.  However, we hadn't got around to booking anything before arriving.   In the meantime, Sue had been making enquiries of her own - of relatives in Belgrade, fellow passengers on the bus and so on.  I'm not quite sure of the exact wording that her question followed, but in hindsight, I think it must have been, "What is the best hotel in Banja Luka?"   The answer on most occasions was, "The Bosna".  This had featured on my research, as being the most expensive hotel in town.  Oh well.

Trendy tap in hotel bathroom

Hence, her question to the taxi driver at the bus station was, "How much to take us to the Bosna?"    I suspect that the identity of the hotel influenced the slightly high fare we were quoted!
On arrival at the hotel, we inspected the room, taking note of Trip Advisor's suggestions (a) to ask for a no smoking room; and (b) in the interests of a quiet night, to ask for a room on a high floor away from the open stair well.    As to a "no smoking room", well,  in Bosnia there's no such thing, but the room we have has an opening window and is well aired, so there's almost no lingering smell.   As to (b), our request was accommodated, which was fortunate because there's an extremely loud party still proceeding at midnight on the mezzanine floor (which we can barely hear, but would be troublesome if we were closer).  I suppose it's a wedding, although there is a conference of Serb cardiologists in the hotel - if the noise is from one of their functions, then I hope they're geared up to handle any heart attacks among their members!

Christ the Saviour cathedral

 However, the hotel is good.  It's centrally located as well as being opposite Christ the Saviour cathedral, where Sue attended Friday evening vespers.


We've had an absolutely fascinating first few hours in Banja Luka, so more about this in a future post.

The William formerly Communications House

For how many years has the former Telecom high-rise building in William Street been vacant?   It seems an eternity (Telstra's present building in Exhibition Street was opened in 1992!).  One report on the internet stated that the building, called Communications House, had become infamous as a ''ghost building'', having been locked up and vacant since 1994. But very recently, activity has commenced at the site.   It seems the building is to be re-developed for residential accommodation.

Judging by the fact that signs of life have only recently appeared, I assume that the main work to date has been in relation to marketing activities in the foyer and perhaps on a display suite.

Retail vacancies

There are a lot of empty shops in nearby High Street.   This strip perhaps has its own characteristics, so I'm not sure if the vacancies are an indication of localised retail malaise.

Or are these vacancies symptomatic of broader issues, perhaps the changing nature of retail (especially with the advent of on-line shopping) or even issues regarding the economy as a whole?   

The former Nicks wine shop is one of many that are empty. 

And then there was - Ashurst

1 March marked the change in name of Blake Dawson to Ashurst.   Generations of tradition (and goodwill, too?) replaced in the name of globalisation.  Perhaps it is indeed the way of the future, but at least some of us had mixed feelings.   The changeover was supported by a slick campaign, with strict instructions that anything with the old name can now only be used internally.  However,  even though the screensavers and mousepads were updated, the coffee cups survived!

The auction scene

It seems that the latest fad (or "business opportunity"?) is for the mobile coffee van to be vending its wares to the crowd attending the Saturday morning auction.   When I saw this, I rather hoped that it had been arranged by the auctioneer to get the crowd in a good mood, but, no, payment was required.    But the property was passed in, with just a single bid being made (in addition to the vendor bids).   Would it have been different had the coffee been "on the house"?   (Pity about the pun).

EDIT - I've since been told that some agents do in fact arrange for the coffee to be provided free of cost (free to the crowd - the agent or no doubt ultimately the property owner pays).   Note to self - choose auctions more carefully.

However, later in the day (some time after the van, and the crowd, had departed!), a "sold" sign appeared.

Dividends

OK, call me a grumpy old self-funded (nearly) retiree.  However,   I was interested in the remarks of Ross Barker as reported in the Australian this week.  Ross Barker is the managing director of Australian Foundation Investment (a favourite of retirees!), and he said that BHP should have directed more of its bumper earnings in the past three years to shareholders.  At least Rio Tinto has lifted its dividend, but the yield on its shares is still only 2% - which is even worse than that of BHP (2.9%).   Compared to the market average of 5.4%, these figures are miserly.

Yes, it's true that these (and other mining companies, which have acted similarly) have committed to large amounts of capital investment.  But if this expenditure is intended to protect earnings in the future, it does seem that "tomorrow" never comes.    If the earnings over the past few years haven't been good enough to justify modest payouts in previous years, then what is?   So, we're with Ross Barker on this issue.

Insurance

For some reason shrouded in the mists of time, one of our household insurance premiums falls due just before Christmas.   When it comes to insurance, in the past I often just paid the renewal premium, perhaps in the vague hope that if I ever need to make a claim, being a long-term policy-holder might assist in some way.  In the case of this particular policy, for a number of years I've just paid the amount asked.

Not any more.  With the advent of the era of on-line quotes, for the last year or so, I've obtained at least one other quote every time an insurance premium has fallen due.   While my philosophy has remained that I won't switch for the sake a few dollars and I stick to brands that I know, I have found that in fact there can be very significant differences in the premiums on offer.   This year, in spite of it being a busy time of year, I obtained some other quotations for the insurance that recently became due.   The best quote (from a well-respected Australian owned insurer) was about 60% of the price being asked by the original insurer, being a difference of several hundred dollars.

I  realise that not all policies are the same, so I carefully studied the policy document when it arrived.  Yes, there are some differences in the cover provided, but these are not all in favour of the original policy.    In some respects the new policy provides slightly better coverage, in other respects, the old policy did.  At least there's been a non-financial benefit of the exercise - I have read the policy and am now aware of where we stand.   And, yes, "flood" is excluded but "storm" (including stormwater runoff from areas surrounding the house) is covered. 

Robert Friedland's view of the world

I have been an observer of Robert Friedland for a number of years, and was pleased to be invited to attend the recent lunch function conducted by the Melbourne Mining Club at which he spoke to a receptive audience of 500 or so.   Never backward in his views, his view on the current debt problem in Europe was - "The situation is hopeless but it's not serious".

His view is that Europe will be of diminishing significance in the global economy, and so the place to invest is in the emerging markets.    He stated that, "Europe is not important anyway; it's just Disneyland.  It's basically a place the Chinese will go to sample foie gras".

This is fine for him to say, given that much of his great wealth derives from his stake in Ivanhoe Mines, which is developing the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit in Mongolia (albeit with considerable input from Rio Tinto which owns in the vicinity of 49% of Ivanhoe Mines).

He regards the media (which he describes as the "merchants of chaos") as being obsessed with Europe.   Perhaps he does indeed have a point, but for many of us the issue is that our superannuation is tied up in investments that are affected by the gloom coming from Europe.  Unfortunately, we didn't turn everything into cash a few years back and retreat to Mars, thus giving us the opportunity to return to Earth in the present and to start investing all over again.
For what it's worth, Friedland is not so worried about the USA.  He reckons that, if necessary, the US will just "print money" to solve any problems that it may encounter.

Here are some images from the immense Oyu Tolgoi construction site (unfortunately, not taken by me).

The "Occupy" movement

I have been struggling with the question as to whether I ought to comment on the Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Melbourne etc movements, and, if I do, what I ought to say.   Should I keep a low profile, or would it be OK to let my feelings show?  After some thought and a lot of re-writing, here goes!
It seems that most of us in fact have some sympathy with what the people in these movements are saying, for example in relation of large payments to executives of companies that have gone backwards.  In other words, we all see ourselves as being part of the "99%".
Another take on this is something I read on the internet (not sure if it's true or not, but it feels like it) -
"The reason for the demonstrations [is] that ...  it is no longer true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer -- it is, some people have pointed out with figures and graphs, that the super-rich are getting richer, and that the rich and the poor are getting poorer."

So, we're probably all in agreement that our political system isn't perfect.    Frankly, I don't think that's anything new.    Nor is capitalism perfect.  But I just happen to think that the systems we have are less imperfect than any other system that anyone has yet come up with. 
Thus, I do think that anyone who is complaining about the "system" or aspects of it needs to say just where they think the problem is and give some sort of indication as to what they think ought to be done to fix it.   In particular, are they complaining about the "system", such that they want it completely changed, or are they unhappy that it isn't producing the outcomes they would like to see?   In other words,  so the people in these movements aren't happy, but just do they want?   Didn't I read somewhere that the "Occupy movement" was being very careful only to say what they didn't like ( the "system") and not to define what they did want?

This brings me to the Uniting Church's magazine, Crosslight.    I respect the fact that the Uniting Church has strong views on many social issues, although I often don't agree with many aspects of what it says or the way in which  its views are expressed.

However, I was unnerved by the unquestioning attitude adopted by the Church's Crosslight magazine in relation to the Occupy Melbourne movement.  It quoted without qualification or reservation one of the participants in this movement as saying, "The people have a sense that they've lost their democratic right.  The rich can change and shape policy and get rid of governments they don't want while we can't, so we're occupying our country, our workplaces our streets reclaiming our democracy".

The implicit acceptance of these assertions by Crosslight (and in particular, that our political system as a whole was at fault) got to me.   This seems to be going a lot further than saying something to the effect that "I'm annoyed that our political system isn't producing the outcome that I want".  Yes, the Moderator of the Uniting Church at the recent Synod is reported to have said that he was worried about the  all-­too-­common  reliance on ‘tradition, habit and comfort', but I think you need to know where you're going before you chuck out the old.  And I suspect that 99% of the 99% would go along with this.

PS My source for the Moderator's worry is Rev Kylie Crabbe's Theological Reflections at the Synod, see

http://wr.victas.uca.org.au/synod-meeting/2011/theological-reflections/(Kylie is Minister at Armadale Uniting Church).

Tax time

I've been a bit quiet over the last few days because I've been finalising my tax return.   In fact, I did most of it (using "e-tax") some weeks  back, but put it aside while I checked a couple of points.  Needless to say, this resulted in a mental block, meaning that I found every possible excuse not to some back to it!   However, with the end of October looming, I have now forced myself to finish the task and finally to press the "submit" button.

E-tax can be "challenging" at times, and has a few quirks, but having used it for a couple of years now, I think I've got the main principles sorted out.   But there's always room to improve.  This year I noticed that  there was a specific question dealing with a particular item that I'd included under a more general heading last year.   Hope the ATO is tolerant if they pick me up on it!