kungshamra71

This is incredible. Amazing San Marino! 🇸🇲 
 

This is incredible. Amazing San Marino! 🇸🇲 
 

This is incredible. Amazing San Marino! 🇸🇲 
 

This is incredible. Amazing San Marino! 🇸🇲 
 

This is incredible. Amazing San Marino! 🇸🇲 
 

That mf’er, I want him to retire and he just keeps scoring goals after goals just to prove what I already know anyway 🐐
 
Oh well, what can I do but just say
 

Sad to see that my top 3 didn’t win, but at least know that they have a fix place in my Spotify playlist now hehe (Hungary, France and Greece. The Dutch one I hear it every now and then in the radio and at new years anyway)
 
nice contest with some good music, and congrats for all the huge effort from the organiser in making this happen, it really is a fun tradition even if we’re not that many anymore

Sad to see that my top 3 didn’t win, but at least know that they have a fix place in my Spotify playlist now hehe (Hungary, France and Greece. The Dutch one I hear it every now and then in the radio and at new years anyway)
 
nice contest with some good music, and congrats for all the huge effort from the organiser in making this happen, it really is a fun tradition even if we’re not that many anymore

Next stop on this Central Asia tour is Tajikistan  , another one of those "why would you want to go there" countries 
 
It's the smallest land of the 5 central asia countries but it might be the most complete of them all, and also a good one for those who like mountains, about 92% of the territory is covered with it, some going up to 7000 meters high.
 
Not sure if this is a famous singer but i heard this song all the time in the radio so, i guess this might be a popular one  
 
 
 Shabnam Surayo – Nesti  
 

 
 
 
 
 
     

I guess i'll keep going on this solo "visit central asia" show for the Festival of Music 
 
This time with Kyrgyzstan . Did you know 94% of their country is covered with (really high) mountains? This place is a paradise for hikers and mountain lovers. Basically, picture Switzerland, but with affordable prices and really good food 
 
 
 Мирбек Атабеков – Mypac  
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
     
 
 
    

So can we drop some music for the festival? I guess, so here is my first take, from a country i learned to love this year (), together with a few photos as requested by @konig 
 
This is not only my favourite of the 5 Stans, but also this artist was the coolest surprise from the trip: started to listen by chance in an Air Astana flight entertainment and got hooked by her voice.
I call her the Billie Eilish of Central Asia  Hope some of you will like it too, and if so go and listen to more as her other songs are also really good.
 
 
 Ayau – Sybyrlaiyn  
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
           .   
 
 
.   .    

I know, that is why Portugal is on my top 7 all time list. You really sent some most interesting and peculiar songs so far, and yeah, keep doing it! I already listened to almost all the available songs from Antonio!

BUT those are the most appreciated 12 points in the whole contest!  
 
And if you follow TISC for the last 10 years you should know already that i aim for sharing portuguese culture no matter how appealing (or not :D) it might be. So if one liked it, i'm quite happy! 
 
I suggest you to explore more of his songs if you liked it 

Totally forgot about this! But glad some of you like the  song.
 
also I really liked my top three! Although for danny vera I’m a bit biased since I live in NL and always vote for this song to be in the Dutch Top 2000 , so that one had to go high of course haha

New Zealand 
 
 
 Portugal 12  Denmark 11   Turkey 10   Greece 9   France 8   Chile 7   Guatemala 6
 Ireland 5   Canada  4   United States 3   Italy 2   China
1   
 
 
And that completes the results of the votes from the New Zealand National Jury. Have a great day! 

Opening Ceremony
 
Hello and welcome to TISC 2024 hosted by !!
 
We've got a packed show for you tonight, but first performing his winning song from last year Galway Girl.... it's Ed Sheeran!!
 
. 

it's not difficult when you have such a strict policy to enter or leave the country. Or when you have a dictator that can mask number as he wish, if he can convince their people that a highly censored and restrictive land can host a competition like the Olympic Games, i'm sure he can convince no covid case was detected.
 
One fun fact is that their guards and border control officers were very serious and strict with people from other nationalities when entering the country, but with us it was very different, they would look at our passport with serious face, look at the country, look at us, start smiling and say "Portugal?? Cristiano Ronaldo!!!!"
 
This behaviour happened in every single checkpoint in every single Central Asia land. It's like a vip pass in this area of the world 
 

it's not difficult when you have such a strict policy to enter or leave the country. Or when you have a dictator that can mask number as he wish, if he can convince their people that a highly censored and restrictive land can host a competition like the Olympic Games, i'm sure he can convince no covid case was detected.
 
One fun fact is that their guards and border control officers were very serious and strict with people from other nationalities when entering the country, but with us it was very different, they would look at our passport with serious face, look at the country, look at us, start smiling and say "Portugal?? Cristiano Ronaldo!!!!"
 
This behaviour happened in every single checkpoint in every single Central Asia land. It's like a vip pass in this area of the world 
 

it's not difficult when you have such a strict policy to enter or leave the country. Or when you have a dictator that can mask number as he wish, if he can convince their people that a highly censored and restrictive land can host a competition like the Olympic Games, i'm sure he can convince no covid case was detected.
 
One fun fact is that their guards and border control officers were very serious and strict with people from other nationalities when entering the country, but with us it was very different, they would look at our passport with serious face, look at the country, look at us, start smiling and say "Portugal?? Cristiano Ronaldo!!!!"
 
This behaviour happened in every single checkpoint in every single Central Asia land. It's like a vip pass in this area of the world 
 

it's not difficult when you have such a strict policy to enter or leave the country. Or when you have a dictator that can mask number as he wish, if he can convince their people that a highly censored and restrictive land can host a competition like the Olympic Games, i'm sure he can convince no covid case was detected.
 
One fun fact is that their guards and border control officers were very serious and strict with people from other nationalities when entering the country, but with us it was very different, they would look at our passport with serious face, look at the country, look at us, start smiling and say "Portugal?? Cristiano Ronaldo!!!!"
 
This behaviour happened in every single checkpoint in every single Central Asia land. It's like a vip pass in this area of the world 
 

now the leader is not that one, but his son (you’ll see him in one of the photos I shared, in the tv. His face is everywhere as it happens in any country with cult of the leader).
 
and yes the story is true, in Ashgabat only white, golden and some other colour (grey?) cars are allowed in the city. Just like every building is white.
 
And it’s funny you mention the talibans, because Turkmenistan has an Afghanistan representation/consulate in their country, and one of the days when we were eating lunch in a mall at Mary city, the Turkmen guide was called by the restaurant waiter and then came to us and said “ok so don’t worry, but a taliban delegation is coming here to eat lunch so don’t take pictures and behave discreetly when they enter”.
 
One of those wtf moments of our trip haha

now the leader is not that one, but his son (you’ll see him in one of the photos I shared, in the tv. His face is everywhere as it happens in any country with cult of the leader).
 
and yes the story is true, in Ashgabat only white, golden and some other colour (grey?) cars are allowed in the city. Just like every building is white.
 
And it’s funny you mention the talibans, because Turkmenistan has an Afghanistan representation/consulate in their country, and one of the days when we were eating lunch in a mall at Mary city, the Turkmen guide was called by the restaurant waiter and then came to us and said “ok so don’t worry, but a taliban delegation is coming here to eat lunch so don’t take pictures and behave discreetly when they enter”.
 
One of those wtf moments of our trip haha

now the leader is not that one, but his son (you’ll see him in one of the photos I shared, in the tv. His face is everywhere as it happens in any country with cult of the leader).
 
and yes the story is true, in Ashgabat only white, golden and some other colour (grey?) cars are allowed in the city. Just like every building is white.
 
And it’s funny you mention the talibans, because Turkmenistan has an Afghanistan representation/consulate in their country, and one of the days when we were eating lunch in a mall at Mary city, the Turkmen guide was called by the restaurant waiter and then came to us and said “ok so don’t worry, but a taliban delegation is coming here to eat lunch so don’t take pictures and behave discreetly when they enter”.
 
One of those wtf moments of our trip haha

There might be modern tracks for lots of sports in Ashgabat actually. They organised some Asian martial arts competition some time ago and for that they built all sort of megalomaniac infrastructures (you see the picture of the gigantic horse head? That’s part of the main stadium), all in white (there’s some rule from the president that everything needs to be white in that city), and all pretty much abandoned since that time.
 
According to the delusional/brainwashed local people we met, “all those investments are understandable because Ashgabat will organize the Olympic very soon”. 
 
That’s because the dictator is obsessed with huge buildings, if you see my third last photo, that is actually an indoor ferry wheel (yes, it’s a thing apparently), the largest one in the world (Guiness world record), and it looked really abandoned. Me and my wife were the only ones going on it.
 
Everything in that country (but especially in Ashgabat) is bizarre.

Last stop on this TISC Central Asia tour: Turkmenistan 
 
One of the most closed and censored lands in the world, Turkmenistan is a place with incredible things to visit, with a beautiful desert landscape, historical ruins from ancient civilisations, and the unique "Door to Hell".   But it is also a country where everything is controlled and restricted (we had no access to social networks and tons of blocked websites, can only enter with invitation letter, with a predefined tour and accompanied by a guide at all times), with giant megalomaniac buildings created in order to maintain a cult of the leader and its regime. It basically felt like what i imagine is North Korea (but without the hate for americans).   It is eccentric, it is impressive, but above all, it is bizarre. Here is a patriotic catchy song i heard when was traveling there. .
 
 
 Mähri Pirgulyýewa – Halkyň arkadagly zamanasy