Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 2026

Welcome to the house

Life is Ohsem is my corner of the internet for food, travel and the everyday things I enjoy. It began at the same time as Ohsem.me, back when tech and lifestyle lived together on one website. After a few years I noticed the two groups of readers were quite different, so I gave Life its own home as a subdomain of Ohsem.me.

I have been blogging on my own since 2006, and I look after everything here myself, from the writing and photos to the design and the code. There is no team and no company behind it. I do this out of passion and for the fun of it, not as a career.

The house does cost something to keep open. Hosting and domain renewals come out of my own pocket every year. A few ads and some simple visit statistics help me cover that, so I ask for your permission before loading them. You never have to say yes to read, browse or enjoy a story.

This page explains what that permission means, in plain words. If something is unclear, just write to me.

How I count visitors

I count visits with a small tool I built into the site. It does not use cookies and it does not keep your name, email or address. Each visitor becomes a random-looking code that changes every day. That lets me see which stories people enjoy, but I cannot tell who you are or follow you from one day to the next.

Cookies, ads and Google Analytics

When you choose "Sure, that's fine" on the cookie bar, I load two things:

  • Google Analytics, which shows me simple statistics such as which stories are read and where visitors come from.
  • Ads, shown by ad providers such as Google. These providers may use cookies to choose and measure the ads you see.

If you choose "No thanks", neither of them loads, and everything on the site stays open to you. You can change your mind at any time with the "Cookie choices" link at the bottom of any page.

Google and the ad providers handle their own data under their own privacy policies. Google explains how it uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Comments

If you leave a comment, I keep your name, your email address and what you wrote. Your email address is never shown on the site. Only I can see it, and I use it only to read and moderate comments or to reply to you. I also keep a scrambled version of your connection address, which helps me catch spam and stops one person from posting too quickly.

Messages

If you send me a message through a form on the site, I keep what you share (such as your name, email and message) so I can reply. I do not add you to a mailing list and I do not share your details with anyone.

Stories sometimes link to other sites, such as restaurants, hotels or shops. I am not responsible for how they handle your information, so please check their own policies.

Your choices

You can ask me to show you, correct or delete anything I hold about you, such as a comment you left. Write to me at azwan(at)ohsem(dot)me and I will take care of it.

Changes

If I change how the site works in a way that affects this page, I will update it and change the date at the top.