Shame... Shame on these people for understanding supply and demand and causing you to pay 1/5 of what you would for a room in the west. Your prejudice towards western backpackers is disgusting as well. You need to look at yourself for a moment.
Jason, this is not a forum for abusive comments. Please read my blog carefully, you have clearly misunderstood.
Western backpackers who trollop around in hot pants and low cut tops off their faces is not pretty in the West and is even worse when seen in Asia. Those types of travellers give the rest of us who are culturally aware a bad name. This is not prejudice, though since you are using it you should probably look up the meaning of the word.
Evocative photos I enjoyed your photographs. Many capture the everyday scenes I remember while traveling through Burma. I love photo 36.....people in Burma make what I would consider acrobatic balancing acts look mundane...and that was something I saw everyday there.
In the confines of a monastery Thank you Jessica for a wonderful glimpse during your stay at the monastry. Great photos which capture the amazing beautiful pepople. I completely agree with your comments about the impact some tourists have . At least there travelers like you that have a positive interaction with the locals. Best wishes Anabela
In the confines of a monastery Thank you Jessica for a wonderful glimpse during your stay at the monastry. Great photos which capture the amazing beautiful pepople. I completely agree with your comments about the impact some tourists have . At least there travelers like you that have a positive interaction with the locals. Best wishes Anabela
It is so nice to read your blogs and specially your comments prompted by your experiences which do represent what life is about. We waste so much time not looking at the everyday beauty and experiences that we let go by. I am so glad that you are having these enlightening experiences and that you can share your feellings. Thank you
poverty yes after visiting Nepal and Cambodia I wonder truly what the measure of poverty is. While people from those countries are by our standards materially poor their lives are so rich with family and simplicity I had a hard time reconciling the label 'poor'. Over the years I have decided that poverty should be defined more from the standpoint of full bellies, healthy bodies and potential for opportunity. Just about everything else is happenstance. As for our first world existence being isolating I totally agree - I always come back from those trips a bit sad that our lives aren't simpler, that our human connections have been severed, that the sense of community that once bound us all together is so disjointed. i guess that's why we go camping a lot, to stare into the fire and talk to each other and get back to the basics of being human. Cheers :) Alisa
I hope you don't mind if I just continue to comment on your blogs...I'll try to stop just short of being a pest. Anyway, I too was gifted an amazing step-father. Let's hear it for the step dads out there!
My epiphany that people are basically GOOD happened on a 5-month hike on the Appalachian Trail where it seemed every day was graced by kindness from strangers. It filled my heart permanently with some base knowledge that, to quote the desiderata, 'with all it's sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world' - if more people participated in the simple acts of kindness that buoy our most difficult moments, imagine the world it could be. That's why traveling and travelers are the vectors; as our eyes are open to more and more realities out there, our perspectives will hopefully help spread more kindness in return for the gift of being able to travel. Burma sounds lovely. Makes me long for another SE Asia trip...
not at all I enjoy your comments, please keep sending them. It's nice to know someone out there enjoys what I write other than my mother.
Burma is quite incredible, if you have not been you must. It is stuck in time and it is probably this which makes them so reliant upon eachother. Unlike our society which is easy to break away and be quite lonely.
Thank you again
your blogs are like dessert even though it's 9am in snowy Colorado. beautiful, transportative writing as always, the kind that makes me tell my kids to back off so that i can have a few peaceful moments to read it. i hope you don't have too many more karma payback train-rides. :)
My favorite... Hello!
Absolutely awesome pictures. 36 is the best. Admire your style and quality of photos every time. I am just wondering what kind of lens did you used for Bangkok's chick-boys. I've got a feeling that it might be 50mm f1.8?? Do you have a list of your equipment somewhere??
All the Best
Tomek
Seeking shade in the shadow of a lampost. It was engrossing to read your feeling of finding yourself in a moving crowd specially because I was only once in a similar situation at a festival in Buthan and I do empathize how you felt and the relief when it is over. My best wishes for the next adventure. Great photos. Anabela x
Seeking shade in the shadow of a lampost. It was engrossing to read your feeling of finding yourself in a moving crowd specially because I was only once in a similar situation at a festival in Buthan and I do empathize how you felt and the relief when it is over. My best wishes for the next adventure. Great photos. Anabela x
Seeking shade in the shadow of a lampost. It was engrossing to read your feeling of finding yourself in a moving crowd specially because I was only once in a similar situation at a festival in Buthan and I do empathize how you felt and the relief when it is over. My best wishes for the next adventure. Great photos. Anabela x
Didn't you grow up watching Dame Edna? We always enjoyed her show on BBC. I think she could be classified as a lady boy, although not as attractive as those in your pictures.
The Thai have always acknowledged that there are three sexes, even before contact with the West; male, female and lady boys, called gatoey in Thai. Lady boys feature in John Burdett novels about Bangkok; i.e., "Bangkok Eight" and "Bangkok Tatoo." If you want something to read that delves into the underbelly of Bangkok, give these and his other books a try.
Very tastefully written. A good friend of mine is in a long term relationship with a transgendered person, I've witnessed the way people have treated both of them so have a little knowledge on the prejudices faced, albeit very limited knowledge. I think most people fear what they do not understand but your blog shows that you are not one of those people. Fantastic blog.
And yet again, great pictures too.
being human when I travel it seems like I am entranced equally by the things that connect us between cultures and those that make us unique. I don't know about everyone else but reading about your emptiness and angst when Carl left taps into a feeling (that you have written so well) that must connect us ALL as humans, the need to share the joy and challenge of a situation. I've been there and know where you're coming from. For years I thrived quite nicely on my own and hadn't yet become bewitched by the need of companionship but now sharing an experience has become almost as important as the experience itself. It's hard to fill that hole when it opens up. Great writing, great blog. :)
Yes, you say it well - I suddenly feel the need to share experiences. I sit in Bangkok as I write this and feel strange that Carl is not here to share it with as we were here three years ago together.
Thank you for your message
It all gets overwhelming sometimes.... This was really well written and it sums up perfectly how down you can sometimes get while travelling. Even travelling with someone you can feel like this, vulnerable and exposed....we just wanted to say a big well done for getting back out and sitting having a pain aux raisin and coffee. We hope you are feeling a little less alone now, we assume you made it back to Vietnam?
Amazing pictures as usual, oh and we completely agree with you about the mixed dorms...grrr! Those Petronas Towers are sometimes buggers to walk to, they always seem so close don't they? We did the same thing as you once and spent about 2 hours in a roundabout way getting to them!
quite agree thanks for the message - yes those pesky towers tricked us twice!!
Im not in Vietnam anymore - I collected my bag from the hostel and flew to bangkok and leave tomorrow for burma. Im both excited and terrified by the prospect since I will be alone and without contact to the outside world I so depend on when alone. Im sure Ill be fine - i have heard wonderful things about burma and the people.
In a nutshell; I am Jess. I was 27 years old, and left a wonderful teaching job in search of unemployment and volunteer opportunities across the other side of the world. Some say it's foolish, I was inclined to agree but these experiences altered me in ways I never imagined possible. I accomplished dreams, re-found lost passions, set up a charity in Sapa, taught in Cambodia, established a teaching course in Vietnam and published articles and photos for magazines and books.
... full info
Jason
non-member comment
Shame...
Shame on these people for understanding supply and demand and causing you to pay 1/5 of what you would for a room in the west. Your prejudice towards western backpackers is disgusting as well. You need to look at yourself for a moment.