Very nice ! Interesting page. Reminded me of a book I read a while ago: "Travels in the Skin Trade: Tourism and the Sex Industry" by Jeremy Seabrook. This issue is not as clear cut and easy as it seems. Of course there are many horrible cases of exploitation but the "forty something western guy + twenty something asian girlfriend" story has many hidden sides. Happy travels Jason. Stay safe.
w.
Intelligent Views I apprecıated the blog as ıt was well-wrıtten. I've also seen the romance tourısm you speak of and had my own smaller versıon ın Thaıland. I also thınk some of Western guys seekıng women ın SE Asıa do not have the patıence for many of the females back home, especıally for men who have had faıled marrıages or other relatıonshıps. There ıs also the 'exotıc' element that spıces thıngs up between the two people and provıdes somethıng they may have been mıssıng before.
holy crap come on ppl, some of Jasons comments did sound a bit out of line, but it is just the way he viewed these things through his cultural lenses, and if he made a mistake you can try to explain him some of the things better instead of acting like idiots and cursing all around. And than you get angry when the whole world thinks we are not tolerant and that we are backward. Someone here claimed we have better education than the west?! Well, here is your chance, prove your level of education prove your good manners....
Lovely read :) Hi there! I'm Bangladeshi by origin, but grew up abroad. Always love reading other people's blogs on Bangladesh. I hope to start writing more about my home country too next time I go back. Check out my entry on Dhaka: http://elmundofarzina.blogspot.com/2004/12/bangladesh-no-tsunami-here.html
WOW. This is an incredibly illustrious and well-written blog. Your photographs are beautiful and incredibly inspiring. If you are at all interested, there is an awesome travel writing contest going on that I just heard about, that you can check out [this] here. Fantastic blog, I'll be sure to check back again soon!
joe! :) hi! i admire ur braveness,. im a Filipino and ive always wanted to go to mindanao. my grandmothers from there and she always tell us great stories about mindanao. they use to own lands there but unfortunately some group took that away from their family. its kinda sad because us filipinos are sometimes so racist because its not an issue here, and we dont care much about our own. anyway thanks for visiting mindanao. i hope you could visit us again. i believe that theres a lot to see in the Philippines. this is a great country, its just that some Filipinos dont notice that.
why expose your ignorance??? If the country is so poor, how can ppl just afford to pay 20 000G to marry someone just to get out????? if someone has 20 000grand they can live mighty good in Macedonia. Plus Macedonian women are pretty not trashy, I guess you are not use to it, we all know about what an eyesore British women are! Glad you keep your pants on, would not want someone like you polluting Macedonian blood.
I would have felt rather ashamed when a little boy from a "not so developed country" was more educated that a man from the West. And a little fun fact: your people were still savages, when we concurred the world!
your pics reminds me of my ancestral place I have a grainy memory that Bangladesh used to be the ancestral place of our micro-minority CHAKMA tribe. It's a myth I carry inside me .... all those tales about 'haptai goddha' (kaptai dam), 'shadigaang' (chittagong), 'ranga matteh' (rangamati)....
Thanks for affording me a walk down the memory lane..... it was an immense pleasure... and I was almost whistling:
ama ei jagan (this land of ours)
ranga matteh nang (thy name ranga mhadi)
dekhe bari dhol, shorgo puri shan (pristine in its beauty, it blissful as heaven and fairy-land)
It were as though I was looking to an old childhood photograph where the sun seems to shine less bright....
Amazing Pictures Wow... you've really captured the flavor of Rajasthan so well man... I just happened to see a link to your blog on your friend's space on MSN. You wont believe it, I live only 200 miles away from Rajasthan and have never been able to visit this beautiful place... I'll make sure I visit Rajasthan soon :)
http://spaces.msn.com/tausiffarooqi/
Great info I am just about to fly out to Mindanao to work for a couple of years so should get to know the place quite well. This is one of the only places I have found anything useful about this end of the Philippines. Like you say the guidebooks are all full of over the top warnings!
Awesome Very cool! I would love to hear tips on how you travel and make your way. Did you stay with the 'mayor'?
what other sorts of lodging did you find.
Fab pictures!
First of all, let me say you are a brave man. I am a Filipino born and raised in Mindanao, and now lives in the U.S., yet never visited Basilan for the reasons that you now know about :-) The division of Muslim and Christian Filipinos has been an issue for a very long time, and I think will not end. It's just like the Jews and the Palestinians. Mindanao culture is very diverse. You are lucky to see a few tribal people in their ethnic clothes - lonely planet is right actually right :-)
i love bangladesh it is so nice and i will love to go anytime its the best place to sun bave even though you will burn really quick anyway god bless u all and have the best time of your life xxx
I am a Serb Whatever your name is whoever wrote this thing. You are obviously very arrogant so I don't see the point of you travelling in the Balkans, all you would do is critisize most things and complain. Such things that you may complain about are poor roads and infrastructure, but you must understand that the reason everything is bad is because of YOUR government. If you would have visited when it was Yugoslavia you would have been shocked to see a Communist country ahead of you in some fields.
You're ignorance is very dangerous my friend, be careful not to voice such opinions in public as you can slip up one day and pay with your life.
Be very careful, obviously this guy Gorian is well educated and knows the truth about everything, I am currently in London and I can see the state that schools are in here. It is actually so appauling I would recommend schools in India better than in the West. People of 15 years of age don't even know where Britain or the US are on the World Map. They are pregnant at 14, go binge drinking in the parks and are a HUGE problem for the Police.
But Gorian, do not be a prick, the reason Serbs don't defend Macedonia is because you sacrificed your soul for your former fellow state and gave the US and NATO your aircraft bases to store and load their aircraft to bomb Serbia in 1999.
You know very well that in the days of Yugoslavia Serbs were the most naiive, they would have died for a Croat or Muslim or Macedonian. When Skopje was COMPLETELY destroyed by an Earthquake Serbs payed for the reconstruction, at the same time, Tito split Serbia into 3 autonomies (Kosovo, Vojvodina and Central Serbia) and look what shit that has landed us in now. At the time nobody noticed because we had blind faith in the glory of Jugoslavija.
Who suffered the heaviest loses in WWII liberating ourselves without the help of the Soviet Red Army, Serbs did. Yet who became President of Yugoslavia? A Croat.
I am a nationalist because Serbs have nothing left but nationalism, you Westerners have battered our country to bits and you are still at it (backing Muslim Albania to take our holy land where our first state was founded - Kosovo).
But you are getting what you deserved. You backed Muslims in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and now they are fucking you up HAHAHAHAHA. Good, more bombs on the tube, more planes into towers, hopefully Canary Wharf will be next.
Check out our amazing capital Belgrade and other galleries on my site:
http://www.pbase.com/stefan_serb
LONG LIVE SERBIA AND GREECE, FUCK THE WEST!
The beauty of perspective you know it's funny: you write a blog, and you insert your personal experiences and inevitably opinions are formed; You think about what you're writing as you write and who your audience is (which most likely is family and friends); regardless, you get lambbasted for writing honestly as you do. Sometimes it just hits too close to home from some people I suppose. But of course you can't know a country in a week or a month or even a year. I only have to say that tolerance, an open mind, and the curiosity to experience another culture are probably some of the most valuable assets that a person can have. I applaud you for writing 'from the hip', noting your ephemeral and insant opbservations. It's evident that you're obviously not a reckless traveler that guzzles beer at every stop. so, keep on writing as you are and who you are, and I'll keep reading...
Thanks Thanks AN, your comments are spot on! If you get a spare moment, a recommendation in terms of cheap but decent (another conundrum perhaps?) accommodation there would be appreciated. I'm being told Ton Sai around the corner...? I might have to "bite the bullet" and for once sit on a highly populated beach with my blowup beach chair and sun tent :)
Ah! The old Thai Beach without the tourists conundrum; wasn't there a book about that, which became a film;-)
12 million tourists will visit Thailand in 2006, so as an 'Anti-Tourist' you'll be terrified!
Personally, I would recommend Hat Rai Lai, it is a beautiful place, and besides; the only true paradise to be found is the one in the mind.
wahib
non-member comment
Very nice !
Interesting page. Reminded me of a book I read a while ago: "Travels in the Skin Trade: Tourism and the Sex Industry" by Jeremy Seabrook. This issue is not as clear cut and easy as it seems. Of course there are many horrible cases of exploitation but the "forty something western guy + twenty something asian girlfriend" story has many hidden sides. Happy travels Jason. Stay safe. w.