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The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

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Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#51

Post by robotresearcher »

_yb2s wrote: post #49
ceejayoz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are parts of New Jersey 11 miles from the closest bit of New England. I'd be inclined to treat that as close enough.

From the names it seems reasonable to me that "New York" and "New Jersey" should be parts of "New England." As a Californian, I thought of all of the NE as New England and am surprised that they aren't. Wikipedia says the "Dominion of New England in America" in the 1600s did include New York and New Jersey.

Neither is old Jersey in old England.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#52

Post by jjtheblunt »

_yb2s wrote: post #49
ceejayoz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are parts of New Jersey 11 miles from the closest bit of New England. I'd be inclined to treat that as close enough.

From the names it seems reasonable to me that "New York" and "New Jersey" should be parts of "New England." As a Californian, I thought of all of the NE as New England and am surprised that they aren't. Wikipedia says the "Dominion of New England in America" in the 1600s did include New York and New Jersey.

New York was Dutch, not English.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#53

Post by altacc »

AlbertCory wrote: post #47

I went to Thailand on an Excite/Adventure tour in 1989. I was the only American in the group and it was mostly younger people. Checking into the hotel in Bangkok as a single man, they just assumed I was there for sex, and asked if I wanted a girl sent up to my room (the answer was no, in case you're wondering). We also trekked through the "native tribes" areas in the north, where the tribes had been "persuaded" not t…

The Karen (no S) you met were most likely refugees from Burma. For decades their lives have been very controlled by the Thai authorities, who use them as exotic tourist exhibits. The Thais don’t allow them to farm for themselves as they want to keep them dependent, subservient and profitable (I confer no judgment in the tourists who visit them as it’s complicated). So they tend to have secret fields in the jungle so that they can grow their own food and not suffer the whims of their hosts.

The Karen have long been one of the primary armed groups fighting for their own state and against Burma’s military junta. As a result they’ve been persecuted by the junta. Currently their territory has some of the worst combat in the ongoing civil war.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#54

Post by shriphani »

AlbertCory wrote: post #47

I went to Thailand on an Excite/Adventure tour in 1989. I was the only American in the group and it was mostly younger people. Checking into the hotel in Bangkok as a single man, they just assumed I was there for sex, and asked if I wanted a girl sent up to my room (the answer was no, in case you're wondering). We also trekked through the "native tribes" areas in the north, where the tribes had been "persuaded" not t…

There's a substantial Karen presence in MN now (I think these are Burmese refugees and not from the Thai side of the border).

Wonder what those areas were like pre-internet and pre-social media. Do you have a blog post or pics somewhere?

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#55

Post by op00to »

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #24
coldtea wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you can still smoke hash in Afghanistan, I'd bet...

In the 70s it was arguably safer to do so in Afghanistan than the US. Now it’s legal some places in the US and Afghanistan has a brutally repressive moralistic government.

The US isn’t brutally repressive yet, but we’re constantly working on it!

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#56

Post by Melatonic »

snickerer wrote: post #45

I am very grateful that modern technology has led me to exciting places that I would not have found without it. I traveled for 20 months between 2016 and 2018 in Asia and Europe with my self-made 4WD camper. I spent months in the Mongolian steppe and an Iranian desert. Without the map data from the Openstreetmap project (and a satellite navigation device) I would not have found many fantastic places and wonderful rou…

How did Mongolia compare to other places you have traveled? I have been eyeing going there for awhile now - I was mainly planning to maybe spend a few days in Ulaanbataar since I would need to fly in there and then make my way over to the Altai mountains to do some backpacking and mountaineering.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#57

Post by symlinkk »

tomatowurst wrote: post #43

sex tourism was also probably a thing back then

Yeah this is the elephant in the room that no one talks about. And it’s not just about old guys going over there and picking up prostitutes, young guys will go over there and pick up regular girls on Tinder, just because it’s way easier to get laid there than in the West, for a bunch of controversial reasons that we aren’t allowed to talk about.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#58

Post by eezurr »

>In every culture the native costume is the first thing to go, native architecture is next. Food is one of the last to go, even in modern places where people are wearing blue jeans. So these days I like to go to places where there is still native costume and native architecture. Unfortunately these areas are shrinking. I'm not nostalgic about it; I understand the reasons behind the changes, and it's a net improvement, but someday they will be gone and I want to capture them.

And with that comes the expansion/availability of flavored sugar water and cigarettes at their local corner shop, and the dissolution of community trust.

Im beginning to question if modernization is the right choice for everyone (or anyone).

Some hard evidence is diet changes negatively affecting certain groups of people (e.g. Aboriginals, possibly African Americans). Some groups' metabolisms have a really difficult time handling wheat and/or sugar, leading to obesity.

Softer evidence includes general happiness (which is an important metric when considering which life is "better"). It's a meme, and a truth, that simpler people in Africa are happier than us modernized folk. Its not often you meet a modern man that is present, undistracted, and unwanting.

The curse for unmodernized societies today is the communication available to the outside world. Humans are cursed to be discontent once they find out there are better options available.

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#59

Post by throwaway6734 »

eezurr wrote: post #58

>In every culture the native costume is the first thing to go, native architecture is next. Food is one of the last to go, even in modern places where people are wearing blue jeans. So these days I like to go to places where there is still native costume and native architecture. Unfortunately these areas are shrinking. I'm not nostalgic about it; I understand the reasons behind the changes, and it's a net improvement…

It's a meme, and a truth, that simpler people in Africa are happier than us modernized folk

This is not a truth, but definitely a meme

Re: The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

#60

Post by kjs3 »

exabrial wrote: post #41

My next job I want to travel again. I spent three years traveling to not-sexy places in the USA an UK, and a year going between US and China. Despite note being hot destinations in any of the countries, it was still fascinating. I quit a year before the pandemic because there was a loneliness about it, and I was never going to find a significant other if I was always gone. During the pandemic I took up Mountain Bikin…

I never want to travel for a job ever again if I can avoid it, and it seems that the world has changed enough that's an option (fingers crossed).

I spent most of my early career traveling all over the place. Meetings in 3 cities in 2 countries in a day? No worries. Got to be 8 time zones away for lunch tomorrow? My carryon is already packed. I got to see great things; always found a way to eek out a little time here and there to explore. When I could book-end a trip with weekends that let me get out were the best.

But, in the end, business travel is about business. The movie "Up in the Air" hits really close to home (tho I didn't lay people off when I got there...usually). I have (had) a job to do wherever I landed that trumped any extracurricular plans I might have. The physical process of business travel has gone from mildly annoying to something out of Camus. Worse...every year older, it's harder and less pleasant. And in the end, with a small exceptions, the inside of an office and hotel room doesn't change much country to country, and on many trips, that's all you see.

From now on, when I travel, I want it to be purposeful. It will be about the destination, and not about whatever I can squeeze in around my business obligations.

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