'Nam

[N.O.R.F]

At the very least head south where the Muslims will treat you like a king and the islands are stunning. Tell them I said Sawatika.

I hear there is a bit of unrest down there :confused:

 

Well it all depends on winning the contract

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by sheherazade:

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ThePoint:

There is little point in traveling to insular and culturally closed societies such Japan or South Korea. Japan the second richest country on earth barely permits any immigrants. I don't know about you but I generally wanna enjoy myself and learn while travelling. And to keep the 'alien' factor as low as possible. From all that I know about certain parts of Asia - this would be tough.

Bro, have u been to Japan and Soth Korea? Will u judge entire peoples by their immigration policy?

 

I had a notion that I would not visit South Korea until I met 3 Koreans(2 were friends and one was a teacher of ethics they met along the way) a couple of years ago. I spent 3 days in the company of the most welcoming, caring, curious people. They wrote down their home addresses for me and argued over whom I would stay with when I would visit South Korea. The teacher taught teenage girls back in Korea and whilst on his travels he updated a website on a nightly basis to inform his students back home of his adventures and shared his pictures. Every night he did this and the girls responded with gusto to this window into the world. How many teachers do u know that would that when away from their students?

 

He spoke only a little English and told me on the first night that he had spent his Internet time that night writing about somebody he met called Sheh. My immediate reaction was surprise and discomfort. The following day he told me that his girls loved me, that they wanted to know more about me, my culture, my religion, what I looked like, what could I tell him that they could learn? Initially I felt a little weird about being discussed on a Korean website, which I could not even comprehend, by dozens of teenage girls and a very quiet but determined ethics teacher. Eventually I appreciated the power of the openess, the Internet and stopped being bothered by the suspicion that my picture would end up in cyberspace. I told him about Islam and Somalia and everything else he wanted to know. I never asked what he would do with them but he did take pictures of me and would nod and say, 'Beautiful face'. I realised I was being insular and if he could see beauty in an alien face I could see beauty in his sharing me with his girls through words and pictures.

 

When we parted company, he wrote his details neatly on a piece paper and handed it to me quietly. I unfolded the paper to find his address, numbers and, 'Thanks for you my life is more rich.'

 

And vice very versa.

sniff

[/QB]

Well - I never said there weren't good, decent and friendly Koreans or Japanese. I just said they are hardly a hotbed of tourism - for very understandable reasons due mainly to culture. That said - I await your dispatches from Korea and Japan and the faboulous welcome you will most certainly get there.