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Travel The MEGA Travel Thread!

The math ability of Japanese students is far higher than their American counterparts. You couldn't say the same about their writing or social skills though.
 
^ Agreed. In East Asia, education is about rote and quantitative learning. Critical thinking is not really on the menu, and social learning doesn't go much beyond deference to authority and falling into place in the pecking order. In fact, I think it's reversed: in North America, very little serious book learning gets accomplished, and the lasting lessons learned are almost entirely social.

College in Japan and Taiwan is where students spread their social wings.
 
You know it's interesting Maria, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I was planning on applying to a handful of Philippine med schools if I hadn't gotten into any in my home country. (Along with Guadalajara U. and a few in the Caribbean.) It's supposed to be pretty challenging to someone raised in American-education-model schools -- Filipino students who are med school material are very comfortable with more or less verbatim memorization of lots of text, and professors test to this audience. That and if you don't speak Tagalog, you miss a lot.

I'm not sure if I'd put a kid of mine through a local East Asian compulsory school, if me and the Mrs end up back in that part of the world. It would have to be a pretty good one, and I'd definitely have a plan B ready if it turned out to be a disaster. (S)he'd damn well learn the local language though, in any case.
 
I am adamant about insisting the the Philippines is culturally not an "Asian" (as in, East Asian) country the way China, Japan, or Thailand are.

If I had to, I'd group the Philippines with the Pacific, more specifically it's American-colonial parts (think Samoa, Guam and Hawaii...etc)

One of the countless things that disgusted me about Thai society is it's attitude toward migrant workers/students from the Philippines. They are looked-down upon, mistreated and blatantly underpaid, despite being usually much better qualified (and not to mention, more reasonable) than their Thai counterparts.
 
^ I already knew you thought that way about the Philippines darling Jammy <3 ;) Also dont forget Mexico.....gotta take into account the years of colonial Spanish rule! I feel a similar kindred spirit with Latin America actually... a lot of of Filipinos I know feel this way.
 
MyDoorsAreOpen said:
You know it's interesting Maria, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I was planning on applying to a handful of Philippine med schools if I hadn't gotten into any in my home country. (Along with Guadalajara U. and a few in the Caribbean.) It's supposed to be pretty challenging to someone raised in American-education-model schools -- Filipino students who are med school material are very comfortable with more or less verbatim memorization of lots of text, and professors test to this audience. That and if you don't speak Tagalog, you miss a lot.
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That is indeed interesting. We have very good med schools and the tuition is a fraction of what you'd normally pay for education in other places.
 
Yeah Jamshyd, the Philippines (though I've never been there) don't fall neatly into one sociocultural bloc, I don't think. I've heard many Filipinos tell me they feel a stronger affinity with South Pacific cultures, and with Mexico, than with China or Thailand. I met a number of Filipino guest workers in Taiwan, and they struck me as anything but lazy!

Interestingly, I think the Philippines has really made the best of a shitty situation, and may actually be better suited than a lot of their neighbors to making their way in a multicultural world, as a result of so much diversity at home AND so many colonial experiences. Even though the more homogeneous Asian countries that were never colonized by the West see their 'purity' as a source of pride and strength, it has the disadvantage of making these countries less able to interface well with other cultures.

Chinese intellectuals have come out and said that they wonder if their country would have been better off colonized, especially by Britain. They note that all the areas of China that have prospered in any way were colonial concessions of some sort to a foreign power. Maybe Chinese culture alone didn't have what it takes to compete in the industrialization game, but Chinese culture with a bit of foreign influence, did.

I wonder the same thing about Thailand, which, like China, almost was colonized.
 
Hey look at me !!! Four nights ago I got drugged and robbed US$900 on Hat Rin beach.

Eh . . well I still hot my 12 trips and the full moon party tonight :-)

But buy was that allot of money too loose to those fucking thai pick pockets who work togather with drink vendors who but shit in your drinks.

Angry so angry . . . but I just have too let it go.
 
8ft-Sativa said:
Hey look at me !!! Four nights ago I got drugged and robbed US$900 on Hat Rin beach.
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lol, what on earth were you doing on KPG anyway... and with that kind of cash you are asking for something to happen...
 
Had Rin is a shithole ... and the full moon party a nasty gathering on the whole.

Koh Pha Ngan has so much more to offer.

And Carl is right... you kind of asked for it to happen. That doesn't make it right, and I know that the Thais are indeed a thieving lot, on the whole. But then again, opportunities make thieves, and if I were a Thai person in dire straits who hasn't managed to benefit from the tourist industry and saw rich hedonistic tourists all around me -- partygoers who don't give a fuck about how the cash they bring into the country continues to widen the gap between the rich and the poor and who oftzen don't display any respect for the locals -- then I probably wouldn't think twice about it either ... just take what you can... sad but true.

Three times so far I got stuff stolen in Thailand... a modest amount of cash from the outside pocket of my backpack at a hotel when my stuff was in the left-luggage room for just a few hours... an mp3 player that I had left on the windowsill of my beach bungalow with the bungalow locked but the window open... a tshirt and a set of 7 specially selected crystals (one for each chakra) that i had put out on the sand near my hut when it was full moon, to energise them overnight... I can understand your anger! But, in every case I had given the thieves ample opportunity... and basically I have learnt that the Thais are very crafty and well quick and efficient, doesn't take much window of opportunity and off they go. But I like to think it's their karma later on... they're gonna get shit for it and if I can't punch them in the face for it, they're in for whatever they deserve sooner or later. Just like me... I suppose it was my karma to get these things stolen... so I must accept it.

Love everybody, trust nobody.
 
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Jamshyd said:
Thai society is it's attitude toward migrant workers/students from the Philippines. They are looked-down upon, mistreated and blatantly underpaid, despite being usually much better qualified (and not to mention, more reasonable) than their Thai counterparts.
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same could be said for how Europe treats its migrant workers, wherever they're from... and I think the Arabs give the Philippinos shit as well. And I wiould be surprised if they're much better off in Hong Kong, but I don't know this for sure...
 
Ximot said:
But I like to think it's their karma later on... they're gonna get shit for it and if I can't punch them in the face for it, they're in for whatever they deserve sooner or later. Just like me... I suppose it was my karma to get these things stolen... so I must accept it.
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This just resonates with me so much because I believe this too.
 
Yeah . . . $900 on Hat Rin not my finest moment. Full moon party is a sess pool of filth but hey I saw it and i can say it now. Now let's move on too India in 8 days and do some REAL traveling. And watch and open all my own drinks!
 
You can do REAL travelling in Thailand, all depends on where you're gonna go.

Somehow this attitude of "go there, let me tell you, it's better than here... I've been there, believe me maaan" --- this kind of oneupmanship of experience... hmm... goes against the grain with me, seems it's more about WHO's the most discerning, WHO's had the wildest or most genuine experience... ego stuff... don't like it. Like it's more about the people who talk about the place than the place itself... like, look at me me meee I have been to INDIA... so cool...

mind you, I still haven't been to India. I will, before long, but I haven't. Maybe what I just wrote is wrong.

REAL travelling... hmm... what is REAL? The Bible talks of throwing pearls before swine... I think some folks can get a REAL travelling experience out of walking down the street in the next village, half an hour from where they live. Some folks can go to the remotest places ever, virtually untouched by man, and it is lost on them.
 
^You'll see what is meant when you go to India. It's not meant to be elitist, in my estimation...
The big difference being India is made for Indians, and most of the places traveled to in Thailand by westerners were made specifically for the tourists. This follows all aspects, from transportation, lodging, food, and pretty much anything else. I'm only speculating, but the reason people consider it 'real' traveling or more hardcore or whatever, is that the air-con mini bus is absent, the McDonald's is no where to be seen, and the crappy bland renditions of local foods are absent. You can't hide in Air Con in India, you are forced to experience it...

But hey, just my estimation on the "real traveling" in India ideas.
 
If it has a Lonely Planet guide book its not real travelling ;)

All about the Dem. Rep of Congo if you ask me.
 
Carl, some places in India are definitely built up for tourists. Darjeeling was one that I visited. But I do agree with you -- it's easier to find interesting places that aren't touristy at all in India than Thailand. Frankly though, I'm not sure if I'd go way off the beaten path in India without a trusted local to take me around.
 
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