Wanted: ultra-cheap, photographer-tolerant country outside U.S.

"Well, I was a little concerned that if I expressed my particular preferences for travel venues there would be misunderstandings or disagreements. However, it's my trip and my preferences."

 

It is indeed your trip and your preferences.

 

"I really don't have any preconceptions about Thailand or Brazil."

 

But you did provide a reason for not wanting to visit these countries:

 

"Regarding Thailand, at the risk of unintentially offending anyone (which I'd never wish to do), I had crossed it off my list because of my impression that the locals, at least in Bangkok, have been exploited by visitors to the extent that I've been doubtful that I'd be able to get a valid impression of the true heart of the country. I've crossed most of Brazil off my list for the same reason - ..."

 

My response was NOT trying to change your perceptions of these countries, but to express my opinion that a travel photographer attempting to get "a valid impression of the true heart of the country" in a short time is unrealistic. Peace, and have a good trip.

I haven't been, but my girlfriend keeps telling me we should just go live in South Korea because its so cheap. She lived there for a year teaching english, made decent money and did a lot of traveling. Maybe a working vacation?

Matt, at least one good source for info from an American who's lived in South Korea for a while might be a Baptist missionary. The Southern Baptists in particular have active missions in South Korea. Those missionaries I've spoken with have been able to offer interesting perspectives on being a visitor to that culture as well as how Christian missionaries have melded with the South Korean culture and how South Koreans have melded their culture into Western Christianity.

 

Some of the most interesting observations were completely unrelated to religion, tho'. For example, one missionary I spoke with said that when a traffic accident occurs an obligatory argument immediately ensures. Whoever loses the argument is considered liable for the damages. I don't know how accurate this is but it's an interesting perspective.

I lived and worked in Korea on two occasions, in total for over a year. It ain't that cheap, was on par with Spain at that time (1991 and 1997). But, the food is great, the partying hardy, and the people nice; most of the young can manage english.

 

I ran over a drunk in 1991 who was stumbling in the middle of a main road at the end of my shift, coinciding with the hour that the bars close (midnight). I was put into the Ulsan jail for a month until the law decided the fault was his. But, me (my company through insurance) had to pay roughly $5000 for his lost income, and pain and suffering. Interesting indeed.

Sri Lanka is very travel friendly. It's really easy to get around. Lots of people speak English and almost everyone we met was either very friendly or indifferent to us. You will meet bunches of tourists but, in the cultural triangle area anyway, they're mostly Sri Lankan tourists. Most of the SL tourists were very friendly and happy to start conversations with us about thier cultural treasures. As for western tourists, they were mostly from Europe, very few Americans.

 

It's not as cheap as India (or so I understand) but it's pretty cheap. It has a ton of photographic potential - nature, cities, towns, rural areas, ancient ruins, modern development . . . . The only concern would be that it's a bit small for 6 months of travel but you'd get to really explore and spend time in each place you visited.

Stephen: Your experience mirrors what I've heard from other Americans who've spent time in South Korea and Okinawa. If you are on the road, even as a passenger in a taxi, and there's an accident, you'll probably be presumed guilty until bailed out by insurance, family or the U.S. Consulate. I'd probably walk.

 

Jennifer: Thanks for the additional info about Sri Lanka. It's sounding more appealing all the time. I doubt I'd spend several months there, tho', unless I could be useful helping to rebuild or doing volunteer work of some kind. It's a little late in the game for that, of course, but they may still be able to use a hand here and there.

 

BTW, how's the climate? I've had heat exhaustion (not heat stroke, which is far more serious) a couple of times during the past few years and can't handle the heat as well as I used to. Is there a particular time of year that's ideal in terms of comfort while still being conducive to photography (i.e., not raining all the time - for that I could go to Seattle, drink coffee and look self-important with my notebook PC in public in a mopey sorta way ;> ).

 

I hate to be such a wimp but I gotta be realistic - I can't afford to become a casualty while traveling solo far from home. (Unless it involves dodging bullets during a civil war, in which case I'm up for all kinds of irresponsible excitement.) Meanwhile I'm trying to build up my heat tolerance here in Texas. I managed a couple of hours, with breaks and plenty of water, the other day before needing a nap. Actually, I did almost as well as my hyperactive 16-y/o niece who wasted energy griping about the heat rather than napping in the shade of a gazebo like I did.

 

Does anyone over age 30 remember approximately when they realized that griping wastes more energy than fixing the problem, or simply ignoring it? I seem to recall being a rather late bloomer myself.

Nepal. Or you can start from there and move along to India & Sri Lanka. You can take Nepal as "India for beginners" - less crowded and much less demanding from a westerner -, and Kathmandu valley has possibly the highest concentration of photogenic stuff in the world.

Having lived in Sri Lanka it is very humid considering that you are near to the equator.

12 noon to 2PM are generally the hottest partv of the day.Generally daytime temperatures are around 27C to 32C.

 

If you are travelling near the coast it tends to be cooler anyway.

 

If you travel to the mountanous regions like Kandy the temperature and humidity is much less as you would expect.

 

Our English friend(in his seventies at tht time)and his daughter stayed with us in Sri Lanka during summer and christmas times a few year ago.We travelled around the island and they have had no problems.

 

As long as you take the appropriate precautions you should be OK.

 

It will probably take you a few days to get used to the humidity though.

I'm trying to spend a little more time outdoors at midday by the lake than I usually would during Texas summers. We'll see if I can get acclimated.

So much depends on your personal heat tolerance. I'm oblivious to heat until about when the TV news starts posting health warnings. My husband gets over heated much more easily. So, we went to Sri Lanka in December. I and our traveling companion were fine. I was actually pretty comfortable the whole time in lightweight long pants, short sleeve shirts, and sandals. My husband got heat rash. We were both comfortable at night - the marvels of the ceiling fan.

 

At home in DC on summer nights, he blasts the fan and I sleep under two sheets.

 

As for offending people, I'm not sure how touchy a subject the political conflict is. There was a cease fire while we were there (still is) but there had recently been some political drama (by U.S. standards) with the president disbanding parliament (I think). Ordinary folks didn't seem shaken up about it and felt it would get resolved. There are young soldiers with machine guns on some street corners in Colombo but I regularly see more firepower in DC. We didn't travel into the Tamil Tiger controlled areas - mostly north and north east (I think there also are ethnic Tamils in the hill country that don't identify with the Tigers but nearly my entire understanding of the subject comes from one friend and the history section of my guide book so you should definitely do your own research.) But Jafna (far north) has been recently opened for tourism and Trincomalli (east coast) is supposed to be gorgeous - we just didn't have time - you would.

 

We didn't get into much detail on the conflict with folks. We spent more time talking about life in general, cultural differences, and other social issues. People kept asking about Iraq (this was Dec03). Conversations sometimes when like this "Where are you from" "USA" "Oh, Sadam Hussein" or "Oh, George Bush". One of our tour guides was glad Sadam had been ousted because he was a terrorist "like the Tigers" but I don't know how wide a sentiment that was. In hindsight I kind of wish I'd been braver about digging deeper in issues like that.

 

As for volunteering, it's probably not too late at all; there's a lot of rebuilding to do. My housemate is going in August to volunteer in a province on the east coast and plans to travel a bit after that.

 

A good place to discuss this with other travelers is thorntree.lonelyplant.com. My only word of warning is the whole forum tends to be a bit alarmist about safety and scams so take everything on that subject with a grain of salt. We never once felt unsafe.

 

Sorry to ramble. Good luck.

Oh, I take that back. I did feel unsafe - in traffic. Don't drive and try not to look.

 

Also, December is the dry season in the south and west and the wet season in the east and north - I think. You'll have to look that up.

I would be careful about going into Tamil Tiger controlled areas though.If you are part of a NGO you maybe OK but if anything flares up the government cannot help you.Also there is a split in the Tamil Tigers own ranks.

 

Trinco and that area are supposed to be nice.Pulmoddai which is in this region has beautiful black beaches.Before the conflict many people used to go there.My dad says it was really nice and the water around the beaches was not more than waist height for upto a mile from it(at least from what he said)!

 

However Trinco has been badly hit by the tsuanami.

 

Pulmoddai is probably not really safe to travel to at the moment though.The LTTE have a problem with companies extracting this sand(it contains high grade titanium ore) and sunk a ship there a couple of years ago.

BTW most Sinhala and Muslim people hate the LTTE.Also this sentiment is also shared among the more moderate Tamil groups whose representatives were murdered by them.

I was in Trinco a few days after the ceasefire was signed in Dec 2001. Great beach, basically no tourists for 20+ years. Worth the trek up to the northeast IMO.

Thanks again, SL. As a former journlist it would be tempting for me to at least converse about local issues, if not actually get involved in "PJ" or "documentary" photography on any format level.

 

As always, self-education and caution should be packed in one's suitcase along with clean underwear.

If you want some history behind the conflict here are some links

 

1.)http://www.ices.lk/sl_database/ethnic_conflict/time_line.shtml

 

2.)http://www.american.edu/TED/ice/lanka-conflict.htm

 

3.)http://acd.iiss.org/armedconflict/MainPages/dsp_ConflictTimeline.asp?ConflictID=174&YearID=869

 

4.)http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ce.html

 

Of course I cannot vouch if any of these sources are truly impartial though!

 

I hope this helps!

BTW depending on who writes it the historical accounts can be slightly skewed!

> SL ATTANAPOLA , jun 22, 2005; 06:18 p.m.

> BTW depending on who writes it the historical accounts can be slightly skewed!

 

Agreed. You have to be aware of what filter is on the lens to get a true picture of the subject.

 

I was carrying the Lonely Planet in Sri Lanka. That history didn't seem so bad but I had nothing to compare it with and it was useful for me at the time to get a sense of some of the many issues at play. I've read a number of travel guidebook histories that seemed very slanted or judgemental of the country. Still, it makes an interesting contrast to the cheerleading-type history you often hear from tour guides - neither tells the whole story. And while you get another perspective from the people you meet, they aren't necessarily historians and probably are not impartial either. But, it's part of what makes travel interesting.