I really liked this post👍...... but then again I think I read 99% of them and like them all... I’ve been to Issan a couple times but never in rocket 🚀 season😢😊😊
Interesting. I do not start with the map and rough itinerary. I usually home in on a country/area and then start to do some basic research using a combination of guide books and the internet. For me I looked for my "local experts" on the forums such as Lonely Planet and Travelfish as I am not into this super teckie stuff like Instagram or twitter. Of course on the forums you have to get to know who you are talking to but going through their past posts is a great way to get an idea. Also if you follow certain country forums then you already have a bit of knowledge about some posters so when you post for info about a new country/area if they respond then you know they should be listened to.
So only after picking everyone brains (including Stuart when I was visiting Flores/Sumbawa/Lombok I start to sketch out my plan and work out the practicalities start /finish, must sees and the like and plan B (usually options to get to finish point if spend too long on the way).
For my local guides I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked by teachers in small towns to come and speak English to their students (often in Asia the private classes after school). I usually travel slow and will spend several days in these places and many of these teachers have then offered to show me around their local areas giving me exactly the same experiences as Stuart. Of course not local but the other great source of ideas and info is as you travel fellow travelers
Of course chance encounters with locals can lead to all sorts of surprises. Sitting in a Jeepnie in Dumaguete I felt something brushing my shoulder I turned round to find it was a 6 year old girl and her mother quickly explained there was an insect that her daughter was brushing off. We got talking and I was invited to lunch with her family. It turned out that her village was high in the mountains, the scenery stunning and so remote that even the moto bike taxis that we had to use to get there from the Jeepnie terminus had to be pushed some of the way. Had it not been for that insect I would have spent the day in some boring small town looking at the mountains wishing it was possible to get to them.
One of the joys of being a slow traveler. usually less of the teaching and more conversation / playing games depending on age and just giving the kids the experience of hearing and meeting a real English speaker.
it can be hugely rewarding. In Narathiwat which I have been visiting for years I now have numerous friends in the town - parents of the kids and had it not been for Covid I expect that I would have been teaching an ex students little son English now.
I remember way back around the turn of the century when Pailin, Cambodia, was well off the radar walking round the town and constantly being invited for dinner/drinks/watch the football by different families "you are the foreigner teaching my son/daughter English" and being taken out during the day by the teacher to see the surrounding area
A very interesting and well-written post - I no longer harbour the secret wish to be a travel writer (she says, lying through her teeth). Maybe in my next life?
I really liked this post👍...... but then again I think I read 99% of them and like them all... I’ve been to Issan a couple times but never in rocket 🚀 season😢😊😊
Next time!
Interesting. I do not start with the map and rough itinerary. I usually home in on a country/area and then start to do some basic research using a combination of guide books and the internet. For me I looked for my "local experts" on the forums such as Lonely Planet and Travelfish as I am not into this super teckie stuff like Instagram or twitter. Of course on the forums you have to get to know who you are talking to but going through their past posts is a great way to get an idea. Also if you follow certain country forums then you already have a bit of knowledge about some posters so when you post for info about a new country/area if they respond then you know they should be listened to.
So only after picking everyone brains (including Stuart when I was visiting Flores/Sumbawa/Lombok I start to sketch out my plan and work out the practicalities start /finish, must sees and the like and plan B (usually options to get to finish point if spend too long on the way).
For my local guides I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked by teachers in small towns to come and speak English to their students (often in Asia the private classes after school). I usually travel slow and will spend several days in these places and many of these teachers have then offered to show me around their local areas giving me exactly the same experiences as Stuart. Of course not local but the other great source of ideas and info is as you travel fellow travelers
Of course chance encounters with locals can lead to all sorts of surprises. Sitting in a Jeepnie in Dumaguete I felt something brushing my shoulder I turned round to find it was a 6 year old girl and her mother quickly explained there was an insect that her daughter was brushing off. We got talking and I was invited to lunch with her family. It turned out that her village was high in the mountains, the scenery stunning and so remote that even the moto bike taxis that we had to use to get there from the Jeepnie terminus had to be pushed some of the way. Had it not been for that insect I would have spent the day in some boring small town looking at the mountains wishing it was possible to get to them.
Great points! Esp the local connections through teachers etc—if only I had the time to slow down and teach a class!
One of the joys of being a slow traveler. usually less of the teaching and more conversation / playing games depending on age and just giving the kids the experience of hearing and meeting a real English speaker.
it can be hugely rewarding. In Narathiwat which I have been visiting for years I now have numerous friends in the town - parents of the kids and had it not been for Covid I expect that I would have been teaching an ex students little son English now.
I remember way back around the turn of the century when Pailin, Cambodia, was well off the radar walking round the town and constantly being invited for dinner/drinks/watch the football by different families "you are the foreigner teaching my son/daughter English" and being taken out during the day by the teacher to see the surrounding area
I think you're on to something :)
A very interesting and well-written post - I no longer harbour the secret wish to be a travel writer (she says, lying through her teeth). Maybe in my next life?