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Some folks here already know my background but I'll bullet-point it again for those who may not:
Born: Hyderabad India
I lived in the following places outside of the U.S.:
1 A few different places in India
2 Casablanca, Morocco
3 Milton-Keynes, U.K.
I lived in the following places within the U.S.:
1 Rochester, NY
2 Houston, TX
3 Jacksonville, FL
4 Chicago, IL
5 Erie, PA
6 Raleigh, NC
7 Winston-Salem, NC
8 Boone, NC
9 Around half a dozen small towns in northwestern PA
Places where I visited:
Damn near everywhere -- far too many to make a comprehensive list. I've been to all the U.S. states except for the extreme southwest (Arizona, New Mexico) and have visited every major city except Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix. I've been to the far eastern and western provinces of Canada but not the middle ones.
I've been to all of the European nations except for "iffy" places like Bosnia and the other former Yugoslavian nations nor have I been to Switzerland. I avoided northern Africa though I *really really* wanted to visit Egypt but I never got there. I had no desire to visit the Middle East due to the restrictions placed on women in many of those places so I never went. Closest I came was to Haifa and Tel-Aviv in Israel.
Finally, I've been "around" Asia somewhat -- China, Bangladesh, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore.
Sorry, Australians but I never made it there.
None of this traveling and moving around had any real effect on my religious views though, as I sort of said, I really didn't have any desire to visit Muslim nations because far too many of those places treat women like garbage and, even if you're from the West, they still expect you to abide by their customs and restrictions. I just said "no thanks" and spent my travel dollars elsewhere; I wasn't going to fund in any least way the economies of nations that demand women be covered head-to-toe in identity-stealing clothing, places where women aren't allowed to drive, go to school, vote, hold a job, or where they can't even go out into the street without a male escort who must be an immediate family member.
I know that the Quran rarely if ever supports these draconian and misogynistic rules but, in far too many places, subjugating women has become a part of both the Muslim faith and the Middle Eastern culture. Back when I was traveling, it was somewhat worse than it is now.
I suppose one could say that the very first, THE very first nigglings of atheism began due to this mistreatment of women by a harsh and unforgiving faith - which I saw personally in some parts of Casablanca.
My traveling didn't have much of an impact on my religious beliefs. For most of my life, I just assumed that God existed -- but only in a vague sort of way. I never had a serious conviction, rarely ever went to church, rarely ever prayed, and rarely ever read any holy books.
When I did read the Bible -- on my own without the "guidance" of a pastor who I know would have steered me away from the inconvenient verses and rationalize heavily those stories like Job and Abraham/Isaac -- my atheism began to come together. Couple that with a sudden resurgence of authoritarian fundamentalism in the small town where I spent my adolescence, I had had enough.
Thanks Shirina.
Places lived: Kent, Uk. London, Uk. Wales, Uk. I suppose you could say I've "Lived" in Burma, but more very long visits. It has been instructive to watch it change from a Marxist dictatorship to a capitalist one. Matching of course the example of China and Vietnam, and perhaps laos, though the grip of the One party state on Myanmar (Burma) has been prised off in the last elections that gave it the first democracy since U Nu, in the 50's.
In order, so far as i can remember, of first visit.
France, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (with Bali)
Burma, Nepal, India, Sri lanka.
Peru.
Cambodia, Hong Kong and Macau.
Mexico planned for later this year.
I have transferred in Turkey, Bangladesh, Bahrain, AbuDhabi, Quatar and Houston, That was as much as I wanted. And I have one Rule - never fly a Dry Airline (1).
P.s I may say that I Did Buddhism in Sri lanka and Thailand before marriage and in Burma after it. I noted during that time the contempt shown towards Buddhism by Indonesians - whether Muslims or Catholics (the Indonesian Chinese who tend to be Christians, are pretty tolerant about it) and the contempt shown by Sinhala Buddhists towards Hinduism. Just sayin'.
(1) actually no 2 - always be nice to cabin crew. An awful lot of Bad stuff can happen to your food on the way from the Galley to your seat.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 08-29-2017 at 10:19 AM..
Ooooh, hey Transponder, what do you have planned for Mexico? I've only done Baja and the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez.
Meet up with my Peru Pal and his dear lady (a tour guide in Lima) and say a short week doing Aztec and Toltec stuff, and a week doing Mayan (probably fly internal to Cajun). I am not a Beach person. I would much rather swan about a museum, or as the savants have it "a nerdy bore-ass".
I'll post piccies on Blog, unless Montezuma's revenge lays me out.
^Kewl, have fun! Sounds like a good opportunity to compare w/ Incan civilization
Yes. similarities (stone work, human sacrifice, no wheels, man) and differences, Monotheist (oh yes) no writing - just Qupu,, Inca vestal Virgins, makes one wonder what (if any) was the connection.
Yes. similarities (stone work, human sacrifice, no wheels, man) and differences, Monotheist (oh yes) no writing - just Qupu,, Inca vestal Virgins, makes one wonder what (if any) was the connection.
Back to fractals? a single formula developed and expressed somewhat differently in different times and places?
Now we are talking about "traveling in the mind. I had a passing interest in the work of Heyerdahl.
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