The Wanderings of busman7

Another similarity among countries of the world that the busman takes note of is the schools & their busing practices or lack thereof. Now every country has schools & about the only difference, other than the buildings which vary due to climate, is the flag of the country where they are located. The same routine occurs across the planet with students arriving on bicycles, parents dropping kids off at elementary  schools or students arriving by various methods of transportation city buses to pickup trucks or even as in India yellow school buses.

From these conveyances stream bright faced young people in their school’s uniform ready for another day’s progress in growing & learning. Wait a minute, have been away for so long that it just dawned on me that there is a BIG difference at Ontario’s public schools where, unlike the separate & private schools, the students do NOT wear a uniform & the quality of the education in this broken system clearly shows a difference as does the behavior of the majority of students who have not been taught to respect others or even themselves! Not saying that a uniform makes for better learning but perhaps the lack of one shows the administration’s lack of professionalism, knowledge & caring which clearly shows up in the students attitudes that are substandard to the rest of the world!

Also noticed Montessori Schools in many countries, including the Philippines, which shows there are parents everywhere who have the bit of extra money that ensures their kids a bit of an edge from those in the public systems. The more one travels the more similarities one sees.

OK regular followers of this blog might have noticed changes in writing style, sometimes more of a travelogue other times personal experiences, the reason being at times I have spent time alone with only minimal contact with other travelers & at other times I have interacted with others on a more intimate basis; ie the Russian army officer on the Trans-Siberian train with no English language skills  who managed to communicate by drawing pictures (which he was pretty good at), all these experiences have led to the belief that we as human beings are an inherintately  good hearted species & seek to get along. However our governments can’t allow this as then their “power” over us would be eroded (can’t let the sheep think!!

That said this blog is written in real time on windows writer but posted when I have Wi-Fi access some times might seem out of sync & at times I might be a tad inebriated (like tonight) but that is when my true feelings appear & I don’t give a flying fluck what anybody thinks about them!!

Guess the main point that I have realized during my 11 months of travel since Oct/08 is that #1 North America is not the center of the universe (let alone Hog Town YYZ) & that the other 90+-% of the world does not think/live like or even comprehends how we think! #2 It doesn’t matter as China/Asia is going to dictate the economic  future  of NA & there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it except learn to live with reality!

That said it’s going to be a bitch for North Americans to learn to live without the family car & be dependant on nonexistent public transportation, lookout Guate City, San Salvador, Managua as Toronto  & other NA cities will take over your status as the most dangerous American cities, think Washington DC already has!

By the way Asian cities seem really safe in comparison as have walked around Manila, Bangkok, Delhi & even Kathmandu at night (like 3-4 am) & felt safer than in parts of Oshawa ON pop 100,000!!!

OH Yeah guess the thing I wanted to say when I started this post was that anyone living in North America that’s interested in getting a view of the world as it really is, not the CNN version, is for your next vacation give Bangkok a try, if you check the deals you’re sure to find a deal on travel but be forewarned you will never believe the propaganda put forth by your American/Canadian press or politicians ever again.

Also have noticed a lot of posts on the travel forums where people want “to live like the locals”  this as I believe it was TortiguaTraveler on BootsNall said” is impossible the best you can do is live like an ex-pat” truer words were never spoken & if you look at ex-pats with at least 5 yrs under their belts who are fluent in the language & customs who are integrated into the local community but still outsiders.

Hello like I said this is written in real time which now in Vang Vieng is 23:15 Sunday & I am sitting outside my room with a wobbly pop,  updating this blog when I was interrupted (didn’t mind a bit) by this gorgeous Asian girl from the US who has relatives in Vietnam & gave me a heads up on the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations when tourism is shut down. This shortly after I ran into a girl from the slow boat who greeted me like a long lost friend complete with a hug has reaffirmed my idea of becoming a perpetual traveler, think I shall spend 6 mos. in Antigua teaching to fund a further 6 mos traveling, mighty fine plan if I do say so myself!!!

& like a guy from Southern California, whom I met in Yangon then later on Khao San Rd in Bangkok, who also is in the same financial situation as I am says he can live on the road cheaper than he can at home & one doesn’t need heating oil in Southern Cal.

For sure the Brit I met, somewhere in CA last winter, who said the only fit place to live on this planet is between the Tropic of Cancer & Capricorn was Spot on!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 21:25 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.