Paul_the_Seeker's VirtualTourist Home Page

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you will find your trip here is not a complete waste of time. I've enjoyed putting this stuff together, however haphazard it is. I plan on adding much more, but for now, this is it. Let me know what you think, and please feel free to write.

Traveling, though a physical process, is a journey inward, I believe. Though different people may see the same sight, the experience will vary greatly from person to person because our past experiences; physical, emotional, and spriritual states; and intellectual interpretations are unique and always in flux. We each walk our own paths, but they are so intertwined.

Though I have a great desire to go and see many places in the world, I have learned that the most satisfying travel experiences are those where I connect with the locals and get a glimpse of what life is like from their points of view, from the little things, such as what they like to eat for lunch or what their favorite music is, to those big things such as what do they want to achieve in life. I always find that although we may have such different backgrounds, we tend to have so much in common.

I don't like giving advice, but I'll offer some suggestions: Travel with an open mind; accept things as they are (do not judge, compare, or classify); never feel you are better than anyone else; and regard all you meet, even the meanest cuss, as a teacher and thank them for that. Being polite and wearing a smile goes a long way towards creating good feelings and leaving good impressions. Though I hate the man-made lines we see on atlases, you can be viewed as an ambassador of your country, so making friends, setting good examples, and offering compliments create good relations. Of course these suggestions work even in our own backyards.

OK, you already know all this, so let's move on.

I feel fortunate to have parents who immigrated from other countries (my father is German, my mom a Brazilian from Japanese parents). I learned at an early age that the world is diversified and this is good, even though I was served a good bit of discrimination while growing up since I looked "different" from those around me. This made me relate more to those who were open-minded and willing to share. I also realized that though we are often classified by race, country, class, political party, religion, how we dress, etc., we are all citizens of the universe and have a general desire to be happy and evolve. Connecting with others in a positive way, sharing our experiences, and focusing on the "big picture" helps accomplish this.

Enjoy the ride!

Currently, my travel pages reflect my travel during the digital photography age. As you might notice, I've concentrated on my favorite place, Thailand. I have many nice photos of the country on print film, and some day, I will digitize them. I have also been to a few other places: Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, UAE, Germany, Belgium, and maybe one or two others. I have good memories of them all, and some day too, I will work on posting photos from those places. But I can be very lazy...

I grew up with food from different places, but I always tell people I did not know what food was until I came to Thailand. The variety and quantity is beyond description. It added a new dimension to my life.

The problem is when I'm at home in the US, I miss this soooo much. I cannot figure out why most Americans do not desire good food as the Thais do.

Though the scenery is what many travelers focus on when visiting different places, it is the local people that add the real flavor. Whether they be the office workers in busy cities...

...or the colorful people in villages, don't forget to mingle with the locals, break the ice, and promote goodwill.

And not fight wars.

A lot of visitors only use Bangkok as a departure point for other areas or skip it altogether. It is just a big, dirty city where sleezy men come to prove they are still men, right? Well, there is that side of the city, but what about all the rest? There's soooo much more to the place, and I invite you to see for yourself, but you can at least get a taste by visiting my Bangkok page.

I would like to share a couple poems of one of my favorite poets, Sam Walter Foss. Though he was very prolific, he is not a popular poet. Foss, like me, loved to poke at convention, theology, the status quo. His poems illustrate how we are many times trapped by our own conditioned thinking.

Perhaps my favorite is "The Calf Path" which describes how we many times blindly follow the well-trodden path, or past thinking. Keep this in mind as you journey to other places; as you journey through life. Here it is:

THE CALF-PATH

One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.

Since then two hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell-wether sheep
Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bell-wethers always do.

And from that day, o'er hill and glade,
Through those old woods a path was made;
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged, and turned, and bent about
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path.
But still they followed -- do not laugh --
The first migrations of that calf,
And through this winding wood-way stalked,
Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane,
That bent, and turned, and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street,
And this, before men were aware,
A city?s crowded thoroughfare;
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed the zigzag calf about;
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way,
And lost one hundred years a day;
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach,
Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.

But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf!
Ah! many things this tale might teach --
But I am not ordained to preach.

Here is a serious poem describing his definition of the Bible. I too believe spirituality cannot be defined, contained in a book, or be preached to us. We must experience it ourselves through our senses, heart, mind, and actions. We must follow our hearts and break free of conditioned thinking. But don't listen to me; listen to your heart.

The True Bible

What is the world's true Bible -- 'tis the highest thought of man,
The thought distilled through ages since the dawn of thought began.
And each age adds a word thereto, some psalm or promise sweet --
And the canon is unfinished and forever incomplete.
O'er the chapters that are written, long and lovingly we pore --
But the best is yet unwritten, for we grow from more to more.

Let us heed the voice within us and its messages rehearse;
Let us build the growing Bible -- for we too must write a verse.
What is the purport of the scheme toward which all time is gone?
What is the great aeonian goal? The joy of going on.

And are there any souls so strong, such feet with swiftness shod,
That they shall reach it, reach some bourne, the ultimate of god?
There is no bourne, no ultimate. The very farthest star
But rims a sea of other stars that stretches just as far.
There's no beginning and no end: As in the ages gone,
The greatest joy of joys shall be -- the joy of going on.

I would love to share more here, but feel I may be losing some of you (and I am not ordained to preach), so those who are interested, please visit this page, which does a much better job than me explaining Mr. Foss' life and work: Foss Link