Tell Me Honestly

[lampard10]

Something I've noticed from quite a few writers on the Forum are things about village life. This post is to question those who write about how they could not live in a village, with no running water,no constant electricity,cooking over a open fire etc. In fact without all the modern day appliences we all take for granted.

How many of you out there used to daydream as a youngster of living in a tropical parsdise,surrounded by beautiful women,eating cocnuts and drinking cool river water, the sun beating down every day, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth,miles from the nearest civilisation. I certainly used to have these visions. In fact it was a very popular schoolboy dream. Come on be honest.

[Rags]

How many of you out there used to daydream as a youngster of living in a tropical parsdise, surrounded by beautiful women,eating cocnuts and drinking cool river water, the sun beating down every day, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth,miles from the nearest civilisation. I certainly used to have these visions. In fact it was a very popular schoolboy dream. Come on be honest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

mmmm....as a young schoolboy my dreams tended to concentrate more on the "surrounded by beautiful women" idea, but I admit that this included all mod cons!

Now that I am living in Thailand, I would say that this is a good example of how focussing on one thing at a time really pays off....

[Dragonman]

When I was young, say around 5 years old, lived exactly as the village life you detail and that was in the UK.So I don't really have much problem converting when required. However I must admit it is easier to do without the luxuries when you are younger.

Sure, always pictured myself as Tarzan running around with my Jane. Don't look too bad in a loin cloth still, only need a bigger one now.

[Pink Mist]

I dreamt about it and took it one step further.

When I was 16 went AWOL from apprentiship to go live on Magnetic Island in sunny Queensland.

No beautiful women

Couldn't climb a coconut tree

Got sunburnt to the shisen

bitten by every type of insect in existence

Great fun we went back to Townsville next day

[jayenram]

How many of you out there used to daydream as a youngster of living in a tropical parsdise,surrounded by beautiful women,eating cocnuts and drinking cool river water, the sun beating down every day, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth,miles from the nearest civilisation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think all the other kids had dreams about me living in a tropical paradise miles away from civilisation. Can't believe that they dreamt about any beautiful wimmin being involved though.

[Sir Burr]

As a kid, I always wanted to go and live in Tahiti. This was the sixties and the Tahiti I envisioned was the one I saw in the film "Mutiney on the Bounty" the one with Marlon Brando. Only a couple of hundred years between my vision and reality.

[Thomas_Merton]

I think you put your finger on a very important aspect of my psychology, at any rate.

These dreams I have always had, perhaps helped by reading books like Swiss Family Robinson when I was a kid, but also by my old man. He was an army sergeant who practised and taught survival techniques before the words were invented (he served under Orde Wingate). Our holidays were always spent camping in Wales, building our own tents from canvas sheeting and sleeping bags from blankets sown together. The beds made from “palliases” (bags filled with straw) and our outdoor kitchens constructed from the wood we collected. Fantastic times.

My work has taken me many places around the world, where by its very nature (ICRC) there are very rarely modern facilities. I’ve never travelled (no matter for how long) with more than a canvas holdall. Now that finances have improved, this has become refined to a tooth brush and a Visa card.

After 35 years of living like this, I’m still amazed by running water. I can’t live with central heating in the cold countries or air conditioning in Thailand.

Being on the farm in Thailand is just like living my childhood again, which, when I look at my life, I have probably been repeating constantly (don’t get me wrong, I didn’t choose my work because of it’s itinerant nature but I’m sure this feeling of being a constant traveller from water hole to water hole contributed to me doing it for so long).

We do all our cooking on open fires and charcoal burners. Our bread is baked in an open-door (Greek style) oven. The water is pumped up from the well. Showers are scooped up from a concrete basin filled with cold water. The toilets make the Turks seem sophisticated. Our beds are a mattress on the floor.

We do have two luxuries, without which I feel our Paradise would be closer to h£ll than heaven, a refrigerator and an electric fan (I suppose that must be three as we do have electricity – although we only use it for the ‘fridge, fan and water pump).

I am never comfortable in a hotel and can't wait to return to LOS from the luxuries of the Penine hills.

And all because, as you quite rightly pointed out, as a child I dreamed of the desert island, living the primitive (as opposed to sophisticated) lifestyle.

[lampard10]

As a kid, I always wanted to go and live in Tahiti. This was the sixties and the Tahiti I envisioned was the one I saw in the film "Mutiney on the Bounty" the one with Marlon Brando. Only a couple of hundred years between my vision and reality.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Sub-consciously that must have been where my dream was seeded. Tahiti...........anyway it begins with T.

Another thing I remember was in my thirties,. we used to go out on the marshes,to a place called Cowboy Land ( near Sandwich) and built a fire,played hide & seek and cooked sausages. There was me, an Engineer,a Counciller,a Computor Progrmmer,a Welder,a Butcher and a Shop Steward. We loved it.Away from the Rat-race for a whole day.

Edited June 8, 2005 by lampard10

[autonomous_unit]

My fantasy was always a high alpine valley rather than an island. But it included a nice cabin with a well-stocked kitchen, warm stove, library, and hifi. I like backpacking trips to "rough it", but I would not want to live on the trail forever. Now I suppose I would include a reasonable Internet connection as well as the hifi...

So, in summary, the gods are toying with me by putting me in BKK. I remember being absolutely floored when I showed my wife paradise on a silent, cold, star-lit night in the Sierra Nevada and she thought it was scary rather than peaceful.

[Boatabike]

From the age of twenty i was living on a selection of different boats, moving about sometimes, stationary others. 17 years of hand carrying water and wind gennys for power.

Moving to Thailand i have running water at 6 taps/shower around the house and lights that just dont run out? It's bloody amazing! And most amazing of all is when the wind it does blow, i stay in bed without ending up on the floor!!!! Anyone remember the hurricane of 87 in UK? That were a rough night on a boat i can tell ya, Lost 2 boats to that little blow. But to topic Yes i had that dream.

[dr_strangelove]

Let me try to see/show the other side of the coin...might be of some interest to the Gentlemen from West...

I was born and brought up in a village. A small Island of 1sq mile, surrounded by inland waters and a single road which connects the island to the mainland with hardly 20 families inhabiting the island. There was no electricity and no drinking water supply in the early years and we had to travel outside the island to bring water... I never knew whats the importance of all these things those days when it was not there... I could go fishing every evening after school and run around the whole land with calfs, cats, chickens and rabbits... Rabbits always kept me occupied even while fishing and hunting frogs... There were coconut trees all around where I could climb any time. Not much people to talk... I talked to all these animals during my childhood... I was swimming in those river and ponds...eating almost every kind of available fruit diretly from the tree...... So there was no dreams of living with the nature... My dreams were always seeing more and more of city life...

But once I started moving from one city to next, I somehow wanted to find some other island, this time preferably surrounded by sea and live there with one piece of cloth and a boat and some fishing rods and a beautiful women with some brain... But somehow I just cant do that... But sure I'll move to some island when I am 40-45, and bring back those childhood life back in action.... I dont think its difficult for me to live in a village or an island even if there is no water nor electricity... I guess it will be more exciting than my previous experience...

[chownah]

When I was a young boy I loved to watch all the travel logs on our black and white tv. I was especially intrigued by the rice cultivation in asia using water buffalo. Interest in the beautiful women didn't come until later.

[Sir Burr]

I was especially intrigued by the rice cultivation in asia using water buffalo.  Interest in the beautiful women didn't come until later.

That's funny. It's usually the other way around.

Get interested in the women and THEN the buffaloe (usually sick).

[Jack Jones]

When I was a kid I wanted to be a space man

[Totster]

I dreamt of living in paradise, the whole white sandy beaches, wooden shacks, coconut trees, peaceful, beautiful women etc...

The only thing missing from that dream (when I am living in my wifes village) is the white sandy beaches..... which I am quite happy to not have.... nothings perfect after all...

totster

[roscoe]

As a kid, I always wanted to go and live in Tahiti. This was the sixties and the Tahiti I envisioned was the one I saw in the film "Mutiney on the Bounty" the one with Marlon Brando. Only a couple of hundred years between my vision and reality.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Sub-consciously that must have been where my dream was seeded. Tahiti...........anyway it begins with T.

Another thing I remember was in my thirties,. we used to go out on the marshes,to a place called Cowboy Land ( near Sandwich) and built a fire,played hide & seek and cooked sausages. There was me, an Engineer,a Counciller,a Computor Progrmmer,a Welder,a Butcher and a Shop Steward. We loved it.Away from the Rat-race for a whole day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In your thirties playing hide and seek ? The mind boggles .

[chownah]

I was especially intrigued by the rice cultivation in asia using water buffalo.  Interest in the beautiful women didn't come until later.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's funny. It's usually the other way around.

Get interested in the women and THEN the buffaloe (usually sick).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jai Dee]

As a kid, I always wanted to go and live in Tahiti. This was the sixties and the Tahiti I envisioned was the one I saw in the film "Mutiney on the Bounty" the one with Marlon Brando. Only a couple of hundred years between my vision and reality.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Sub-consciously that must have been where my dream was seeded. Tahiti...........anyway it begins with T.

Another thing I remember was in my thirties,. we used to go out on the marshes,to a place called Cowboy Land ( near Sandwich) and built a fire,played hide & seek and cooked sausages. There was me, an Engineer,a Counciller,a Computor Progrmmer,a Welder,a Butcher and a Shop Steward. We loved it.Away from the Rat-race for a whole day.

In your thirties playing hide and seek ? The mind boggles .

Hide the sausage?

[deepdiver]

and did you find your "beautiful woman"

Something I've noticed from quite a few writers on the Forum are things about village life. This post is to question those who write about how they could not live in a village, with no running water,no constant electricity,cooking over a open fire etc. In fact without all the modern day appliences we all take for granted.

How many of you out there used to daydream as a youngster of living in a tropical parsdise,surrounded by beautiful women,eating cocnuts and drinking cool river water, the sun beating down every day, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth,miles from the nearest civilisation. I certainly used to have these visions. In fact it was a very popular schoolboy dream. Come on be honest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[kayo]

and did you find your "beautiful woman"

Something I've noticed from quite a few writers on the Forum are things about village life. This post is to question those who write about how they could not live in a village, with no running water,no constant electricity,cooking over a open fire etc. In fact without all the modern day appliences we all take for granted.

How many of you out there used to daydream as a youngster of living in a tropical parsdise,surrounded by beautiful women,eating cocnuts and drinking cool river water, the sun beating down every day, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth,miles from the nearest civilisation. I certainly used to have these visions. In fact it was a very popular schoolboy dream. Come on be honest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When I was a kid I used to want to be a grown up...

Now I wish to be a kid...

Back to the matter at hand, though. Yes, I used to dream about it all too.

And I got to live it on Koh Chang.

Sometimes dream do come true, but one must wake up from time to time... If one is poor.

Never did dig the loincloth thing, though!

Edited June 11, 2005 by kayo

[buadhai]

Yeah, I had that dream. Probably went further than most to realize it.

When I got out of university I joined the Peace Corps and got sent to Nama, an outer island of Chuuk, now part of the Federated States of Micronesia. This island is two days by boat from the main district center. No water. No electricity. One mile long. One third of a mile wide. 500 people. Maximum elevation is eleven feet. You could stand in the middle and see the ocean on both sides. I did learn to climb a coconut tree and husk a nut. I know how to pound and preserve breadfruit, how to fish with a spear, how to catch and cook a coconut crab....

And, yes, there were lots of ladies, but most of them were huge by the time they were 13 and not much to look at. Enough said on that topic.

A few years after getting out of the Peace Corps I moved to the rather larger and more advanced island of Saipan where I spent the next 26 years. I had over 100 coconut trees, mango, papaya, etc., etc. Raised pigs for a while. Built a house. Married an island woman -- a relationship that lasted nearly 25 years.

So, yeah, almost all of my adult life has been spent on tropical islands....

How did I ever end up in Korat?

[Spee]

I certainly used to have these visions. In fact it was a very popular schoolboy dream. Come on be honest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my teens I did a lot of wilderness canoeing. It was a really cool experience. This was long before the days of lightweight sleeping bags, camping gear and canoes. We took off with a week's worth of food and with any luck, didn't see any other humans for the time we were out. A pack filled with tents, sleeping bags and food would weigh 75-100 pounds dry. We once canoed approximately 180 miles in a little over 6 days, with a lot of that into strong headwinds.

We had a guide, but other than that, we had only our maps and compasses to guide us. At the end of every lake or river, we had to load our stuff on our backs and walk the portages. There's really no experience quite like trying to carry a 60 pound canoe on the shoulders, up-hill through knee deep muck with a dozen hornets swirling around inside.

There were some interesting times, where we had to rely on ourselves to get by. One day it poured rain, everything got wet and then it got very cold at night. Not a very good scenario being 40 miles from the nearest civilization. We made it through the night okay, because our guide was smart and trained. He forced us to put on every piece of clothing we had with us, even though it was soaked. The fire warmed us and dried the clothes from the outside and our body heat did the same from the inside.

With bear, moose, wildcats and other wildlife being commonplace, we had to take a lot of precautions with where we camped, how we stored our food, where we took our bodily relief, etc.

Not exactly marine or jet pilot survival training, but still many great adventures, and probably as close to living the "wild life" as I've ever been or will be.

[MikeRay]

When I was a kid I only dreamed about to go there once for a holiday.After my first holiday, I wanted to own a business.On my second holiday I found out that I don´t want a business there, but I still think it´s a nice place to retire.Will visit LOS for the compulsory family holiday the next 24 years.Perhaps then I wish to retire in Nowosibirsk.

[sadman]

My only dream when a kid was to get off the council estate where I lived and to have friends who weren't taking drugs or committing crime, or whose dads weren't in and out of prison. Thank God my parents were good, decent people who gave me a moral code and a work ethic. Realised my dream by getting a scholarship to a grammar school, then going out to work. Put myself through university at age 31, started my own business at 35 and now enjoying the fruits at 45.

Realistically, I have far exceeded any expectations I had when I was a kid, not because I have done massively well (I've done ok, but that's about it), but because my childhood expectations were so low. I have really tried to encourage my children to have higher expectations than I had, and they have thrived on it - one has a good job and a baby, another is just finishing university, and the other is doing well at school and really enjoying it.

Down to my parents, who persevered despite my being a thoroughly odious little git who always knew best.

[lampard10]

get off the council estate where I lived and to have friends who weren't taking drugs or committing crime, or whose dads weren't in and out of prison.

Down to my parents, who persevered despite my being a thoroughly odious little git who always knew best.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Sadman....you come from Ramsgate as well then?

[sadman]

get off the council estate where I lived and to have friends who weren't taking drugs or committing crime, or whose dads weren't in and out of prison.

Down to my parents, who persevered despite my being a thoroughly odious little git who always knew best.

Hey Sadman....you come from Ramsgate as well then?

Ramsgate? Ramsgate? We used to dreeeeam of Ramsgate. 'Fraid not, Lamps, I come from Lewisham, SE London. It's now an expensive and fashionable place to live, but it's still a karzi.

Being from Ramsgate, you'll know the places I went to play rugby against: Snowdown Colliery, Betteshanger, Deal, Dover, Sheppey etc.

[lampard10]

get off the council estate where I lived and to have friends who weren't taking drugs or committing crime, or whose dads weren't in and out of prison.

Down to my parents, who persevered despite my being a thoroughly odious little git who always knew best.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Sadman....you come from Ramsgate as well then?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ramsgate? Ramsgate? We used to dreeeeam of Ramsgate. 'Fraid not, Lamps, I come from Lewisham, SE London. It's now an expensive and fashionable place to live, but it's still a karzi.

Being from Ramsgate, you'll know the places I went to play rugby against: Snowdown Colliery, Betteshanger, Deal, Dover, Sheppey etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ever play against 'Thanet Wanderers'? Now that WAS a rugby team

[johnh101]

My dream was always scoring a hat trick for Scotland as we beat England 6-0 in the world cup final.

Oh well, I ended up with the palm trees, the beach and the beautiful oriental wife, so I can't really complain

[mnoorsapl]

I recalled the beautiful women and infact married one, dream came through

[lampard10]

My dream was always scoring a hat trick for Scotland as we beat England 6-0 in the world cup final.

Oh well, I ended up with the palm trees, the beach and the beautiful oriental wife, so I can't really complain

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Now you are dreaming. Scotland get through the qualifying rounds