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  1. #76
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Talking of the UK, I lived there so long I sort of took everything for granted, even on the odd return business trip.

    It wasn't until I was back there with a colleague who had never been that I realised what fun could be had. Took him all to all the tourist traps and I enjoyed it as much as he did.

    Last year I was doing a course right next to Tower Bridge overlooking the Tower of London. You don't realise what you've got until you see all these tourists laying their eyes on it for the first time.

  2. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by docmartin View Post
    Well quite a bit of Beirut is history at the moment.
    We lived in Beirut i the late 60s/early seventies after my father was transferred there from Bangkok . . . can't remember much but the photos of snow, the Corniche, Baalbeck . . .

    My parents always spoke of the city and country fondly . . . the educated population, availability of all things local and European etc etc

    Days gone past never to return

  3. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    ...... Baalbeck . . .
    Which contains ginormous stones that we’d struggle to move even now.

  4. #79
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    . . . statues, columns etc ...

    An amazing place

  5. #80
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    We lived in Beirut i the late 60s/early seventies after my father was transferred there from Bangkok . . . can't remember much but the photos of snow, the Corniche, Baalbeck . . .

    My parents always spoke of the city and country fondly . . . the educated population, availability of all things local and European etc etc

    Days gone past never to return
    Must have been fun growing up in such shit shows

  6. #81
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Must have been fun growing up in such shit shows
    It wasn't a shit show then. The Civil War didn't start until 1975.

  7. #82
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Must have been fun growing up in such shit shows
    Bangkok and Beirut in the 60s and 70s a shitshow? You've surpassed chio-ness

    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    It wasn't a shit show then. The Civil War didn't start until 1975.
    It was the centre of culture in the middle east, which was very very different from what it is now, mainly thanks to the US, specifically the CIA

  8. #83
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Must have been fun growing up in such shit shows
    Well damn it! Chico is no longer the most stupid poster on here. Backspin wins hands down. Perhaps even less class as well.

    As a kid I visited Beruit every year on holiday and loved each and everytime. Just beautiful. Driving up to the Cedars and Baalbeck were some great times. We always stayed in the Phoenicha Hotel, and it had a pool that had a window side onto the bar. Great times..

    My introduction to the schawarma as well. All day every day..

  9. #84
    Thailand Expat jabir's Avatar
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    1969, out of college and bumming, was a choice between Moscow and the Camp America routine for the month off at the end to visit my brother in Canada.

    Natural first choice was Moscow, contacted Intourist (?), got bumf advising that visitors are warmly welcomed but with restrictions of the day such as a guide, which meant you could see/visit only the good stuff. This was much like Vietnam in the 80s which I handled quite well having stapled my guide on day two thinking at the time it was unwise and risky, though it went so well that I also considered it may have been part of the service.

    Anyway, after weighing up the pros and cons decided to visit bro. Regrets: I think for the time and conditions I should've given at least part of those 3 months to Russia, since the US and Canada would be there for a while yet.

    Do I regret lacking the balls to take the hippie trail with an intrepid mate to Kabul in the 70s? - at the time, but never since.

  10. #85
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jabir View Post
    1969, out of college and bumming
    Was that how the muslim connection started?

  11. #86
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    ... never mind
    Last edited by docmartin; 08-08-2020 at 01:26 PM.

  12. #87
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Anyhoo...that puts him in his seventies.

    Which explains the babbling of off-kilter BREXITer views, the virulent racism and the challenges getting bread sliced.

  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by aging one View Post
    As a kid I visited Beruit every year on holiday and loved each and everytime. Just beautiful. Driving up to the Cedars and Baalbeck were some great times. We always stayed in the Phoenicha Hotel, and it had a pool that had a window side onto the bar. Great times..

    My introduction to the schawarma as well. All day every day..
    Yes, indeed . . .

  14. #89
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    I've been quite fancying a trip to St. Petersburg since Shrewd Punter's travel thread followed by Aribnb offerings.

  15. #90
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    I think I’d be happy with just a couple spins……


  16. #91
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    It was the centre of culture in the middle east, which was very very different from what it is now, mainly thanks to the US, specifically the CIA
    It was called "The Paris of the Middle East" and half of Hollywood used to go there.

  17. #92
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirk diggler View Post
    I've been quite fancying a trip to St. Petersburg since Shrewd Punter's travel thread followed by Aribnb offerings.
    Moscow and St. Pete's looks amazing. I want to go to the aircraft museums and ww2 museums

  18. #93
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum View Post
    The thing is, you been to one jungle you have been pretty much to them all, one desert is as arid and barren as the next, a mountain range above the tree line is no different to any other, rolling plains stretching to the horizon are as featureless and desolate no matter which continent, a tropical beach becomes as tedious as any other. Travel always was about expectation but in the end no matter the destination the reality is always same, you are who you are and there is no escape, and the human condition in all its frailty remains what it is. The only difference now is that travel has been homogenised and packaged to the nth degree, and becomes but a mere factor in GDP growth, an opportunity for production line exploitation and usually as disappointing as a dull meal.

    The irony is, when we are young we travel to experience a new future but with advancing age all we really want is to escape to the past.
    Thegent surfaced in this thread. I didn't notice at first

    I somewhat agree. Life is pain. But some escapes work better than others.

    Landing in Asia when I was 22, was shocking in a good way. It rinsed away the torturous boredom of North American suburban life. Where everyone drives the same dull speed and follows all the rules. No history like Europe. Nothing. Life is as interesting as a Walmart parking lot.

    James Howard Kunstler is right about North American suburbia. It is truly hell. And that's why most white N.American men would rather kill themselves with opiates.
    Last edited by Backspin; 09-08-2020 at 11:43 PM.

  19. #94
    I'm in Jail

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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    James Howard Kunstler is right about North American suburbia. It is truly hell. And that's why most white N.American men would rather kill themselves with opiates.
    Good grief for a young bloke you really do bleat a lot about how shite and unfair your life is, you need a bit of perspective or just off yourself if its that bad. Better yet hook up with Wally, bring the poison dwarf along and Wally will feel like a new man with everything to live for.

  20. #95
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    Good grief for a young bloke you really do bleat a lot about how shite and unfair your life is, you need a bit of perspective or just off yourself if its that bad. Better yet hook up with Wally, bring the poison dwarf along and Wally will feel like a new man with everything to live for.
    I thoughtfully engaged with a post within the topic. This is something 80 IQ people like you aren't capable of. You just see negative vibes and get a little twitchy then walk away

  21. #96
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    This is something 80 IQ people like you aren't capable of. You just see negative vibes and get a little twitchy then walk away
    Nope, you are bloke with regrets, many of them. I have done things i'd have done differently in life and some i'd have avoided with hindsight but in all honesty i would not have changed them - its what makes you who you are and i can say i don't regret who i am - all i get from you aside from your whore stories is a life of entitled whinging.

  22. #97
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    Nope, you are bloke with regrets, many of them. I have done things i'd have done differently in life and some i'd have avoided with hindsight but in all honesty i would not have changed them - its what makes you who you are and i can say i don't regret who i am - all i get from you aside from your whore stories is a life of entitled whinging.
    The sub topic was the human condition. Something you can't seem to grasp. I guess having an 80 IQ, you get the same sugar high now that you got with your first paycheck 25 years ago. Some of use aren't endowed with such self deception

  23. #98
    I'm in Jail

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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    your first paycheck 25 years ago
    Aww 25 years ago, no, got my first salary payment 35 years ago. I first got paid to work at 10, left home at 16 and started working, went back to study at 18 and in a way wasted time on one degree but not the other and no i'm not a boomer - never got a thing handed to me and no complaints either unlike you who seems to revel in self pity. Just get on with life mate and make the best of what you have. Dwelling on the past, being bitter over what others have or maybe's will only waste what time you have.

  24. #99
    I'm in Jail

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    Socal with Frank singing about him/her


  25. #100
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    Aww 25 years ago, no, got my first salary payment 35 years ago. I first got paid to work at 10, left home at 16 and started working, went back to study at 18 and in a way wasted time on one degree but not the other and no i'm not a boomer - never got a thing handed to me and no complaints either unlike you who seems to revel in self pity. Just get on with life mate and make the best of what you have. Dwelling on the past, being bitter over what others have or maybe's will only waste what time you have.
    You are just misunderstanding me. I don't think anything is anyone's fault. I'm not blaming anyone or reveling in self pity.

    I don't believe in free will. I don't believe anyone has nearly as much control of their direction as they think. And I fucking hate Boomers especially , just because Boomers specifically brainwashed younger generations into believing that they could control their destiny. Guess what. That's wrong. You are just a rock rolling down a hill. Nothing else

    One thing I know for sure , my generation won't be brain washing our kids with that nonsense.

    And yes. I do appreciate things. When I'm having a shower sometimes , I think about how nice it is to have warm and running water at that moment.

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