Best third-world country for tourism?
PADem:
Australia... (just kidding)
India
angus:
never been there, but I'm told Thailand is fun. had a colleague in Boston that went there about once a year. Bangkok, specifically. He claimed that the city was very appropriately named. Like StateRights, I'm fond of our neighboring country. In most of the country, transit is a mixed bag, but in the capital, Distrito Federal, there's an excellent subway system. Extensive lines, taking you just about anywhere you want to go. For less than fifty cents! But it's crowded. At the Pino Suarez station there's a 600-year-old Aztec altar. It was discovered during the excavations for the station, and they changed the plans to build around it. Now it's the centerpiece of that station. Pretty cool. I've been to 22 of the 31 estados of the country so far, and Chiapas is my favorite, for its rainforests, waterfalls, and ruined temples, although the archaelogical sites of the yucatan are far more extensive. The diving along the peninsula's caribbean coastline is excellent as well. But for really good diving along the world's second longest barrier reef, Belize beats Cozumel/Cancun any day. Egypt has excellent diving as well, especially in the Gulf of Aqaba. And ever since the attacks at Sharm-el-Shiek, you can expect to get dirt-cheap airfares to that region, though I'd recommend Dhahab rather than the plastic and overly touristed Sharm. When I was younger, I was rather fond of visiting Jamaica once every two years or so, for short (two-week) visits, although nowadays I'm not sure I'm down with the runnings (patois for lifestyle). As soon as the old lady gets her green card, the PRC is the first place we're going. I want the boy to meet his grandparents, and I'm itching to tool around old shanghai. And the great wall. And nanjing. To gaze upon a presence that spans 40 centuries is something most americans never consider, but I like historical tourism. I'll let you know how well set-up they are for tourism once I know. If coked-up hiking along ancient Inca trails is your game, go no further than the Cuzco department of Peru. I'm also rather fond of Guatemala. Peaceful, unlike its giant neighbor Mexico, and not nearly as rich or steeped in consumerism. Costa Rica, unlike its neighbors, has excellent, modern cross-country buses, and more native species of birds than in all of US, Mexico, and Canada combined. Never been to sub-saharan africa, but there are exotic travel clubs that won't let you join unless you've been to Timbuktu. Maybe one day. PADem's post reminds me that I've never been to Goa either, but that must be fun. Another maybe one day.
2952-0-0:
Maldives. Beautiful islands, great sunshine and you gotta see it before it gets washed away by global warming.
Platypus:
Maldives, mauritius-same diff.
angus:
Quote from: Lt. Governor Dean on August 20, 2005, 09:15:54 PM
Maldives. Beautiful islands, great sunshine and you gotta see it before it gets washed away by global warming.
Be careful, I used to say the same thing about the five-acre Tobacco Caye, Belize. That was before Hurricane Mitch destroyed all the life there in 1998. Not considered a light subject these days in the outer cayes in belize. The increase in category 4+ hurricanes over the past 40 years is no doubt due to warmer sea surface temperatures. Whether those warmer temperatures are due to human activity is, of course, a subject reasonable people can debate. Tobacco Caye is, I can report, largely rebuilt by now, but I wouldn't want to be there when the big one comes. Actually, I couldn't if I wanted to. The government passed a law in 1999 which allows the Navy to force evacuation in the event of a major hurricane. No more, "We're just going to stay here and ride it out, mon." Of course, Belize isn't run by libertarians, as you might imagine, but that hasn't affected wide availability of primo smoke. No surf there, of course. The reef. For the same reason that the diving is so excellent, the surfing really sucks. But then I've never surfed in my life, nor ever even touched a surfboard, so I guess that's not really an issue. Divers and surfers are very different crowds, you'll notice.
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