Re:The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s
by eigenvector on Sunday December 09, 2018 @08:32PM
(#18644525)
The places that remain "left behind" by globalization even to this day share a few things:
- not on any reasonable trans-Asia transport route, so no incentive for outsiders to invest in roads/rail/other transport infrastructure
- politically at least somewhat isolated, so no visa-free travel for most foreigners
- sparsely populated, preventing easy widespread wireless Internet access
- no major exploitable natural resource that would attract a rush of foreign investment
This basically gives us: the Central Asian SSRs (except Kazakhstan which has rich gas resources), Afghanistan, Iran, frontier regions of Pakistan, Myanmar (rapidly changing now), Bhutan and a few others.
Re:The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s
by contingencies on Sunday December 09, 2018 @10:21PM
(#18644932)
I always say to people visiting Yunnan: find a dead end road or a dirt road that goes through an area of green on the satellite. Go there. It's usually spectacular.
But it was not only the 1970s: there were still many a hidden spot in Asia in the early 2000s, as travel was restricted in countries with civil war, or dictatorial regimes, and there still are. As those geographies get connected to the global trade- and political system, these habitats of men and animal change, for better, or worse.