Trips I'd Like to Take

[bcholmes]

I have three big trips in mind:

1. I'd like to go back to Australia. Of all the places I've been, I think it's the most beautiful.
2. I'm really interested in visiting Turkey. Specifically the parts that were Phrygia. I'd like to see Catal Hayuk (futabachan tells me that they're building a tourist information centre there but, hey, I'd be interested in seeing it before it gets infested with tourists). The Cybele myths are Important to me.
3. India. I've often thought about going to find the hijras. (There was an American woman I met just over a year ago who was following the hijra path. She was a Vaishnavait and what is euphamistically called a "do-it-yourself transsexual").

I'm not sure of timeframes. India in 2004, maybe? Turkey may be earlier, may be later. If Aussie Joe decides to have a polycon in Oz, I'd definitely go for that.

I may go back to Haiti for Fet Gede next year. Depends on a lot of factors, I guess.

Comments

[futabachan.livejournal.com]

Amanda and I have been batting the Turkey idea around ever since we first
met, actually. I've been daydreaming about Oz since I was a teenager, and
NZ too.

I'd love love love to do India for precisely the same reasons... but
Gujarat in general and Ahmedabad in particular really isn't a good place to
visit just now, after the big earthquake and all the Hindu-Muslim violence
going on. Unless the India trip were a relief mission, that is... and
there's a whole other hijra tradition in the south (known as the Ali) as
well that hasn't had much contact with Western transpeople yet.

Cross your fingers that the Temple of the Mata in Ahmedabad is still
standing. I fear for the hijras... an awful lot of them are Muslim, but
they're part of a Hindu tradition, which leaves them liable to draw fire
from both sides. And they weren't very popular to begin with.

Hmm. Y'know, I bet Ann Ogborn would probably know more....

[okoshun.livejournal.com]

I'm currently dying to go to India, especially since I have a friend (who grew up there) returning to India for a year. He knows the language, he knows the culture, what do do, what to avoid, where to go. I'm so tempted. If only the airfare wasn't so intimidating.