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Screen name:

Age:

59

Gender:

Female

If you must know:

I'm happily married

Travel status:

Traveling now

Hometown:

Salt Spring Island, BC Canada

Currently in:

Southeast Asia - Vietnam

Traveling Next:

Cambodia

Favorite places I've been:

Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, India (all), Sri Lanka, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Galapagos Islands, Canada (all), Grand Canyon, California, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada....

Places I want to go to:

China, Tibet, Bhutan, Madagascar, Turkey, Spain, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon...

About me:

I have been a midwife, environmental consultant, technical writer and politician. Right now I'm travelling with my husband for as long as we can manage - at least a year, maybe more. We quit our jobs, sold our house on Salt Spring Island (B.C. Canada), put all of our stuff in storage, and flew to Singapore in mid-September 2008. Right now we're exploring Southeast Asia, staying in places we like for as long as we like, meeting and getting to know local people. The longer we stay, the better we get to know them. One of my goals is to spread peace, one person at a time, through listening, understanding and sharing stories. For me, part of that involves writing.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/atkinsinmotion

Read more about Jules Atkins

I'm fired up on:

Mothers, babies and children - and often fathers and grandparents too - families; their relationships, their hardships and their resilience.
Politics and people - especially how people are faring in various 'communist' regimes. I have been to Cuba three times and have had extensive conversations with Cubans. Their lives are vastly different from the happy-faced rum-drinking salsa-dancing images we get in the west.
Deserts and high mountain areas and their people. Sturdy self-sufficient people. People who live close to the land, and even closer to the bone.
Generosity and kindness, in acts large and small.
Projects and organizations that seek to improve the lives of disadvantaged peoples, wildlife or the environment more generally.
Interesting and colourful cultural costumes,beliefs and practices, especially those the West might learn from!
Beautiful hand-crafts - weavings, wood-work, embroidery, jewelry - anything made with skill and love.

Tunes I rock out to:

Reggae of all kinds. Cuban son. Keb Mo and Al Green. Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Randy Newman.

Travel style:

With my husband, and as little other baggage as possible. In our dotage we've switched from backpacks to suitcases with wheels. We eschew tours of all kinds - we prefer to travel independently and do things in our own time and our own way. We do a lot of 'walking, gawking and talking.' We go to local eateries rather than tourist restaurants, travel by local transport, and stay in low budget, preferably family-run guest-houses and hotels. We try to be 'real' and to see the 'real' where we are.

Quote:

I can't remember it exactly, but it's from Huckleberry Finn - the last couple of lines, and it goes something like this:
"But I reckon I got to head out for the hills. Aunt Polly says they want to civ-lize me, but I can't stand that. I been there before."

Sports I do:

Walking and writing

Favorite artist(s):

Michelangelo, Canada's Group of Seven, the Impressionists

Favorite books:

Soldier of the Great War, Saturday (Ian McEwan), Son of the Circus and Fourth Hand (John Irving?), Huckleberry Finn, Still Life with Woodpecker and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, A Fine Balance, Behind the Scenes at the Museum...

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

Anyone with a sense of wonder and a willingness to share; no one special!

I want to make a difference by:

Sharing myself and my life with others. Listening to their stories. Spreading peace one person at a time.

Languages spoken, other than English:

Spanish

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

I travelled extensively in South America, especially when I travelled alone, almost 30 years ago, in the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Also more recently when my husband and I travelled in Cuba for the third time, and made a point of connecting with and listening to the stories of ordinary people.

Why I travel:

To savour the experience of life in different cultures (and admittedly to escape my own). To develop a better understanding of other peoples and other cultures, and hopefully, once in a while, to share this with others who do not, and likely will not, travel.
Selfishly: To drink life to the lees. To take a giant step outside my mind, as often as possible. To keep growing as a person. And to be free.

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

Sitting on the sun-dial in Macchu Picchu, 30 years ago, when not another soul was there...

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

At a small hotel on the beach in Celestun, Mexico, where at the same time I watched a pick-up game of barefoot soccer. The game ended when the sun set.

Before I die I'd like to:

Leave the world a better place for my grandchildren - and everyone's grandchildren.

Let's collaborate:

I would like to write stories about the lives of ordinary people - their hopes and dreams, their realities - in non-Western cultures. Stories that inspire, that promote understanding, and that remind us that we are all just people after all, and it is a small, small world.

My links:

www.bigbrothermouse.com
www.maginternationa.org
www.seat61.com

Tioman Island, again...

By Jules Atkins | Location: Malaysia | 06/29/09 | Pics: 3

As we neared the end of our ten months' traipse around Southeast Asia, and perhaps more significantly, the end of two months of frequently challenging travel in southern China, we decided we needed a couple of weeks somewhere 'nice,' with GOOD FOOD, somewhere QUIET, somewhere PEACEFUL, somewhere...

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Crime and Punishment: East and West

By Jules Atkins | Location: China | 06/05/09 | Pics: 0

This morning we met a Japanese man at Mimosa, our favourite cafe in Yangshuo. He was sitting by himself at a table, busily writing something in English, and conferring with the waitress about translation into Chinese. We were having breakfast.

He was a typically neat and trim Japanese fellow, late...

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Another Aspect of 'The Real China'

By Jules Atkins | Location: China | 06/04/09 | Pics: 0

I am now in my last week of my travels in China.

Starting about a week ago I was no longer able to access www.blogspot.com, where I post my travel journals and stories. Then yesterday, and again today, I was no longer able to access www.flickr.com, where I post my photos.

The Chinese...

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