This time around, we are investing some time up front to get acquainted with the region before deciding on the specific city/town where to base ourselves. In essence, we have been on a year long “shopping spree ~ shopping between cities, comparing and contrasting their attributes and gaining enough of a sense of what our future lives might be, so that we can make an educated guess.
This shopping process might be stressful for some. It is not for us. It is in fact thrilling to discover new cities and to immediately shed any sense of the impermanence that is inherent in“travel” versus “living”.
There are two dimensions to our selection process. On one hand, we have made a shortlist of potential candidate cities. On the other hand, we have made a shortlist of our criteria, which we filter through repeatedly to compare our gut feelings with our wish lists.
Naturally, we don’t expect that any city will meet all of our requirements; but with these criteria made explicit, we can enter into a bit of horse trading between ourselves as a couple.
We set off from Nicaragua with one way tickets into Hanoi, and our adventure has taken us so far through Viet Nam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Laos.
So what are the criteria that we are entrusting to yield our future homes?
For me, the criteria center around: 1) Easy access to plentiful fruits and greens ~ a food source that is amicable to a mostly vegetarian / vegan lifestyle, and still yummy; 2) Nature ~ abundant – the more the better. Green, green, green. It’s about the quality of the air, and being surrounded by trees and/or rice paddies. Something about the green in nature that brings serenity; 3) A natural body of water ~ somewhere to cool off in. We seem to keep landing up in tropical climates, which can be challenging especially in the hottest months. Having a lake or a river or the ocean, makes a big difference; 4) The people and culture ~ Being able to have real relationships and connections with locals. This is trickier than it may seem in the countries we have chosen, because of our lack of language (to date) and also because relations between locals and foreigners have been shaped through history sometimes brutal histories; and 5) Being able to join a thriving community of yogis and yoginis.
Now for Ben’s list of priorities: 6) Architecture ~ the town/city has to offer innate beauty so that each and every outing in the street presents aesthetic pleasures;
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What a life. It sounds like a great adventure. I am not sure that I could adjust to the cultural change after living in the U.S. for nearly 60 years.
Hi Ilse, it IS an adventure for sure! Now when we visit the U.S. it is a HUGE cultural shock for us! The high costs, the driving cars everywhere, the lack of interaction and friendliness on the streets, the lack of delicious prolific street food! It's all relative I guess.