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Honestly, I would just stay in the US. Pick a small town somewhere that's sort of isolated- you won't find much consumerism. No culture shock and freedom to believe whatever you want.
Perhaps "culture shock" is not necessarily a bad thing. It can shake the acquired beliefs and habits of a lifetime, which I see as a major plus for anyone.
And as for "capitalism," possibly it will look a bit different after some culture shock.
I'm looking for a place to visit, and possibly move to permanently, where materialism is not the focus, as in America. I'm willing to settle for a much lower standard of living, but not on the scale of Somalia. So far I've been looking into China, partly because of the eastern philosophies such as buddhism that I think give a holistic view of life, and partly because of the cultural values that they do maintain are non religious. Of course, times have changed and now there's the western influence there. I expect to be doing an internship there this summer yet. Values and ethics appeal to me most in a culture, but I can not accept any religion (I don't consider buddhism or taoism to qualify as one). Does anyone have any suggestions or insights?
You live in Pennsylvania and are asking this? All you have to do is head to Lancaster County. The Amish are among the least materialistic people you'll find anywhere. :-)
I agree with everythingTigerBeer wrote. even in small towns. Bhutan or Myanmar maybe.
I was just in Myanmar. That's a good suggestion. People are very relaxed and mellow. I walked all over Yangon, days on end, and just simply was not harrassed or bothered whatsoever. People were very kind.
I've never been to Bhutan, but that could be another one.
Another one might be LAOS. I'm planning to go there this February. I've always heard its fairly non-materialistic, kind of back in another time.
The closest I've been to Bhutan is Darjeeling, India. It's very close to Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. The Himalayan region definitely has a spiritual kind of effect that takes you back in time.
Darjeeling has become rather commercialized with tons of tourists, hotels, restaurants, etc. However, some of the more isolated towns and villages away from Darjeeling give you that non-materialistic going back in time feeling.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 11-15-2011 at 08:10 AM..
Many of the so called non-materialistic countries have dictators or rulers with a firm hand.
May look nice and non-materialistic for a wealthy American or European but not what the people there love.
Most everyone would buy and consume if they had the chance.
you know why? because they are rich enough not to have to afford to worry where their next meal will come from..denmark, scandanaiva...etc...poor people will do anything to eat but they smile for dumb western tourists.....thai people are so nice...yeah right.
rich small western euro nations are non materialistic.
That thought also crossed my mind, for the same reasons you gave: since we tend to have a lot of money and a lot of time off (as compared to the USA that is), we might be more interested in looking for the spiritual side of things.
Although to be honest, people here in Western Europe tend to crave for new stuff just as well. You won't see too many cars on the road older than five years and you won't meet too many people not having the latest tech gadgets.
I was just in Myanmar. That's a good suggestion. People are very relaxed and mellow. I walked all over Yangon, days on end, and just simply was not harrassed or bothered whatsoever. People were very kind.
I've never been to Bhutan, but that could be another one.
Another one might be LAOS. I'm planning to go there this February. I've always heard its fairly non-materialistic, kind of back in another time.
I loved Myanmar and Laos. It is a little materialistic but not as much as Vietnam / cambodia. But It was 6 years ago that I was there.
Tibet wasn't materialistic and the Tibetian people - not the Chinese - weren't not that interested in 'having things'.
TCAS007 - my experience in Myanmar was that the people were very spiritual and even though they saw tourists with expensive cameras etc etc they weren't really interested in having them. There were some villages where there was one TV set but even then the locales didn't cram in to watch it or covet it. they simply weren't interested.
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