continuing on with my asia top ten list! by the way, i was looking at old photos and totally forgot that i started the year in europe visiting my friend YF in london and MGS in spain and just ended 2010 in asia. why didn’t i get a airline points credit card?! anyway, moving on:
3. being a responsible tourist
merriam webster defines tourism as “the practice of traveling for recreation.” even though there are outlets now for ECO-tourism or SERVICE-tourism that are slightly more community-conscious, what tourists really want is to go to a foreign place to soak in culture and take pretty pictures. then there are also the expats, men and women who have settled in asia long-term or permanently. ideally, an expat would immerse him/herself more into local life, but as i’ve learned, this is not always the case. too often tourists and expats alike engage in bad behavior that i feel is both really insulting to the locals and makes them, and in turn, the country that they’re from, look plain, old ignorant (it’s no wonder why americans have such a bad reputation abroad).
i kept asking myself during my travels, especially in southeast asia: at what point does tourist/expat’s hegemony conflict, change, or even ruin local values and culture? am i being a participant in the disneyfication of small villages as a tourist who supposedly wants to experience the local life, but also wants all the creature comforts of home whether that’s a cup of good coffee, a bar that’s open late, etc.? also, who the hell am i to assume the local way of life is changing for the worse?
i don’t have any answers, but i did question my role as a tourist a lot in this trip and always tried to be conscious of the consequences of my actions, which leads me to …
5. gaining perspective
i was always really quick to judge the people, government, and media in the countries we visited. why are these streets so dirty? why are people spitting? why are these commercials so horrible? why don’t these people recycle? yet, the truth is, i’m sure folks who visit the U.S. have an equally strong reaction even though in the end, our two countries are really not all that different. for instance, i would be so grossed out by all the trash in bali. but really — it’s not that the bay is any cleaner. it’s just that i’m used to it. by getting out of the country, i’m able to return with greater perspective on my way of life here and examine how i can make my community a better place to live.
4. new years in bangkok:
if there was one event or evening that i could single out as being THE most memorable from my asia trip, it would have to be new years and it is all summed up in this picture:
Will Dao 