What the bleep am I doing here?

Thought provoking and Insightful
I seldom read blogs nowadays . Glad to have read yours. It's the best blog I've read in a while. It's very well written and has a lot of substance and truth behind it. Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts to the world. Cheers Jo

Indeed, what were you doing there?
Being a great admirer of your previous blogs, I have to agree when you ask the question "what the hell am i doing here". It was obvious to me that you would hate it, so I'm surprised you bothered!

NEVER say never ...
... when you reach that certain age and loneliness becomes unbearable, you'll probably give everything to feel the warmth of a woman's touch even at the expense of your own humanity. I do not condone their shameful actions but I can see why they behave that way ...

Excellent blog
Really good blog, deals with aspects of tourism that really need to be highlighted.

Dear Ralfie, what you are describing is life in general. Life is hard. For some harder than others. Yes tourists come and sometimes they destroy things but they can also give. Remember that friend of Bodils that sponsored that guy in Cambodia and paid for him to go to Dentist school in Denmark and then helped him set up his own business in Phom Penh. And what about those tourists that pay more than the going rate for services and in the process \"spoil\" it for other tourists because it pushes up the price....some of them do it because perhaps they have got too much money and can\'t be bothered but others maybe do it out of the goodness of their heart. And what about those tourists that were there during the tsunami and came back to help the local population rebuild their lives. Tourism can do a lot of damage but it can also do some good. Unfortunately we hear more about the bad things than the good. There is a lot of unjustice in the world but I try to believe that more often than not it isn\'t done intentionally. Lots of love, Linn

Excellent analysis
"Mass tourism is a curse. It brings along cultural and moral degradation to the host country. Mass tourism is like a swarm of locust: it devours and leaves a trail of destruction in its wake...." - congratulations on such a powerfully written blog. Pandering to the excesses and vices of foreigners in pursuit of the almighty dollar/baht/kip/dong (or whatever the local currency is) might be beneficial short-term but inflicts terrible long-term damage. It is despairing to see mass tourism creating an environment that cocoons visitors in an artificial construct just to pander to their preferences, as such a path has damaged many traditional cultures.

I enjoyed reading your blog, but this isn\'t exclusive to SE Asia. I lived for 2 years in Nicaragua, and the same was happening there. There is poverty everywhere and people take advantage of that in many ways. I applaud you for including yourself in that group even if you are trying to be aware of what you do. I think as travelers we have all taken advantage of a good \"deal\" at one time or another. What felt like a sting to me was your reference to age. Why is age always such an issue to the young? I am in my 50\'s and have always loved to travel But for a woman, what we love, we might find we have to put temporarily on the back burner in our late 20\'s and early 30\'s because of having to raise our children. Sure, I always said that it wouldn\'t matter when I had children, I would just strap them on my back and go, but the reality is that children need routine and consistency. They are not happy when their schedules are messed with. And so, the wait. The wait until they get older to go with your travel spirit. But then, they have their friends and their school and activities...and so, the wait again! Still, trying to throw in a trip or two now and then, but feeling like you might have abandoned your family. So now, it is my time to go see the world. And it\'s been tough to leave the traditional work behind and live on less so I could retire early and follow my heart. And what I find is a lot of this attitude about age. I know you were talking about those old men you see in poor countries with the beautiful young women who are trying to escape their poverty. That is bad no matter how you look at it! But there are some of us out there that are just doing the same thing you\'re doing, and age shouldn\'t be a major issue. My heart still feels the same as it did when I was 20 and 30. My dreams have not changed or been lost or forgotten. It just took me a while longer to get here. And I respect those younger travelers who still try to engage me, and include me, even though I might be living the dream at a little older age than I would have wanted. The world is there for all of us to wander around in, no matter what age!