Advertisement
Siem Reap
Bakong Temple in the Roluos Temple Group S.E. Asia and I were not meant for each other. It doesn't matter really, she has plenty of admirers, I am sure she can do without me.
I don't quite know why we don't get along. She has her charms after all, at least, everybody else seems to think so. She seduces the young and the old, with her smile and her beaches, with her parties and her hedonistic ways. But why doesn't she seduce me?
Of course there are parts of her I like, but there are too many parts I don't like. Or perhaps it is that I am not on the same wavelengths as her many lovers. I feel I don't fit in here. I am too old for her young group of followers, those in their late teens and early twenties, fresh out of high-school full of dreams and aspiration. And I am too young for her old ones, those starting in their fifties. The ones who have lived their lives, worked unsatisfying jobs, lost their dreams and aspirations somewhere along the way and are now seeking to relive their youth with some teenage local girl. They are beyond caring what others think of them.
Siem Reap
Praying at the Banteay Kdei Temple, along the Grand Circuit of the main Ankor Group. I envy the first group at times, I pity the second one.
I look at those young girls and boys and wonder where along the way I lost that ability to be incredibly enthusiastic about all the new things around me. I seem to have become rather jaded over the years. Cynical and jaded. Perhaps it comes with age.
I look at the old farts walking around with their 18 year old 'girlfriends' and can't help but feel a slight dismay at the sight. I will never belong to that group, no matter how old I will become.
I know I shouldn't feel disgusted by the sight, at least, as long as the girl is over a certain age. After all it is a mutual beneficial relationship. He gets his young trophy girl and the sex involved with it, she gets the money. But what disturbs me is that men come out here knowing the desperation of those girls; knowing that they will find somebody who will do whatever needs to be done to get out of their poverty. It is, perhaps, the fact that it smacks of inequality that bothers me. Whatever way I try
Siem Reap
Corridor in the Banteay Kdei Temple to look at it, there seems to be some sort of coercion involved: I have got money, you haven't. You are poor, but I can help you, for a price of course. I have no problem with prostitution per se, as long as it involves two equal parties and out here it never does.
I look at the locals and wonder how they feel about us. I can't really blame them for not always liking us. Tourism I feel isn't a mixed blessing at all, I think it is a downright curse. Or let me put it this way,
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. Mixed blessing my arse, as the British would say.
S.E. Asia first seduced us, but she didn't know what she was in for. Before she knew it, we had raped and pillaged her. We brought with us all our vices, all our perverted dreams, and all our money to pay her off like a common whore. Cultural sensitivity was never our strongest suite. Why
Siem Reap
Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed
adjust to them, when it is much easier to pay them to adjust to us. We give with one hand and take with the other, and we take much more than we give.
The ugly truth is that we 'the tourists' are no better than those dirty old men. Our partnership with S.E. Asia is not equal either. We have the money, she needs it. We hold all the trump cards, we make our demands and if they are not met we take our business and our money elsewhere.
I am of course just as guilty as the rest. I am here after all. And just like everybody else, I expect, I demand and if necessary I coerce. I expect authenticity, I demand equality, to pay the same as the locals that is, and if I don't get it I complain and coerce. Take my offer or I will leave! Sure I want to be treated the same, as long as you know who is the boss. Me! Mea culpa.
S.E. Asia can't fulfill all our demands, so she chooses the greatest common denominator and looses some of us in the process. I don't think she minds,
Siem Reap
Crumbling walls I never did spend much money on her anyway.
So what the hell am I doing here, in a region blighted by mass tourism? I don't know, to tell you the truth. To see the world? A feeble excuse really, if you think about it. But since I am here, I am trying to make the best of it. I went to Siem Reap and saw the ruins of Ankor, by bicycle! Not something I would recommend to anybody at this time of year, unless you like the feeling of near death due to a heat stroke. I went to Battambang and chilled out. After 3 days of cycling in Siem Reap I felt I needed it. I went to Sihanoukville and it rained, and it rained, and I sat reading a book. And then it stopped raining, but of course only on the day that I was leaving. I went to Kampot which by any means is much better than Sihanoukville in the rain. A guesthouse on the river, cool water and the first rays of sun I had seen in four days, it was a perfect ending to my Cambodian adventure.
Vietnam is the next country
Siem Reap
Overgrown by roots on the list. The next chance for S.E. Asia to try and impress and seduce me. Will she succeed this time? She succeeded once, in Myanmar. But that doesn't really count. Myanmar was as S.E. Asia used to be before we came en-masse. A younger, unblemished and at times a haughty S.E. Asia. Yes, S.E. Asia was certainly seductive before we soiled her. How will she fare in Vietnam though? Is she more like Myanmar or like Thailand? Which face will I see? Only time will tell.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 15; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0675s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Rajesh
non-member comment
Good Blog
Hi, I really liked the blog. It has shown the other side of tourism with the use of proper words. I am traveliing to Finland and was looking for travel blogs for inspiration for writing one myself. ou blog has inspired me to think in all the way when travelling. Thanks, Rajesh