Thoughts on Travel

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Great Freakin Trip

Looking back on my six weeks in Southeast Asia, I've gotta say it was pretty awesome. To me Thailand felt like a giant playground for Westerners. Anything you want to do, diving, trekking, elephant riding, relaxing on tropical beaches, getting foot massages, anything, you can do, and cheap. I had a really fun time and I once again broadened my view of the world that I--and over 6 billion other people--try and scratch a meaningful existence on. I saw how people outside of the first world live, I walked among the amazing landscapes, I mixed with and befriended other foreign travelers, and I lived experiences that I will look back on for the rest of my life.

There was so much more that I did than I could even begin to describe in this or previous blogs. There's the random things, like walking down a street in Laos and seeing a wedding celebration, the conversation with the American guy moved to Israel at 15 and served in the Israeli army for 3 years, waiting at a hospital in Bangkok for my malaria test results after having a fever for 5 days (malaria: not found), the countless guesthouse rooms and bungalows I called home, the early mornings, the long nights with dozens of different people I met, the different accents, the treks, the partying, the museums and temples...and the every once-in-a-while seeing through the day-to-day drudgery of trying to organize things and just stopping and looking around and saying to myself, "Wow, look at where I'm at. This is insane. How did I get here?" .

Travel Ethics

But I can't leave it at that. I try not to do anything without questioning whether it is ethical or if I'm causing some sort of social or environmental harm. I've never liked the term "activist", it implys that you have a choice whether or not to be "active". To me everything you do is an action, and every action has consequences. There is no such thing as "inaction". You are always involuntarily making a choice whether your actions will harm others right to a decent life or degrade the natural environment we and future generations need to survive. Unfortunately the most pervasive attitude I currently feel and hear is that we are helpless in our destruction of the planet and "there's nothing we can do." Therefore the best course of action is to plunder our natural resources to stimulate the global economy and have one big orgy of fast cars and Barbie dolls and other material possessions. I guess that in this model material wealth equals a better standard of living equals a better quality of life, something I'm not convinced of. This also completely neglects the needs of future generations who will be burdened with the task of struggling to achieve even a minimal standard of living after their resource base is completely depleted (fisheries, freshwater, biodiversity, stable climate) and probably even lead to mass disease and starvation. Well I'm a "radical" because I don't think we should head down this path. Maybe there's something I kinda like about humanity and we should try saving by achieving some sort of balance with our natural environment.

As I was traveling through Southeast Asia I was trying to figure out where global travel fits into this paradigm I have of the world and our future. On the one hand I think it's great for people of different cultures to get out and intermix and to learn about each other and how people in other parts of the world live. Tourism has brought a lot of much needed money into the region, and many areas, especially in Thailand, have been quite prosperous in the last few decades by sharing their piece of paradise with people that can afford to visit. Villagers that wouldn't have much hope other than a fairly meager existence can now raise their standard of living by selling beautiful crafts and fabrics to people coming in to their region as tourists.

Having said that, I realize that I am someone from a rich country that can afford to go to places on the other side of the globe to enrich my worldview and gloat about how cultured I am. It can feel a bit arrogant to be honest. The people I met in Asia were great people, no less important than me in the whole scheme of things. But I am a tourist, and they are the natives. But everyone is native to somewhere, and it's possible for everyone to also be a tourist somewhere. I was there because I had the means, and many people I saw in Southeast Asia will never have the means to be a tourist in my country.

Let me try and bring this all together. I had a hard time deciding whether or not it was ethical that I was in these peoples countries treating it like a giant playground. A very hard time finding where I stood. I come from a first world country, the world's largest superpower to be precise. And Laos happens to be one of the most heavily bombed countries in history. Americans dropped 2 million tons of bombs on the civilian country, largly as a means to get rid of all our extra bombs during the Vietnam era. About 30% of these never exploded, and these UXO's still pose a great risk to the people that live in rural Laos and try to use the land for such things as growing crops to feed their families. I saw used American missile casings and explosive cartridges being used as building posts and even benches. It is partly because of this aggressive foreign policy that the United States has never been threatened by Southeast Asia's economic capacity. And now I come to their country with my ATM card and thirst for adventure as if nothing ever happened, and make them wash my feet while I'm at it.

Tourist or Guest?

Another issue I never resolved is that I didn't try to break apart from the tourist traps and attempt to be accepted into the local communities to learn about their culture. I felt comfortable hanging out with other Westerners and other travelers, and I really didn't have that long and I just wanted to have fun before I head home to get my life straightened out after just finishing my degree.

But there were other reasons; I wasn't convinced that it was right to barge into peoples communities expecting them to be hospitable to me because I'm so "open-minded" and want to share experiences about our diverse cultures. I really didn't feel I had any purpose--other than self-enrichment--and why should I expect them to cater to my soul-searching desires? If I had a purpose, such as helping educate them about eco-tourism or learn permaculture techniques for example, or interact with villagers and locals whilst in a group such as the expedition I was planning through UCSB, then I would feel like I had a reason for people letting me into their homes. But the fact is that the only reason I was there is because I was born in a rich country and they weren't, so why should I expect anything from them other than them letting me come in and spend some money and have fun and leave? As I said, I'm still undecided about all this, it's still speculative theory. I could have it all wrong.

Probably part of the reason I feel this way is because I went to a place that was so heavily touristed. In Thailand, you really aren't going to find the genuine experience many people look for in traveling. It's all been searched over and trekked out; and local communities are beginning to see some negative effects from so many outside cultures permeating and eroding their original identity. I didn't go to Thailand with the expectation of a genuine cultured experience, I just wanted to have fun and as long as everyone is happy that is all that matters, right?

Climate Hypocrite?

Now to my biggest qualm about traveling: we may be the last generation of aerospace travel.

What am I talking about? There is no technological alternative to long-distance travel by kerosene-burning airplanes that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sure, we can improve efficiency here and there, but their is only one real answer. Don't fly.

The "carbon neutral" flights are bogus. Sure, they can plant trees, but that only captures the carbon released when it was deforested in the first place! And is British Airlways going to hire guards to make sure the trees don't get cut down in the next 50 years? They can hardly get my luggage to the right destination. And having someone else cut their emissions is bogus too. As one author put it, it's like moving the food around on your plate making it look like you ate it.

So unless a miracle comes along soon (teleportation!?) we will be making the choice between starving people in Ethiopia and flooding people in Bangladesh or not go shopping in New York, or, not go backpacking around Southeast Asia.

I'm nearly brought to tears when I think about this. I need to erase the vision of my future with me on tropical beaches in the middle of winter, me exploring castles in Ireland; or instead, visualize ice caps crashing into the ocean, and more intense storms like we saw with Katrina.

I'm home now, so I have plenty of time to think all this stuff over. As for now the choice has been made for me: it takes money to travel, and I can't pay my student loans off with good intentions.

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Photos

Villager
This was about the most interaction I had with the villagers.

Morning Procession
Everyone loves strangers taking their picture

Dinner in the Village
This was my attempt at a night in a Karen tribe village. Notice all the villagers.

My usual crowd
A stop along the river in Vang Vieng

Lao kid
Kids are so darn cute no matter where you're at.

Nice Guy
If you're in Luang Prabang go to this guesthouse.

Locals
It'd be a long walk home from here.

Comments

[nic nakis]

Great journey, great blog
Andrew - I'm really stoked on your blog entries. I like what you did, i like how you processed it. You're helping me stay connected to the things I realized out there, and we should probably hang out one of these days. But, you're also depressing me. Hell, I'm marrying an African lady, and we're not gonna cut off either set of granparents from any future little-ones. Maybe I should learn to sail...

[Leslie]

The struggle
Hi Andrew, I'm glad your home safe and your mom can stop worrying (for now). It's been a pleasure to read your blog and I appreciate your willingness to struggle with the answers your seeking. It's not just the wealth that allows us to travel, it's also the "nomad" spirit. I am quite happy at home with Tim and the doggies. I do like to read and watch travel shows or blogs. So, maybe the best thing is to delegate a certain number of people that are allowed to travel. They would be responsible for bringing the world to the rest of us by video stream. We could call it ABC or NBC, something like that. So in other words, keep on trekking, you are independant news source to me.

[ajthenomad]

Thanks, and good point
I was really inspired by what you had to say as well, my blogs don't even come close to your's Nic. As for the future traveling, you don't have to deny your kids from seeing their grandparents. Maybe if you found ways to cut your impact in other areas it would balance out. It's the weekend getaways to Belize and stuff that should be stopped.