Converted Asiaphile
[Note: This was written in early August.]
Last week I got back from a really nice five-day trip to Hong Kong and Macau. In an unexpected way, the trip primed me for my imminent return to the States -- it turned out that in many ways Hong Kong was more like America than it was like Asia (or the parts of Asia I’ve been to, anyway). I was on the double-decker bus from the airport to the hotel, admiring the mostly empty three-lane highway and flawlessly programmed LED telling me exactly where I was and where I was going next (in both Chinese and English), when it occurred to me that it was my first time in a fully developed country since I’d left home ten months earlier. Everything in Hong Kong made sense; everything worked. It was nice walking on clean streets and maintenanced sidewalks. I liked that my street map matched the street signs. I liked that there were street signs. Those refreshing contrasts with Bangkok nearly made the trip on their own.
More than anything, though, the success of the trip reaffirmed my newfound affinity for travel in Southeast Asia. Before landing in Bangkok, I was never much interested in the region; it was far down the list of places I wanted to visit, much less stay. I certainly never thought I’d end up living here. I’d always been (and remain, to some extent) an avowed Europhile -- even now I find more romance in intimate cobblestone streets and 500-year-old piazzas than the supposed “exoticism” of strange-smelling Eastern fruits and packed Asian bazaars. But my various travels of the past year -- I’ve been to Cambodia, Laos, and all over Thailand, in addition to last week’s trip -- have converted me. Southeast Asia has a new fan.
For one thing -- actually, this is the biggest thing -- the region is so much cheaper than Europe. This advantage, I need not tell you, cannot be overstated, and it never gets old, no matter how rich (or poor) you are. If you’re a backpacker on a tight budget, you can travel comfortably on $15-20 a day. That can mean a two- or three-month vacation instead of the standard three or four weeks. If you have slightly more disposable income to work with, like I do, that means being able to afford pleasant sit-down dinners and hotels that would go for $100+ a night in Europe. It also allows for an occasional splurge or the uncommon joy of not paying attention to the prices on most menus. (I’ve lost count of the number of times my friends and I have enjoyed enormous, multi-dish feasts (beer included) without paying attention at all to the prices of the items, and come out at the end with a total bill of 500-600 baht ($13-15) for three or four people. “Ridiculous,” we always say, as we throw down the cash. It must be the way the super-rich live and eat in New York and London. Life, we’ve learned, is often remarkably easy -- ridiculously easy, one might say -- when money is no object.) If you’re relatively well off, you can live like royalty in Southeast Asia. My parents, who travel well but are by no means ostentatious, stayed in one of the finest hotels in all of Thailand (so fine, in fact, it had to call itself a “hideaway”) -- complete with private pool, 24-hour personal butler, and infinity-edge pool overlooking the ocean -- for the nightly cost of an upper-middle range Manhattan chain.
Most Southeast Asian countries are also easier and safer to navigate than other similarly cheap regions like South Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Thailand’s roads are top notch, and from what I’ve heard, Vietnam’s and Malaysia’s are getting there. And in all my travels, I never once heard a story of someone getting attacked or mugged. Finally, there are the famously warm and laid-back people (or “locals,” as they’d be called if this were the second-rate guide book it’s rapidly beginning to sound like). “The Thais,” goes one saying, “are the nicest people money can buy,” and based on my own experiences and second-hand accounts, I feel comfortable applying the maxim to the rest of the region as well. There’s truth in the cynicism of the quip, but there’s a lot to be said for a smile, even one slightly tainted by the faint image of dollar (or baht) signs behind those smiling eyes. Because along with potential added income, those eyes glimpse other things when aimed at foreigners. Gone are the days when white tourists are exotic just for being white -- my parents still tell the story of the time they went to Japan in the early ‘70s, and the people/locals constantly approached them to marvel at and grasp my mom’s long blond hair -- but there’s definitely a curiosity there, a seeming amused interest in our lives and language. It’s a special treat, and one not imparted by fast-moving Europeans who cannot tell, or are too busy to notice, that you are different.
My trip last week was the last one I’ll be taking during my stint in Asia, which is fast coming to a close. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to travel internationally again, but it’s a good bet that my next trip will be in Southeast Asia. I’d recommend the same to anyone.
Last week I got back from a really nice five-day trip to Hong Kong and Macau. In an unexpected way, the trip primed me for my imminent return to the States -- it turned out that in many ways Hong Kong was more like America than it was like Asia (or the parts of Asia I’ve been to, anyway). I was on the double-decker bus from the airport to the hotel, admiring the mostly empty three-lane highway and flawlessly programmed LED telling me exactly where I was and where I was going next (in both Chinese and English), when it occurred to me that it was my first time in a fully developed country since I’d left home ten months earlier. Everything in Hong Kong made sense; everything worked. It was nice walking on clean streets and maintenanced sidewalks. I liked that my street map matched the street signs. I liked that there were street signs. Those refreshing contrasts with Bangkok nearly made the trip on their own.
More than anything, though, the success of the trip reaffirmed my newfound affinity for travel in Southeast Asia. Before landing in Bangkok, I was never much interested in the region; it was far down the list of places I wanted to visit, much less stay. I certainly never thought I’d end up living here. I’d always been (and remain, to some extent) an avowed Europhile -- even now I find more romance in intimate cobblestone streets and 500-year-old piazzas than the supposed “exoticism” of strange-smelling Eastern fruits and packed Asian bazaars. But my various travels of the past year -- I’ve been to Cambodia, Laos, and all over Thailand, in addition to last week’s trip -- have converted me. Southeast Asia has a new fan.
For one thing -- actually, this is the biggest thing -- the region is so much cheaper than Europe. This advantage, I need not tell you, cannot be overstated, and it never gets old, no matter how rich (or poor) you are. If you’re a backpacker on a tight budget, you can travel comfortably on $15-20 a day. That can mean a two- or three-month vacation instead of the standard three or four weeks. If you have slightly more disposable income to work with, like I do, that means being able to afford pleasant sit-down dinners and hotels that would go for $100+ a night in Europe. It also allows for an occasional splurge or the uncommon joy of not paying attention to the prices on most menus. (I’ve lost count of the number of times my friends and I have enjoyed enormous, multi-dish feasts (beer included) without paying attention at all to the prices of the items, and come out at the end with a total bill of 500-600 baht ($13-15) for three or four people. “Ridiculous,” we always say, as we throw down the cash. It must be the way the super-rich live and eat in New York and London. Life, we’ve learned, is often remarkably easy -- ridiculously easy, one might say -- when money is no object.) If you’re relatively well off, you can live like royalty in Southeast Asia. My parents, who travel well but are by no means ostentatious, stayed in one of the finest hotels in all of Thailand (so fine, in fact, it had to call itself a “hideaway”) -- complete with private pool, 24-hour personal butler, and infinity-edge pool overlooking the ocean -- for the nightly cost of an upper-middle range Manhattan chain.
Most Southeast Asian countries are also easier and safer to navigate than other similarly cheap regions like South Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Thailand’s roads are top notch, and from what I’ve heard, Vietnam’s and Malaysia’s are getting there. And in all my travels, I never once heard a story of someone getting attacked or mugged. Finally, there are the famously warm and laid-back people (or “locals,” as they’d be called if this were the second-rate guide book it’s rapidly beginning to sound like). “The Thais,” goes one saying, “are the nicest people money can buy,” and based on my own experiences and second-hand accounts, I feel comfortable applying the maxim to the rest of the region as well. There’s truth in the cynicism of the quip, but there’s a lot to be said for a smile, even one slightly tainted by the faint image of dollar (or baht) signs behind those smiling eyes. Because along with potential added income, those eyes glimpse other things when aimed at foreigners. Gone are the days when white tourists are exotic just for being white -- my parents still tell the story of the time they went to Japan in the early ‘70s, and the people/locals constantly approached them to marvel at and grasp my mom’s long blond hair -- but there’s definitely a curiosity there, a seeming amused interest in our lives and language. It’s a special treat, and one not imparted by fast-moving Europeans who cannot tell, or are too busy to notice, that you are different.
My trip last week was the last one I’ll be taking during my stint in Asia, which is fast coming to a close. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to travel internationally again, but it’s a good bet that my next trip will be in Southeast Asia. I’d recommend the same to anyone.
Labels: excursions
posted by Homunculus J. Reilly at 4:13 PM
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