The Point???

I have been spending the past couple of weeks really pondering what the point is of travelling. I must admit, it is not the first time these thoughts have crossed my mind...when I was working in Uganda in 2004 I recall talking to someone I was working with and I asked him if he had ever visited Kenya, a neighbouring country - his response to me was "Why would I go there? I have no business there". And it struck me that his statement held quite alot of truth in fact. We are travelling in another person's land...when we really have no business here, no relations here, no family here...so why are we here? what are we searching for? and is this really the most efficient way for one to search for these intangible things we are looking for?

These thoughts have been milling about in this otherwise cluttered mind of mine for a while now. The best answers that i can come up with are that travelling exposes us to different ways of life, causes us to challenge our long-held assumptions and beliefs, strives to break down barriers and foster inter-cultural understanding, and promotes understanding and humanity. Other answers are that it helps us to learn about ourselves, learn what we really value, learn how little material stuff we can actually live with (all we've got is what fits into our backpacks), learn how to adapt ourselves to difficult situations. It all sounds very romantic and I think that when I'm sitting at home in Toronto, going to the same job everyday, cooking the same stir-fry for dinner everyday, and walking the dog on the same route everyday i truly believe that this is what travel will achieve...and this is probably why i keep seeking out such adventures.

But now when i look at it really critically what i actually see is a bunch of rich western tourists (a category we fall into, as even a student back in Canada is richer than most people here), spending long periods of time in a country much poorer than our own because we can afford it (because hotel rooms only cost $10), haggling with taxi drivers over what is pennies to us - but what is a meal for their family to them, and really not gaining much more understanding of local culture other than the people we see walking by and the food we put in our mouths. The language barrier guarantees minimal cultural exchange in any sort of meaningful fashion. The socio-economic barrier likely breeds some amount of resentment in the people whose lives we claim to have come to learn about. And the superficial nature of any cultural exchange that occurs as a tourist is unlikely to bring about any true understanding or compassion from either side. In addition to all of this, one must also think about the harmful effects that tourism can have...it creates an alter-economy for people who live here which is much more profitable than any work that can be done locally...this has both positive and negative impacts...for in a developing country there is much work that needs to be done, and if all of the educated labour force goes into tourism-based industries (because it is SO much more profitable), one has to wonder what impact that has on the country's development. Then of course there is the environmental impact which is likely larger than we can imagine...the planes, the cars, the buses, the taxis, the tourist infrastructure, the toilet paper we use (local people don't use toilet paper b/c the sewage system cannot handle it), the processed and packaged foods we eat, etc. etc.etc.

Despite the above barriers, we did manage today to connect with a young fellow who spoke fairly good English. He invited us back to his village and we spent some time chatting with him and his uncle over a BeerLao (the local brew). His uncle was a soldier for Laos during the Vietnam war, and had some horrific stories to tell about some of the things that went on during that time. We asked him what he thought about the future of Laos and the possibilities of sustainable peace in the region. He made a very insightful comment - he stated that though there is no overt war in Laos right now with bombs or weapons, there still remains a war of an economic nature...he felt that the "falang" (Lao for "foreigners") are still trying to control his land - they do it through business, and they do it through regulations on his city (the city of Luang Prabang has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and with that come some restrictions on development and such). I think that he also suggested implicitly that tourism business achieved the same sort of economic domination over Laos because many of the tourist businesses are run by foreigners, and also it makes Lao people dependent upon "western" money for jobs, etc. (because of the UNESCO ruling, this town's economy is now largely tourism).

The true Colonial era of our world has ended, but it has given rise to this neo-Colonial movement which is rising to be about as strong - international business, international travel, expatriates living in all countries of the world - a world with no borders - it sounds so utopic...but when the playing field is as unequal as global economies are today, this utopic vision could prove to be quite the opposite for those whose existence lies on the poorer side of the field.

I read somewhere today that some of the monks in town often ask "what are the foreigners looking for when they already have everything they need?". Indeed, what are we looking for? Perhaps we are looking externally for truths that can be more truly found within. Most boys in Laos spend 2-3 years between the ages of 17-20 as monks, dedicating those years to meditative contemplation. Perhaps this world would be a better place if we all sat down in meditation to search for this compassion, understanding, and self-awareness, instead of donning our birkenstocks and sunglasses and jetsetting off to poorer nations and warmer climates in search of answers to the meaning of life.