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    When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

    Recently, I saw the best ever argument against tourism.

    The scene: Luang Prabang, Laos. The country's old royal capital and epicentre of Laotian Buddhism. Loads of Wats, temples, stupas, and with them the requisite load of Buddhist monks. The monks, being monks, are mendicant. Every day, they wander through the town in the morning receiving alms (in the form of rice and bananas) from the townsfolk.

    At dawn, with the morning mists just lifting over the town, hundreds of monks clad in orange emerge from their remples and walk silently through the streets, bowls in front of them, receiving food from a long row of women, seated (as is the custom) behind their own bowls of rice. This ancient ritual is quite moving.

    OR WOULD BE IF IT WEREN'T FOR ALL THE MORONIC TOURISTS WHO TREAT BUDDHISM LIKE A FUCKING CONSUMPTION GOOD.

    I was a little dubious about going to see this - it seemed a little intrusive to watch what was essentially a sacred ritual belonging to a religion other than my own (which I always find a bit voyeuristic...I don't go into Catholic churches to watch communion and I think in many respects Islam has the right idea by telling all non-believers to fuck off out their mosques). So I stayed well back and away from the whole scene.

    Turned out I was in the minority. More than two-thirds of the people giving alms were white folks. Definitely not buddhists. These tourists had picked up some rice from a street vendor and decided that instead of respectfully watching someone else's rite, they'd - you know - FUCKING JOIN IN. Without a clue what the symbolism meant, exactly. Standing up to give the monks their food (you're supposed to stay seated, staying lower than the ones whose religious function you are honouring by giving them food). Touching the hand to the centre of the head with the rice in hand before putting it in the begging bowl (which is in theory a symbil of prostration, except they're not prostrate).

    Oh, but these people were fine compared to the amateur photographers, several of whom decided to stand within 18 inches of the passing line of monks in order to get their digital photos. Because, you know, them getting their photo is more important than allowing the ceremony and its participants retain some dignity.

    I think that had he been there, the Awakened One in his infinite wisdom would probably have given these monks a pass from the general rules of non-violence in Theravada Buddhism so they could bitch-slap these morons and play Sepak Takraw with their goolies. My respect for Buddhist patience went up several notches in that instant.

    I know, I know. I'm part of the problem, too. I was there to watch just as they were. The best I can really say is that I tried to remain distant and respectful, but I know that's not entirely exclupatory.

    The thing is, Luang Prabang is a very small but quite beautiful city which relies on the Wats to draw the tourists that are making the local people (and presumably by extension the buddhist temples as well) better off. But by encouraging people to view Buddhism as a consumer experience, the tour operators will kill the golden goose by destroying everything that gave the city any meaning.

    #2
    When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

    Amsterdam is another example.

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      #3
      When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

      Bloody hell, that's terrible.

      On a pedantic note, mind, I think the "no kafir in the mosque" rule is far from universal in Islam; it's just the more uptight Arabian variants I believe.

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        #4
        When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

        Bryantop wrote:
        Amsterdam is another example.
        True, though it's easy enough to escape the dickheads in Amsterdam.

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          #5
          When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

          See also Venice, Bruges, etc.

          The phenomenon is much more deplorable when the place is of such a size that the visitor literally cannot escape the coach-driven herds and that the locals have few (or no) economic alternatives. Which is why I get sadder about San Gimignano than Venice.

          I somehow would have expected people who had gone through the trouble of getting all the way to Luang Prabang to be a bit more respectful of the reasons for the place's existence, but then I'm often disappointed.

          Gramsci, how did you know that they didn't consider themselves to be Buddhists? Just because they weren't respectful of the traditions? Given some of the dreck I've heard being described as "Buddhist" in North America I wouldn't think that would be enough on its own to make such a determination.

          And what Wyatt said about mosques. I've been in a number of mosques in various places in Europe and North America and never felt unwelcome.

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            #6
            When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

            Urs, I suppose I can't be certain they weren't all Buddhists. However I'm fairly sure I saw most of them later in the day at other sites in town (Luang Prabang's scale is much like San Gimignano, so you tend to see them over and over), and they were pretty clearly all North Americans, mostly in their late 50s - early 60s, wearing footwear and shorts that...how can I put this?...did not suggest to me that they were seeking enlightenment. Even (or maybe especially) of the dreck-y American buddhist kind. Unscientific, I suppose, but I know MOTR retired middle-class white folk when I see them.

            I'm sure you and Wyatt are both right about the mosque thing. I mae the comment because the only mosques I've ever been to or near have either been in Spain and Greece (disused and hence free to enter) or in Arabia (kaffir definitely not welcome), but I guess there must be other traditions too.

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              #7
              When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

              Did they have NASCAR t-shirts, too?

              I would be comfortable with you ruling them out on that basis.

              I am not at all religious, but there is something about the desecration of rituals in this way that really gets on my tits (the religion in question makes no difference at all). It's so profoundly disrespectful.

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                #8
                When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                Too prosperous for NASCAR, I think. They reminded me of the target demographic for The Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote.

                Does the religion really make no difference? I think the austere minimalism of Buddhism made this scene worse for me. If it has been one of those overly-pompous Catholic processions I probably wouldn't have felt quite as revolted. I would have thought it crass, but not stomach-turning.

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                  #9
                  When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                  It's not even that it's religion, it's that it's treating the world as one's personal theme park, and forgetting that people who live in other countries have sensibilities at all.

                  Turkish mosques are all "open", like European churches, though you're asked not to go in during services. I was kind of surprised to find things didn't work like that in the UAE, where I think exactly one mosque in the whole country is open to non-Muslims, because of its architectural interest. A pity; it looked as if there were some very nice ones. The Iranian Shi'a mosques in Bur Dubai I'd like to have seen in particular.

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                    #10
                    When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                    What Wyatt said.

                    I would say that the minimalism makes it more obvious, but not intrisically more disrespectful.

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                      #11
                      When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                      Oh, the Laotians don't seem to mind turning their ethnic minority villages into small theme parks. That was the *second* revolting thing I saw that day - a Hmong "showpiece" village.

                      The Hmong backed the worng side in the Indochina War. Got a lot of CIA money and help to engage the Pathet Lao and the NVPA in northern Laos, near the Plain of Jars. After the war, those who didn't flee to Sacramento or Minneapolis were treated pretty harshly, and many tried out banditry or reverting to opium growing and smuggling to get by.

                      This led the Laotian government to an absolutely *brilliant* idea, namely, to relocate large numbers of villages from the highlands to the low-lands, to keep them away from the drugs and closer to political supervision and social services. One of these near Luang Prabang just had a road put through it and so the village has become a "showcase" for Hmong culture. Which basically means the women do a lot of embroidery to sell to the odd tourist van coming by. Apart from that, it's subsistence agricutlutre and absolutely shit housing (even by local standards), which you can visit while being told by a (Lao) tour guide how lazy the Hmong are and how many children they have and how they don't send their children to school even though one is provided in the village, etc. etc.

                      I know Canada's not exactly pristine on stuff like this - we've done some incredibly shit relocation jobs on Aboriginals (Davis Inlet springs to mind). But turning them into tourist traps takes some chutzpah.

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                        #12
                        When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                        I think the problem with Amsterdam is that the city openly markets itself to people seeking drugs and prostitutes. The deterioration has been especially noticeable since the advent of cheap air travel.

                        The centre of Amsterdam from Central Station to as far as Leidseplein has turned into one huge Soho.

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                          #13
                          When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                          I'm not sure you can include Venice in this though. It's not as if it would have remained a lovely little residential place if tourism hadn't messed it up. In fact if it hadn't had tourist potential, no one would have bothered looking after it, everybody would have moved to the mainland (as they did anyway) and it would have just ended up looking like a bit like Torcello.

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                            #14
                            When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                            I'm generally deeply suspicious of this kind of thing, but... Buddhism as a rule tends to be maximally inclusive and ecumenical. Not that it makes these clodhoppers any less dumb and insensitive, but it makes the locals less inclined to get excessively bothered by it. What's "really" going on in the ceremony is not something that is going to be disrupted by the participation of tourists.

                            Other thigns I have much more of a problem with. Dreads on White People, for a start. "Slutty nun" costumes on hen parties...

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                              #15
                              When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                              Oh, hang on. I kind of dig the "slutty nun" thing.

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                                #16
                                When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                I've just come back from two weeks going across Turkey, and I've seen a fair bit of this. There seems to be a sliding-scale of how much leeway they give the tourists:

                                Blue Mosque: Take your shoes off, have a good nosey round, take as many pictures as you like.

                                Sufi Shrines in Konya: Come in, keep your mouth shut, risk being bollocked from a random crone if you take a photo.

                                Eyup Mosque: Openly hostile, allowed to stick my head in through door, then got threatened.

                                I wouldn't really have had a problem if any of the mosques were closed to non-believers to be honest.

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                                  #17
                                  When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                  Eyup Mosque
                                  Surely that's in Bradford?

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                                    #18
                                    When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                    LOL Lucia.

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                                      #19
                                      When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                      "...it's that it's treating the world as one's personal theme park..."

                                      I was in St Peter's in Rome on New Year's Day this year for Mass with Benny. Now anyone who knows me knows just how NOT religious I am. It was an one in a lifetime opportunity and I was happy to take it. So, yes, I suppose I was just gawking, but at the same time remained respectful of the ceremony I was witnessing.

                                      What I was appalled by were all the numpties cheering and clapping as Benny walked up the aisle, standing on chairs an the like to try and get a better photo. Quite astonishing. Having been in Venice on Christmas Eve and seen one of the most beautiful masses I'll ever see, in a basilica packed to the gunnels with (mostly) locals and tourists, the difference was stark.

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                                        #20
                                        When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                        I've been to Eyup twice and never had any problems, and in fact was encouraged to take pictures despite my own misgivings. I am very surprised to hear anyone gave you trouble.

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                                          #21
                                          When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                          Without wishing to derail this (never been to Laos, only been in one Mosque, in Stamford Hill), Amsterdam surely shouldnt be included here?

                                          Yes, fine, you get the munters who go and abuse the possibilities, but you also get the people (hopefully, like me) who can see the city for what it is: a beautiful, slightly rundown, glorious, architecture dreamworld, where the only thing you have to do, is walk and look (up).

                                          OK, I am slightly biased, but as Wyatt said upthread, you can avoid dickheads. Perhaps its a little more difficult to do so when you are on a coach travelling through a country where there ISNT a theme park atmosphere?

                                          Don't blame Americans for this one... if you are on a tour, you go to the (structured) places on the itinerary, and you take pictures.

                                          Whether you should go on this sort of tour in the first place, is much more to AG's point.

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                                            #22
                                            When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                            oh, and thanks Lucia... I almost chewed the keyboard.

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                                              #23
                                              When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                              WHO TREAT BUDDHISM LIKE A FUCKING CONSUMPTION GOOD
                                              Well, you know, it is.

                                              Get over it. It's like going to watch the Buenos Aires derby if you go there on holiday.

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                                                #24
                                                When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                                Yes, fine, you get the munters who go and abuse the possibilities, but you also get the people (hopefully, like me) who can see the city for what it is: a beautiful, slightly rundown, glorious, architecture dreamworld, where the only thing you have to do, is walk and look (up).
                                                The Damrak should be the nicest boulevard in the city, the main street from Centraal Station to Dam Square, welcoming train passengers into the city. The Champs Elysees of the city. Instead it's home to strip joints, a sex museum, about twenty useless souvenir shops run by mobsters, money changing places and drug pushers. (And the best chipper in the city.) On the other side you have people queuing up next to mock windmills to get on plastic pedal boats.

                                                In terms of the urban makeup of the city, it's one of the most important corridors in the city, and it's fecked up beyond repair.

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                                                  #25
                                                  When Tourism Fucks Things Up Beyond Repair

                                                  yes, Bryan, but when you walk down the Damrak, you can divert yourself to where you want to be.

                                                  You can be a tourist, you can be a dope fiend, you can be a mentalist, or indeed all of the above.

                                                  But first and foremost (cant believe that I just typed that shite), you can be a human, and you are not at home, so dont expect to shit on the doorstep of others, because, they dont usually shit on yours.

                                                  Or is that just me? Are we now so used to travel, and to other countries, that we take them for granted?

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