Chinese vs. Western Tourism - part two

This very story I shall start with a middle-long but worth-reading passage out of a book I've read recently: it's called "Wohin du auch gehst" by Benjamin Prüfer. Not the type of book I would choose in other circumstances, but the book-swapping-shelfs of hostels don't offer too many books of my choice ;) But finally it was quite nice and the fact that it's a real story made it more interesting.

I chose this passage because even before having read it, I had exactly the same thoughts and found Prüfers way describing my thoughts simply perfect (I translated this passage it into English by myself):

"Going there and Getting away

I hate being a tourist. You can't avoid looking stupid when being a tourist. You are always in a manicly friendly but illusory world. I will call it Backpackerland. It is not important, if you are travelling through Asia, Australia or South America. Backpackerland is everywhere. Everything you need to know about Backpackerland can be found in the Lonely Planet Guidebook. It is structured in the sections 'Going there and Getting away', 'Accomodation', 'Things to do and to see' and 'Danger and Annoyances'. There are no real people in Backpackerland. There are only wily truckdrivers, endless-smiling stewardesses, hostel-owners and tourist-guides, who have a cousin in Germany. Everybody is really nice to you, they call you 'my friend', even though you have never met them before. And all ask you the same questions straight away: 'Where' you from?' - And when you answer 'Germany' they would say: 'Ah, Germany! I love Germany! Mick'ael Ballack! Number one football player!'

During my trip I had the feeling that everything around me was just a coulisse which had been built up only for me. I was there enclosed in a big bubble of western reality; with credit cards, MP3-players and a travelinsurance. I was not in Asia, I have always only been in Backpackerland. And I was sitting in the middle of all the others, who were also looking for something, who also had the Lonely Planet in their hands. They had necklaces with shark-teeth, tatoos or a buddha-pendants, to borrow an identity from the different culture. This attempt to give themselves some kind of individuality always ends in the same way: that they all look the same: Che-Guevara-shirts, army-trousers and flip-flops. And always the same T-shirts bought on Khao Sun Road in Bangkok. It is like an uniform.

Me as well I always had my Lonely Planet Guidebook with me and by consequence only saw, what was mentionned in the book. I have wondered sometimes, if I shouldn't rather just throw away the book. But then I would have been kicked out of the secure Backpackerland - this would have made my trip frightingly real. Only the imagination made me panic.

In Backpackerland there are only nodding acquaintances. You get to know a person, drink with him for a night, for a few days he's your best friend, but you know that as soon as he's on the next bus he will already have forgotten about you. You are never alone in Backpackerland, but you are lonely very often."

Me as well, I am travelling with the Lonely Planet, and me as well I have often thought about just getting rid of this book. But it is so useful, even though the information concerning prices and bus-times are  often not accurate. And it helps you getting an idea of where to head to. Still, you end up seeing only the places mentionned in the book, and nothing else, and being where everybody else is. But I say to myself:  there usually is a reason - something worth seeing - which makes many people heading to the same place. And - call me uncool - finally I don't really know what to do when going to a random Chinese village not mentionned in any guidebook at all...

But I HATE one side-effect of the Lonely Planet: all these backpackers in the hostels, this superficial world... And being one of them makes me even more hating this world, because I can't just ignore it, I feel I need to have an oppinion about it.

Why writing about this now?

Because I just spent one week in Yangshuo, a really nice little town in the middle of a breathtakingly beautiful area - together with hundreds of other Western backpackers (and some Chinese tourists). This small little town is in fact nothing but a big touristspot: the main street (surprise surprise, it's called "West Street") is full with souvenir shops, travel agencies, bars and restaurants (offering Chinese and Western food) hotels and hostels, bike-rental stores and anything else regular tourists and backpackers might need.

And as already mentionned before I had the feeling of beeing in a big bubble, that 

could be just anywhere - like describd in the passage above.
But I admit: of course it is nice to eat a burger after having eaten only rice and noodles for weeks (no, not half as good as Shebeen-burgers...) and have some beers in a nice bar which meets the wishes of Western tourists. And the rooftop-bars in Yangshuo definitely met these wishes- they were nice indeed with great views over the beautifully lit streets and rocks.

The gros of Western tourists could therefore be found in these very rooftopbars. Many special offers like cocktail-happy-hours and cheap local beers made them even more attractive to them. And you can see that loads of Americans are visiting Yangshuo - I have no other explanation for the fact that all these places have beer-pong-tables. And being there, just among Westerners, watching them drink and play beer-pong made me again having the impression of being inside this bubble; made me hate this superficial world. I have never been there but I thought that this is just a smaller version of Mallorca or Ibiza.

However, I do of course understand them all: it is the need of feeling a bit home, feeling secure, having somebody with the same experiences to talk to, out there in this unknown culture, that makes us Westerners sometimes aiming for Western places.

And I am no better than they are: me as well I ended up having a preferred pub, non of the rooftopbars, which gave me a bit the feeling of being back home, back in Shebeen ;) a place with great music, many different beers on tap and in bottles (btw: you can get Erdinger, the beer you see on the umbrella in the pic, simply everywhere in China), burgers, a TV-screen with football behind the bar - oh yes, home sweet home. And posters of cool movies on the wall as well as two posters of Salzburg :)

The Lonely Planet writes about Yangshuo: "Let's get a few things straight from the start. Yes, Yangshuo is extremely touristy. Yes, parts of it are very Western indeed. And yes, you will be hassled by touts during every day of your stay. But if you use any of the above as an excuse for avoiding the area altogether, you're making a big mistake."
And that's all so right! It is simply beautiful and there is soooo much you can do in the area.

If you want you can easily avoid all the tourists: just rent a bike and ride into

the countryside through the many small villages. Or go hiking, rockclimbing, or whatever...As long as Niku was still here, we went for a few long biking trips and a long hiking trip along the Li-River. We went jogging, which I now try to continue again no matter where I am as I really saw how much I was missing sports.
(She left after 5 days, I stayed 3 more days - Niku, it was great travelling with you these two weeks!!)



Here is my little excuse or escape from being a typical backpacker in Yangshuo: - and something that made my trip being a bit more senseful:
We were volunteering as English conversation partners in the ZhuoYue English College. I found this school by coincidence through CouchSurfing (another reason to love this network and we simply loved the opportunity. Many Chinese students (all adults) are staying in this school (some even for months...) having English classes every day from the morning to the evening. And foreigners can just stay there as volunteers, sleep in the dormitory and get free food. In exchange they have to do the English corner: talking 2 hours with the students in the evenings. I really enjoyed the time with the students as we could talk about anything we wanted. So I learned far more about Chinese tradition and they learnt more about Austrian or European in general, than you could learn through any book.

Already beforehand I have had a few doubts about my trip because just travelling around without doing anything meaningful, and moreover hanging out in hostels where I only met other backpackers but nobody from the country I actually travelled in, seemed all so senseless to me. Couchsurfing had so far at least offered me the opportunity of seeing the places I've been through the eyes of my hosts, and not through the Lonely-Planet-reading backpackers-eyes. But you don't always find CS-hosts and even if you are, you're not doing anything meaningful. So my goal is now to find more places where I can change my trip into something more meaningful... wish me luck my dears!