A poor strategy - Bangkok, Thailand

I'm reading a book and sipping an Americano at a nice Starbucks coffehouse downtown. A group of Bangkok gays who are sitting a few tables away are engaged in a casual conversation. My knowledge of Thai language, which is rather poor, is good enough to understand the topic of their current conversation: they are saying that the foreigner sitting over there by himself is cute.

Why do we travel?

Opposite types of tourists (or travelers?) that I'd rather not meet: those who travel the world to prove (most of all to themselves) that their country is the best there is, without even giving a chance to the place they are visiting, and the ones who often love any country they come across better than their own, even though the filth, violence, greediness, racism, corruption, poverty and injustice they might find there are things they would never tolerate at home.
Lack of balance and intellectual honesty apart...what a huge waste of resources! If they have already made up their minds, why don't they just stay in the place that was awarded their prize before the contest even took place, enjoying the case-hardened clarity of their opinions, by doing so saving lots of time as well as the money of the flights, the hotels, the restaurants, the tours and the guides? 
Besides the confirmation of our expectations, shouldn't we also find in travels the pleasure of discovery?

Motorcycle thieves (or the lack of them) - Pattaya, Thailand

A few years ago in Milan someone stole my brother's brand new scooter. It was parked in his building courtyard, the door to the sidewalk locked, secured to a post with expensive and inviolable chain and padlock.

In Thailand you park your motorbike wherever you find a good place and at any time of day or night, you simply lock the handlebars (but you might even not do it), you leave your helmet in the basket and maybe a shopping bag hanging on the hook. You come back a few hours later or even the following day and everything is still there.

Tourists, travelers or just confused?

In Asia I often meet Westerners who feel offended if someone calls them tourists.

"How come? Do you live here, by any chance?"

"No, I don't"

"Well, then, what do you do?"

"I travel."

"And how would you define yourself, if not a tourist?"

"A traveler!"

"Oh, I see..."

The jungle and the cage

A few months back I wrote a post called Stay out of the cage. Did you read it? Congratulations! You're one of the four people who did. You didn't? Well, I'm not surprised, of course. In case you were interested it's not too late to join the small group. You just need to click here. I kept it short and I wrote it as if I was writing a poem, or maybe a nursery rhyme. It's not my stuff really, but it was fun. Now I'd like to dig the subject a little deeper, in a more prosaic form.

What is the cage? Let's see. I think it's a cultural, traditional, material, custom and viewpoint framework we normally are brought up in. By the time we are adults its elements are embedded in our mind and, as if we had been administered increasing doses of them, we have become addicted.

Word vs. Zen

After reading the following paragraphs from Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig, I got a sort of enlightenment:

"[...]The term logos, the root word of ``logic,'' refers to the sum total of our rational understanding of the world. Mythos is the sum total of the early historic and prehistoric myths which preceded the logos. The mythos includes not only the Greek myths but the Old Testament, the Vedic Hymns and the early legends of all cultures which have contributed to our present world understanding. The mythos-over-logos argument states that our rationality is shaped by these legends, that our knowledge today is in relation to these legends as a tree is in relation to the little shrub it once was.

[...]One finds that in the Judeo-Christian culture in which the Old Testament ``Word'' had an intrinsic sacredness of its own, men are willing to sacrifice and live by and die for words. In this culture, a court of law can ask a witness to tell ``the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God,'' and expect the truth to be told. But one can transport this court to India, as did the British, with no real success on the matter of perjury because the Indian mythos is different and this sacredness of words is not felt in the same way."

Suddenly so many things became clear. I could finally find an explanation for some of the most puzzling cultural differences between West and East (especially where the mythos is mainly of Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist origin). For those aspects whose existence I've known for so long but for which I couldn't find a root. We - I mean westerners - give great importance to our word, our promises, the truth. Asians value these things as well, of course, but in a different way. And they probably value other things even more. Else, how could we explain the never say no culture, or all the incongruent behaviors that Asians can naturally adopt so that no one is forced to lose face?

Worthy of a general - Bangkok, Thailand

Fortunately in Bangkok one doesn't have to witness only ghastly shows like this. If one keeps his radar tuned and has patience he'll be able to enjoy a number of amusing and instructive little scenes.

A Korean tourist has just bought a Phat Thai, one of those cooked at the edge of the road, on a large tilted fry pan set over a gas stove and served on styrofoam trays. When he still has a third of the portion left one of those old men who collect empty bottles of beer to make a few bucks draws near him. The Korean moves aside to let him pass and then starts to wolf down what is left of his Phat Thai. Using the chopsticks with perfect skill he shoves elephant-like quantities of food into his mouth, holding his breath, letting out flooded engine-like sounds, dropping fragments and leaning forward to prevent his shirt from getting soiled. A disgusting scene. But why is he doing that? Don't tell me that he's going to...no! He can't do it!