To the locals, the scattering of crazy white people they see on a daily basis must live on another planet when not in their locality. They carry around a huge bag on their backs for months on end with no home to go to just so they can see something that has become a ‘must-see‘ on the tourist trail.
Geographically speaking all places on the tourist map, together with the local people within them, will benefit in some way economically from the trade. ‘Local people‘, however, is a loose term used to describe natives who can often be placed in to two categories: those who will go about their daily business oblivious to your presence, and those seeking commercial gain by your presence. The former have probably lived in that place for their whole lives with the same daily routine and could care less whether you were there or not. The latter move with the tourist trade, wherever that may be, pester you incessantly, treat you like a walking cash machine and try to extract as much money from you as possible for various services and/or products. The challenge lay in knowing the difference between the two. In a place where everyone wants to talk to you, the unwritten rules of British conservatism, with which we have all grown up, do not apply. At home, strangers generally do not try to talk to you unless they have something to gain and it is, therefore, very black and white and easy to distinguish between the two types. Here, since our very appearance means that everybody wants to talk to us, it is hard to know who wants to sell us something and who wants to genuinely practice their English. A blunt no thanks to every person who probably would have been genuinely and honestly intrigued and curious about us and where we come from, can leave us feeling uncomfortable. It is hard to not get into the mindset that everybody is out to scam us. Nevertheless, it is important that the thick skin one has developed after being in Asia for a while remains just a little porous.
Take, for instance, whilst walking the streets. Now, as much as we say, ‘lets put the guidebook away so we don’t look like tourists’, the very fact that we could not stand out more in an African tribal gathering negates this very idea. Being strangers and seemingly possessing no names, introductions aimed in our direction range from ‘England?’ or ‘Where you from?, London?, Manchester?, Liverpool?’, in that order. We have a range of other countries shouted in our direction of course, but it did not take long to realise that once we had answered England, the places they know, or at least by proxy, are where all of the top 5 Premiership football teams are based. Hard to believe they had not heard of Exeter City or Northampton Town. We have given up trying to explain where Devon or Northampton is and on any given day we now come from either London, Manchester or Liverpool and support any one of that city‘s teams. One thing is certain, they adore football here in SE Asia, especially the English Premiership, and they will enthusiastically sell their soul to talk about it with us. It is sometimes hard not to get tired of this same conversation though, especially when we realise they just wanted to sell us something. But, ever the polite Brits, we indulge them.
Other introductions range from the amusing to the downright irritating, depending on how many times we have heard them. After the usual, ‘where you from, England?’, to which we have replied yes, we have lost count of the amount of times we have heard ‘luvvly jubbly’. It is one of those annoying and stereotypical sayings that are said more times by others who know about them than from where they originated. Just yesterday though, for the first time, we heard something that made us chuckle. As random as it was, we heard an ‘izzy wizzy, lets get busy!‘ I was more offended that perhaps we didn’t look busy enough or that she thought our names might have been Izzy and Wizzy.
Learning the difference between those out to scam us and those genuinely wanting to talk is a challenge, but every so often somebody restores a bit of faith. The genuine ones don’t hustle for our attention, but instead beam in our direction the brightest and most sincere smile. What emerges, due to the lack of language communication, is a series of head nodding and eye contact. It is a universal and subliminal conversation needing no translation, telepathically trading all the information one needs to know about each other. It is also a heart warming exchange of two people, whose lives and lifestyles could not be further apart, and equalises all the terse rejections we usually and automatically give out.
Geographically speaking all places on the tourist map, together with the local people within them, will benefit in some way economically from the trade. ‘Local people‘, however, is a loose term used to describe natives who can often be placed in to two categories: those who will go about their daily business oblivious to your presence, and those seeking commercial gain by your presence. The former have probably lived in that place for their whole lives with the same daily routine and could care less whether you were there or not. The latter move with the tourist trade, wherever that may be, pester you incessantly, treat you like a walking cash machine and try to extract as much money from you as possible for various services and/or products. The challenge lay in knowing the difference between the two. In a place where everyone wants to talk to you, the unwritten rules of British conservatism, with which we have all grown up, do not apply. At home, strangers generally do not try to talk to you unless they have something to gain and it is, therefore, very black and white and easy to distinguish between the two types. Here, since our very appearance means that everybody wants to talk to us, it is hard to know who wants to sell us something and who wants to genuinely practice their English. A blunt no thanks to every person who probably would have been genuinely and honestly intrigued and curious about us and where we come from, can leave us feeling uncomfortable. It is hard to not get into the mindset that everybody is out to scam us. Nevertheless, it is important that the thick skin one has developed after being in Asia for a while remains just a little porous.
Take, for instance, whilst walking the streets. Now, as much as we say, ‘lets put the guidebook away so we don’t look like tourists’, the very fact that we could not stand out more in an African tribal gathering negates this very idea. Being strangers and seemingly possessing no names, introductions aimed in our direction range from ‘England?’ or ‘Where you from?, London?, Manchester?, Liverpool?’, in that order. We have a range of other countries shouted in our direction of course, but it did not take long to realise that once we had answered England, the places they know, or at least by proxy, are where all of the top 5 Premiership football teams are based. Hard to believe they had not heard of Exeter City or Northampton Town. We have given up trying to explain where Devon or Northampton is and on any given day we now come from either London, Manchester or Liverpool and support any one of that city‘s teams. One thing is certain, they adore football here in SE Asia, especially the English Premiership, and they will enthusiastically sell their soul to talk about it with us. It is sometimes hard not to get tired of this same conversation though, especially when we realise they just wanted to sell us something. But, ever the polite Brits, we indulge them.
Other introductions range from the amusing to the downright irritating, depending on how many times we have heard them. After the usual, ‘where you from, England?’, to which we have replied yes, we have lost count of the amount of times we have heard ‘luvvly jubbly’. It is one of those annoying and stereotypical sayings that are said more times by others who know about them than from where they originated. Just yesterday though, for the first time, we heard something that made us chuckle. As random as it was, we heard an ‘izzy wizzy, lets get busy!‘ I was more offended that perhaps we didn’t look busy enough or that she thought our names might have been Izzy and Wizzy.
Learning the difference between those out to scam us and those genuinely wanting to talk is a challenge, but every so often somebody restores a bit of faith. The genuine ones don’t hustle for our attention, but instead beam in our direction the brightest and most sincere smile. What emerges, due to the lack of language communication, is a series of head nodding and eye contact. It is a universal and subliminal conversation needing no translation, telepathically trading all the information one needs to know about each other. It is also a heart warming exchange of two people, whose lives and lifestyles could not be further apart, and equalises all the terse rejections we usually and automatically give out.
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