The
general area between real life and being on-the-road
I went
through a phase on this trip (it should have been established by now: I have
many phases. I am rather weird at times) where I referred to everything
as ‘non-touristic’. I drove the guys crazy asking ‘is that a non-touristic
meal?’ ‘was that a non-touristic experience,’ ‘is this a non-touristic beer?’ and
so forth. It is, in my mind to the depths of hilarity to refer to everything as
‘non-touristic’. The term originates from Jaisalmer, where all the tourists go
on ‘non-touristic’ camel safari’s (none of which the locals would ever dream of
going on), all sharing exactly the same ‘non-touristic’ experience. In fact,
there isn’t a ‘touristic’ camel safari in town.
You can
imagine the Indian line of thought. These idiot westerners want to ride a train
through the desert for eighteen hours, sit on a camel (not a comfortable animal
to ride by any stretch), and take a walk around the countryside. If they want
to, fine by me. Being an astute businessman, I also know that ‘tourists’ don’t
want to do ‘touristy’ things, so I will therefore market my ‘touristy’ activity
as ‘non-touristic.’ It’s almost cute in the primary-school like sophistication
of it.
So all the
tourists like myself turn up, go on our non-touristic camel safari’s (read:
walk around the countryside) and go home beaming about what a great
non-touristic experience we had.
It’s a
beautiful dichotomy, and I just love it.
It was just
after our ‘non-touristic’ camel ‘safari’ that I calculated I’d been out of New
Zealand for a cumulative six months, over four trips, and across about ten
different countries. I’d come to know a few things about being a tourist,
gotten relatively familiar with South-East Asian and Indian culture, and had
some fun, poignant, hilarious, inspirational, and awe-inspiring moments along
the way.
Rather than
my usual proclamations about life, and my self-proclaimed insightful offerings,
I thought I would leave all that crap at the door, and for once, just offer twenty-one
or so thoughts about what it is to be a tourist, what it is to travel India and
South East Asia, and some things you learn about yourself and others along the
way. I've thought about 'summarising' India, but I think the previous 32 blogs do a good enough job of that - there's so much variety in India, you can't reduce it to a little essay, let alone a full length book.
By
travelling, also, you come to understand the place you live, and work, and the
people you associate with better, for it is from the outside looking in that
you get the greatest perspective, and it is from a wider range of benchmarks
and references points from which you can judge your own situation and
circumstances.
By all
accounts, I, and others in my country, are pretty lucky. We’re affluent, do not
struggle for basic necessities (believe me, this is a luxury) and have
opportunities many people in the world can only dream about. But let’s leave
that at the door, and focus for a second on me, on you, and what I have learnt
along the way.
Here goes:
1.
One of the great luxuries of travel is time.
You can sleep in every day without an alarm clock. You can spend fifteen
minutes shaving and an hour for lunch. You can have three hour chess matches on
a whim; you can spend a day doing absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about
it. You can do nothing, or something, and fill your days with as many
activities as you like. Point is – it’s yours to do with as you please. I read The Luminaries in less than three days, Burmese Days in less than two. Such
luxuries are afforded on holiday.
2.
The best experiences are those that involve
people, getting to know them, and sharing an experience together. Temples and
pagoda’s do not have feelings, nor do museums, monuments, buildings and forts.
3.
A lot of the talk about ‘spiritual
enlightenment,’ ‘finding yourself’ and somehow thinking that travelling, by
right, gives you greater insight than the rest of the population – is bullshit.
The reality is you are on holiday, taking time out for your ‘normal’ life, and
perhaps trying to broaden yourself and try some new things. You are not an
enlightened man on a higher plain than the rest of humankind.
4.
You can do lots of learning whilst
travelling. Travelling may allow you to ‘see’ things that you couldn’t
previously, and give you context and perspective for your own life. Viewing how
different people live their lives is often a vantage point from which you can
view yours.
5.
The streets are a good a teacher as the
classroom. Spend some time in a South East Asian village and you’ll get a quick
lesson in economics: distribution of income, extraction of natural resources,
manufacturing methods, distribution and supply chains, marketing, and of
course, making the sale. You’ll see that the west has hugely benefited from
rationale thought and economic models of development, not to mention
first-mover advantage.
6.
You quickly realise what you miss from home.
For example, I miss: chocolate, cheese, ice cream, milk, pizza, burgers, sushi,
(good) coffee, red wine, having a car, music, nice speakers, a double bed, soft
linen, not having itchy bites, ready access to sunscreen/after-sun burn, warm
showers, treadmills… the list goes on.
7.
You also realise who you miss: what friends
you miss, family, and who you just can’t wait to see again. On the flip side,
you realise how some friendships just ‘fall away’. I wish it were easier, but
life fills up and speeds up, and you just can’t be everything to everyone.
8.
Your problems, whatever they may be, don’t
disappear or dissipate when you are on holiday. They may be out of mind for a
while, or be temporarily suspended, but they do not disappear. Whatever your
problems are, you are still you, and the world around you still exists.
9.
Cities, towns and villages on the road are
often visited and ‘done’ in a few days. You quickly realise the limitations,
and possibilities of a place. This applies to the world-at-large as well. Each
and every city has its own series of restrictions, limitations, and
possibilities; if a city doesn’t fit yours, perhaps it’s time to find a new
one.
10. For some,
true independence can only be achieved with the three-fold act of moving out of
home, moving away from the city you were born, and moving away from the city in
which your parents live.
11. As of one-on-one
time, so does travel allow time to get to know other people. Walking up a hill
with a complete stranger for the better part of a day is a great way to get to
know someone – you may find you know more about them in a day than you did
people you’d known for years. You also meet people who have studied and worked
in areas you’ve never even heard of.
12. Another
great luxury is the absence of stress, pressure and worry. This is like
pre-exam mode, before you sit it, you’ll think you’ll be in ecstasy once it’s
over. Often, you feel no different. This is what absence is like, it not being
there is hardly noticeable. Still, it’s nice not to have these things in your
life for a while, especially if you can use that to your advantage (have you
ever met someone who’s mastered this?).
13. When
travelling, you learn certain skills, including problem solving, remaining calm
under pressure, resolve, making friends, and how not to lose your shit when
things aren’t going well. Some people really just need to chill out. Others
need to learn how to plan and figure things out. You can do this in foreign
countries. I can think of any number of examples.
14. Another
advantage of travel is that you have the ability to reset all your habits and
routines – the good and the bad. Over 30 days you can practically start again –
no morning coffees, lay off the beer, keep up the daily writing, and so forth.
It’s fun, and often you don’t realise what habits you did and didn’t have until
you’re not in them anymore! What’s harder though is deciding the habits you
want in the real world and sticking to those!
15. Cameras on
holiday, are in my opinion, overrated. True, I say this with an official
photographer on board, but ever since I dropped my camera in the sand, I’ve
enjoyed not having one. You hardly ever look at photos anyway. Try a day with a
camera and a day without – see which you prefer.
16. Travel gives
one the chance to re-evaluate certain habits and behaviours. For example, if
your habit is to drink every Friday night, travel allows you the time and
context to assess that behaviour and assess its merit, whichever way that may
fall.
17. Travel
stories are boring to other people. Your experience is your own, and other peoples
are their own. At work on a Monday morning, people won’t care that you saw the
most magical sundown on the planet… unless of course you’re a gifted
storyteller…
18. Avoid
clichés and commonly accepted ‘wisdom’. I was assured I would get ‘Delhi
Belly’. I’m still waiting.
19. Exchanging
of travel talk is often boring too. ‘I went here, we went there, did this…
etc.’ I normally leave that to the others. I would prefer to say hello, and
talk about something else.
20. There are
perhaps two types of travellers. Those who set a plan and execute it, and those
who ‘feel’ their way around. Neither is better than the other, and often the
two groups will end up at the exact same place!
21. This is
probably the grumpy old man in me – travel can have its share of boring
moments too, and stressful ones for those inclined. It’s not all fine dining
with great people after a day of exhilarating fun. Sometimes it’s walking
around a boring strip mall after a hot, stuffy bus ride, having a mediocre meal
in silence, and having annoying Thai girls scream ‘masaaage’ at you for the
eighth time that day on your way home. Doing ‘activities’ day-after-day does
have its limits, and you’ll reach a point where even the most surreal thing
won’t give you the slightest feeling or thought. There are moments on the road
when you just can’t wait to get back home and back to work. Remember this on a
Wednesday morning when your boss wants a paper done in the next two hours…point
is, there is no easy answer to anything in life - it's just a state of being and trying to make the best of it that you can. There's good things everywhere, if you're just willing to find them - and know the value of them - be it on the road, or in you backyard.
So that’s it; after six months of
combined travel time on the road, most of it in South East Asian and one month
in India, it’s fair to say I need to set my sights on new horizons. I have
always maintained that travel is about personal growth and improving yourself
between the start-point and end-point. Having left South East Asia behind, and
starting a new journey in London, Europe, and beyond, I hope I can look back at
this starting point, now, as a place from which I grew, and from which new
experiences carried me far.
I hope you have enjoyed reading. I
have enjoyed writing. All the best on your own travel adventures, and drop me a
line if you are so-inclined. Would love to swap travel stories…!
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| Crackson King... signing off. |
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