About the media. Part 2.

So when I was talking about the article in Pop Photo, I didn't mention the coolest part of the article.

After they finished profiling the three photographers, there was a page called What You Can Do. That page is basically something I took as a sign. On that page of the article, they were talking about the process of volunteering your photography to help out these non-profit organizations with promo shots and just showing exactly what they're doing for the people in various villages they're working in. That page was when things really clicked for me.

I'm a weird tourist. I don't really have much interest in touristy things but I love traveling and exploring new places without any real plan of what I'm going to see and without much knowledge of what I'm getting myself into. That was really evident in my trip around Europe where I was like 'Hmm, this place sounds fun. Let's go check it out.' and next thing you know, I'm on a train there.

I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to go to all the tourist resorts if I ever went to Asia. I wanted to see the real Asian life. Sure, if you're in Tokyo or Hong Kong or anywhere else like that, it'll be very Americanized. But if you go out to Cambodia or Nepal or Mongolia, you're in for a bit of culture shock. And that's what I want. I read an article once about the difference between traveler and tourist and there was a sentence which was something like 'If you're going to another culture, immerse yourself in their culture instead of bringing as much of your own as you can.' And what better way to do that then to go join them in their own villages?

So I decided one of the safest ways to do that was to volunteer with these organizations. They'll send you out to real life in whatever country you sign up for instead of sending you to see the sights all the travel books tell you to check out. That's how I've decided to spend my time in southeast Asia. I'll volunteer somewhere for a few months working with the project, taking pictures to chronicle it all and then head somewhere else to do it again. I can't really come up with a more meaningful way to trek around than that. And on a practical note, my lack of knowledge in foreign languages won't be as much of an issue since the volunteers there can speak English.

This trip is beginning to get more and more exciting by the day. 23 days until I catch my flight to Auckland. And I can't wait to get started.

Indian Government: stop spitting at tourists sites

India hopes to shame its citizens out of spitting and littering at tourist sites with an advertising campaign showing schoolchildren looking dismayed and disapproving of the dirty habit.

The walls of countless buildings in India are streaked with dried red spit generated by people chewing paan, a mildly intoxicating preparation wrapped in a leaf and often containing betel nut and tobacco.

The tourism ministry wants to convince people to think of more discreet places to deposit their phlegm, and is spending 50 million rupees ($1.12 million) on a campaign to instill civic pride it says is widely lacking.

"Unfortunately spitting paan is considered an art in India," the ministry's Amitabh Kant told Reuters, adding that it was off-putting to many of the nearly 4 million foreign tourists that visit the country each year.

One of the adverts running in national newspapers shows four children looking distressed at the sight of a paan-splattered monument strewn with litter and covered with graffiti.

"What a shame that people like him have no respect for our heritage," one child says in a speech bubble, pointing an angry finger at a paan-chewing man on the brink of spitting.

__________

I find the campaigns foreign governments run to help make their countries more hospitable amusing. A week or two ago, there was an article about China and their "smile training" to make Beijing more hospitable for the 2008 Olympics. While it's true smiling and not spitting on the tourist sites can make a place seem more hospitable, it shouldn't be something you have to drill into your citizens heads.

In China, it's not customary to smile when you're happy. It's actually a sign that you've done something wrong. So by teaching them to smile whenever a tourist is approaching, you're trying to recondition them from the culture that they grew up in and that their parents grew up in to help make an American feel more welcome. But when I visit China, it's to see Chinese life. Not to be treated like royalty. If there was a section of China that was like something straight out of the kung fu movies, I'd spend my entire trip there. If I wanted American behavior, I'd stay in St. Louis.

Spitting paan is "an art in India" so apparently the citizens don't mind it, and by making an art of it have made it part of their culture. It'd be like saying "Alright, there's too much open gayness in America. You're free to watch Will and Grace in your own home, but if you bring it out into the public, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!" It's ridiculous to even consider that happening here. Yet it seems to be the norm in the world trying to attract American tourists and American money.

I guess I can add spitting paan on my list of things to learn how to do while I'm in India. After all, I'm always interested in learning a new art.