The Enlightened Traveller

When we travel, we often think of all of the people we are going to meet, and the experiences we are going to have, but not of our affect on the places that we visit. I think that as tourists, especially tourists that love the places we visit, we should think about our affect on the places that we go.

One way that we can think of this is with regards to etiquette. For example, if we visit a sacred place in a country, be it a Shinto shrine, an Italian cathedral, or the Wailing Wall, we need to be respectful of its sacredness. This means that even if you personally do not recognize a place as sacred, you need to think about how it is sacred to other people, and respect that fact. One example would be the Buddhist wats that I visited in Thailand and Laos. Many of the temples that I went to had signs outside of them, which asked tourists to wear clothes covering their shoulders and knees. Another example would be the temple that holds the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. In this temple we were prohibited from taking pictures, though I’m sure people were still taking them.

If we don’t respect these places as tourists, or travellers, we’re displaying disregard for the cultures of the people there. By not respecting cultures, locals can get annoyed and may harbour stereotypes about tourists. If you want to have a good experience, and have the people that you meet respect you, you should respect them too.

While temples and sacred places hold one form of etiquette, we should take into regard other forms of cultural etiquette as well, when we visit places. Every culture and every place holds its own distinct, highly embedded, forms of etiquette. For instance, if you come to Canada, you may notice that people have a habit of holding doors for others. Although this may seem minor, it’s a really polite thing to do in Canadian culture. Another example would be in Thailand, where you’re not supposed to point your feet at another person while sitting. If you do, it’s considered quite rude.

A great resource for learning about cultural etiquette before going to a place would be the ‘Culture Shock’ book series. I highly recommend it; it’s in fact what I used when I went to Thailand. Learning etiquette may not seem that important, but it will distinguish you from other tourists. It may gather better impressions of you too. Remember, you can learn a lot from the people you meet around the world, just make sure you listen. Don’t think that your way of life is better than anyone else’s.

By ignoring cultural etiquette we do affect the cultures that we encounter. By throwing trash on the ground in another country, we add to environmental issues. By paying money to corrupt organizations, we are contributing to the problems faced by people in the countries that we visit.

So I propose, next time you travel, try to take the ‘Enlightened Traveller’ route. Do research before you visit a place. But, not just research on the best ‘bargains’, or the best places to eat. Do research on the culture you’re visiting, what people value, what people disregard. Do research on the minority groups that live there, what it means when you see a little girl in hilltribe clothes posing for pictures. What it means when we give money to elephant painting organizations. You may learn a lot, and you can learn how you can help the places and the people you’re visiting, while still having a good time.

Until next time,

- Leia

PS: Here’s a link to the Culture Shock! series book on Japan on Amazon. If you go further down there’s other books from the series.

http://www.amazon.com/CultureShock-Japan-Survival-Etiquette-Cultureshock/dp/0761454888/ref=pd_sim_b_1