Going on holiday? Thinking about a trip to a foreign land with an affable climate? Are you even thinking of becoming a Traveller of Conscience? Michael Dawkes continues his gentle persuasion.

 

Mind your step.

I know that you know that it's a bad idea to plant dirty great carbon footprints all over the planet, but did you know it's quite useless these days thumbing your way through your old atlas in an attempt to decide where to plant them? Indeed, you may not find the place you seek.

The dreaded name change syndrome is rife. Thanks to American-style "diplomacy by other means" in the seventies, the land of the rural Khmers was devastated by high-altitude bombing and the sowing of gigantic minefields. Out of the craters and into the power vacuum slithered a new breed of exterminator. Cambodia became Kampuchea and skulls began to stack up. America suddenly became indifferent and the skulls were stacked higher.

It must be the greatest irony ever that Kampuchea had to be rescued from itself by America's nemesis. The newly formed nation of Vietnam, the very country that America had tried to prevent from ever existing, probably prevented what could have become known as the Asian Holocaust.

The land of the Khmers, epitomised by the magnificent Angkor Wat, was duly renamed, er, Cambodia. It's beautiful but quite corrupt. If you are ethically inclined it's a minefield. If you fancy a walk in the forest, that's a minefield, too.  

The Vietnamese celebrated nationhood by changing one important name in their homeland. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City. But like Leningrad was to St. Petersburg there is no resonance to cities named after ideologues.

Imagine a musical called Miss Ho Chi Minh City? I doubt it would have struck the same cords in London's West End or on Broadway as "Miss Saigon." 

Peking changed to Beijing. Do you know anyone who eats Beijing duck? Mumbai replaced Bombay but the smell of the old city remains the same.

Remember the Burmese Road to Mandalay? That romantic road travelled by Bob and Bing has been blocked by another bunch of ruthless, crooked and cowardly killers of indigenous peoples. Yes, and just like the Americans in Cambodia, we all stood casually by as murderous morons chopped down all the teak for profit, burned the rest of the forest for fun and slaughtered anyone who stood in the way.

Then they renamed Burma, Myanmar. They've now forsaken their capital city, Rangoon. With the help of slave labour they've built themselves a brand new city, for themselves. It's called Naypidaw, meaning abode of kings. As if! But it has a nice ring to it, what? The Travel Industry will like it. They'll get you there, somehow, even if they have to use specialist travel companies that operate in foreign lands.

Tourists still go there. A Traveller of Conscience wouldn't, of course. He or she knows that their money would be used to keep thugs in jackboot polish and travel agents in clover.

Fancy a trip down the old Silk Road? How about a journey to Samarkand in Uzbekistan; to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and any other 'stan' so long as it trips nicely off a travel agent's silver tongue.

Corrupt Central Asian regimes will be cajoled and bribed by western travel interests, or Russians, to think about tourists. They'll set up construction companies run by the relatives of oligarchs who will build concrete boxes to cater to creature comforts. Some will fall into the hands of Western hotel chains, whose shareholders will insist upon full occupancy. Ethical standards will plummet like high-rise elevators supported on cheap cables: so beware.

These 'hospitality boxes' will be built alongside dirt roads clad with reinforced tarmac to smooth the way for gas and oil tankers and Humvees. At the end of the road is China. The Chinese are already building their section of the road, a road that brings them westwards and ever closer to gas and oil fields.

(If you want to know anything about the Chinese authorities and their intentions – it's a big subject - just ask the Tibetans.)

The local locals, as ever, will be represented by old men on carts pulled by willing asses. They will be expected to cede Right of Way to gross SUVs and eat the dust of the 'bizness-asses' driving them. Seeing, understanding and learning nothing, theirs and our 'bizness-asses' will profit through despoliation, pollution and even through global warming. 

But the Traveller of Conscience has seen the light. He and she already ride a bike to maintain a low carbon profile. He and she are willing to explore back roads and suffer the dust of the dirt track. At the end of the track they will get to meet real people, accept invitations to weddings and feasts graciously and always offer to help with the washing-up.

Having listened and learned they will maintain high standards on behalf of those who don't, won't, or care.

Won't we?

8 May 2007

Michael Dawkes' blog

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[Copyright Michael Dawkes 2007]