There
is an almost countless
number of urban-rural
myths regarding people in
foreign lands—places
other than where you live.
Here are a few: All
people want to come to the
U.S.; all people have been
on airplanes; all people
have cell phones
(mobiles). False,
False, quickly becoming
True. According to
many reports, studies, and
first-hand observations,
most people want to stay
in the land of their
birth, and contrary to the
prophets of mobility, most
people want to live in the
town or village in which
they were born. So
it is also that most
people do not travel
outside their country. How
could that be? With 9
billion+ passengers on
airlines and trains every
year? A small group of
people must be taking a
lot of trips.
Nevertheless, it's all
true. It's unclear
whether this is
changing or not.
Here's just one
case-in-point. She is 38
years old and a district
manager for FedEx in
Thailand. Her only
airplane experience has
been on FedEx cargo
planes. She has seldom
been outside Thailand,
occasionally visiting
nearby Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia or Myanmar. She
is bright,
university-educated, hip,
computer-literate,
beautiful, and loves the
Bangkok discos and the
night-market entertainment
of her hometown, Chiang
Mai, where she still lives.
She has four mobile
phones, all with
text-messaging, graphics
and music. She adores her
King, is a devout
Buddhist, and a terrific
cook. She hasn't
married yet because of her
career, her sisters'
and friends'
experiences with Thai
husbands, and her wariness
of farang (foreign) men.
She meets a ton of them
through her job and her
vibrant nightlife.
She has a very curious
mind—she reads the
news avidly, sees all the
latest movies, and surfs
the net. She is
disinterested in traveling
to the countries she sees
and reads about, based on
her observations of
tourists in her
country—a projected
36 million this year in a
country of nearly 72
million. "Anglos
(trans: Brits, Aussies,
Yanks and the Deutschers)
don't always smell
good all the time,"
she says, "and they
move around as if they
were in an amusement park.
They don't try to
understand our culture,
they think our food is
'cute', and they
don't even try to
learn a little of our
language." Those are
her words—her
English is almost
perfect—she also
speaks French and German.
A point inside this
case-in-point: There are
huge chains of fast-food
restaurants in Thailand,
primarily American, Burger
King, McDonald's,
Pizza Hut, KFC, et al, and
they are always stuffed
with tourists. During all
the years I've
wandered in this
beautifully unusual,
self-sufficient country,
I've often stopped
dead in my tracks at the
sight of tourist-laden
eateries. Once, and only
once, I went into a
McDonald's and asked a
farang (a foreigner),
"Did you travel
10,000 miles just to eat a
hamburger?" He said:
"Hey Mate, it's a
bit of home and it makes
me sleep better. Who can
live on Thai food?"
It was an amazing
statement! Let's see:
72 million Thais live on
Thai cuisine which is one
of the most popular
throughtout the entire
world. Amazing!
So... is she somewhat
xenophobic? Somewhat, some
Thais are. Is she happy?
Well, she believes she
lives in the Garden of
Eden. Might be so or maybe
a delusion. Is she part of
the Global Village?
Indeed! Will she ever
pursue the myth and visit
the other side of the
rainbow? To do
what—eat at
McDonald's?
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