You Keep Using that Word.
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: We’re in Bangkok, hanging out with Toby and catching up on all the medical appointments we missed when we canceled our 2020 US trip. The Toby part is fun. The mammogram-dermatologist-dentist part is less fun, but equally necessary.
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”—My very most favorite quote from The Princess Bride. I’ve just been waiting for a chance to work it in here. Sorry not sorry.
Lee and I have an ongoing, ever-evolving debate about the word ‘authentic.’ It comes up a lot in the universe of people who write/talk/blog/vlog about travel. A couple of years ago, pre-Covid, one of the travel-blogging couples we follow on YouTube went to Bangladesh. They spent a few days in Dhaka, the capital, then boarded a multi-day river cruise. Their time on the boat looked lovely—steamy green jungle lined the banks of the river, punctuated by tiny rural settlements. The bloggers waxed eloquent about how ‘authentic’ it all was. If I recall correctly, one of them even said it was ‘one of the most authentic experiences’ they’d ever had.
Okay, I realize I’m being pedantic here, but it really bugs me when people use the word ‘authentic’ as some kind of a value judgment. I find this happens a lot when people are traveling (which, for most people, means on vacation). Everybody wants to have an ‘authentic’ experience. What does that mean, exactly? How is a river cruise more ‘authentic’ than life in the capital? Lee read somewhere that Dhaka is the most densely-populated city in the world (so of course he’s dying to go). I am less than enthusiastic, but I have no doubt that when we do go, it will be authentically Dhaka.
If you’ve ever visited us in Bangkok (and quite a few of you have), then you can probably guess that since we got out of quarantine, we’ve had lunch in several malls. Going-to-the-mall is one of our favorite things to do here. There are tons of malls. The air conditioning is heavenly, there’s always a great food court with tons of choices, and I can catch up on all the shopping I was unable to do in wherever we’ve been most recently. Malls are one of the things I love most about Bangkok.
Are they ‘authentic’? Of course they are. They are authentically Thai malls. They’re full of Thai people. A tourist from another country may not like malls very much, and that’s fine—I’m not suggesting anyone is required to go to the mall. Maybe malls are too familiar, or too overwhelming, or they feel like the worst of conspicuous consumption, or maybe you just don’t like them. Fair enough. But that has nothing to do with authenticity.
I struggled a lot with this dichotomy (or whatever it is—part of me thinks it’s just judginess) in Peru, as well. In the central historic district of Cusco (aka the tourist zone), there are all these women standing around holding baby alpacas. The women are all wearing the traditional clothing of the Andes. The alpacas are beyond cute—you want to just hug them all, or maybe sneak one into your carry-on, so your can always have a gamboling baby alpaca to play with. Pay the women a few sols, and you can have your picture taken with an ‘authentic’ indigenous woman and her livestock.
But what exactly is authentic about someone whose job is being photographed with tourists, for money? Don’t get me wrong—I don’t have a problem with taking the photo. We took one of Lane, who was visiting us. I’m more than happy to pay the people whose livelihoods depend on tourists. But I don’t for one second believe those women wear those outfits on the regular. I’m guessing that when they get home from work, they put on jeans and rustle up some dinner, just like the rest of us. If they’ve had a particularly good week, maybe they can take the family out for lunch on Sunday.
Probably at the mall.
From my writer’s notebook:
A new-old museum has opened in Pompeii, outside of Naples, Italy. The Antiquarium, holding the largest collection of artifacts from the AD 79 volcanic eruption that buried the city, has been mostly closed since 1980. It has now been refurbished and reopened to the public, which is great news. Pompeii is on my bucket list—I’ve been wanting to see it for a long time.
The only glitch is, y’know—pandemic.
Where do YOU want to go when travel opens up again (whenever that proves to be)?
Take care,
Lisa
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