BootsnAll Travel Community

Just curious if anyone has the same feelings as I do sometimes....

In the course of my not so random travels around I've come to notice that I sometimes seem to find traveling in a region closer to my own original ethnic region - less exotic.

Exotic definition from dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=exotic

I like the part - "excitingly strange"

Let me explain:

I'm Chinese - born in the US - 2nd generation. I noticed that I find traveling in any non-Indian Asian country a bit less exotic than say if I were in Arabia, Africa, Europe, India, Polynesia, or even Latin America (More in Brazil, less in others though - an artifact of Mexican immigration).

This is based on a couple of things:

#1) Similarity of physical look. This is not to say that I don't enjoy the region or that things don't surprise me or that nothing is exotic, I'm just talking about the overall feeling of exoticness. AFter all when you wake up everyday and look in the mirror you tend to be reminded of certain features (Black hair/dark eyes being the most obvious). Many travelers are fascinated with SE Asia, China, Japan, Korea, etc...well I do find many fascinating and different things too...but yet the feeling of "This is bizarre or excitingly strange" seems to be less powerful if not absent. This despite different religious practices, cultural habits, monuments, etc...

(Yes, I can usually tell the difference between someone who looks Japanese, Chinese (North or South), Korean, Thai, etc...) FYI - I have/can be mistaken for all those distinct ethnicities as I am a genetic mix from China and Taiwan.

#2) An implicit understanding of the people in the region and how people think (Not what), as there are many commonalities despite outward appearances. Being only 2nd generation (Parents born in Asia) I share many of these traits despite my American upbringing. In other words...growing up I am exposed more to what is being Asian than someone with non-Asian parents.


I was reminded of this effect on my travel behavior in Bangkok recently when a traveler from Scandinavia (That I met at the Suk11 where I was waiting for a possible BNA member meeting! -- which didn't take place! 0 for 2!) asked me if I had been to Chinatown yet. I said no. He said = "you must be new, and you don't know much about Bangkok." Never mind that I had been living here now for a short spell and that I was here early last year and probably could get around the city better than he. Frankly...I don't give a rat's ass about "Chinatown." Either here or anywhere.

on a similar note...Since I am native US...I don't find traveling in the US or Australia exotic either. Though I do find the UK exotic.

I think I agree. It turns out I did stand out a bit while walking around in thailand. And yes I stood out in Chinatown as well.

For much the same reasons you said as well as the price delta compared to europe, SE asia was a no-brainer for me as far as choosing a destination.

I agree. When I daydream about travelling for the resot of my life, Europe does not enter my mind, and those places on this board are not clicked on by me.

Asia will be my lifes journey, and I hope to meet a boy that I sponsor in Uganda some day.

My home base will be the Philippines. When I see it on the map it looks like the center of the world.

I see what you mean by it being less exotic, but I really want to see the Middle East more then anywhere and part of the reasoning is that it's in my heritage and I'd like to learn more about it. But then again, I'm far away from most of my Middle Eastern family and while I have a feel for it, I think it would be very different to see it up close.
Seeing my Arab-American family in California I think is a far cry from seeing my Arab family in Syria.
I guess I would just want a feel for what my family has seen and what their lifes where like before they came to America.
I've never wanted to see Europe very badly though, and half my family is from England and Ireland. Maybe because America is more Euro-centric that's why. Europe dosn't seem exotic enough...

Feeling like someplace is "exotic" isn't necesarilly a good thing. See Edward Said and his studies on Orientalism. All us white folk looking for the exotic...

Maybe I am easily pleased, but pretty much every new place I have traveled has seemed exotic to me. I grew up on the east coast (us) and have spent time living in Chicago, the Netherlands, Hawaii, and now Seattle. All of these places have seemed exotic, exciting, and strange - Hawaii perhaps the most due to the aformentioned ethinicity concept.

However, this fall I visited Kansas, my first real venture into the heartland of the us. It was absolutely exciting and truly exotic to me. I had never been to such a place, so strange and so exotic - and yet kansas is about as whitebread as you can get.

I think I'd find travelling in regions closer to my own original ethnic region to be exotic. I say that because it is still foreign to me, fascinates me, and therefore is exotic.

I'm a first gen Thai American (moved to the states when I was 3 months old, so I might have well been born here). My desire to go to Thailand is for a few reasons..to discover my cultural history, and to explore the country. Whenever I make that trip (probably in a few years), it will be exotic, foreign, new. Even though I was surrounded by my parent's Thai friends while growing up, I feel that it is not really representative (culturally) of Thailand. It is more representative of Thais assimilating into the American society.

In South America, I was mistaken for being a local many, many times. I thought it was quite nice to be able to blend in. I was bothered a lot less by tour touts and felt more secure that I was not a blatant target for pickpocketing and theivery. I also had many random conversations with locals, which I do not think I would have had if I had stood out more. The countries I went to in SA were, yes, exotic, even though I could pass for a local and knew a fairly decent amount of Spanish and quite a bit of the history.

going to hong kong and macau doesn't seem like 'travelling' to me - it's just 'visiting the family' if that makes any sense. er, my mom's from macau and my dad's from hk so i have a lot of family there. whenever i'm there, i just start hanging out with my cousins and my friends there - it's really no big deal. i kind of feel like a local myself. i think it's because i've grown up around that culture, and i speak the language, so it's just like an extension of my home life. so, i actually don't have any desire to see china (at least, it's not anywhere near the top of my to-go list) because i don't think it'll be anything new to me. to be honest, if i didn't have family there, i probably wouldn't be going there at all. also, growing up as an asian american.. i don't really see the rest of america as being 'exotic' either. america's just.. another home. i have as much desire to see the rest of the states as i do china.

sometimes, people say things like 'you should know your country before you start gettign to know other countries' but hey, to each their own, right? i want to be involved in other cultures, live in a way i've never lived, see extraordinary things that aren't so extraordinary to the people that see it everyday, etc. hmm i guess this is why the idea of going to nepal, or bhutan, or turkey, or ghana, seems much more appealing - i tend to regard these places as more 'exotic' to me, because they seem so, so far from the cultures that i know and am comfortable with.

addition: i think the only reason i'd ever visit a 'chinatown' in another country is if i were feeling homesick. but that hasn't happened yet.

I am British but of indian origin (i am also a sikh).
When i went to thailand i was very amazed at the receprion i recieved. It was like they had never seen a british asian before. I got asked more time where i was from than my white mate who never got asked. Also it seems that a lot of pretty ladies dig western indians.......thats why i want to go back asap....lol

I'm half Colombian living in the UK. South America however fasinates me, i would like to travel around there more.
Growing up in London, Europe never was a place i was too interested in seeing. When i was growing up it was always the Americas that i wanted to see.
Now its everywere that I want see!!
I have enjoyed traveling in the states and found that american girls like the British accent, and thats why i want to go back asap to that place!!!

i agree 100%. i have not had any desire to see europe or australia because there is no perceived "difference". if i wanted to walk down the street and have no one make eye contact or no one smile or no one start a random conversation....well, i would stay in the US.

See I am totaly the opposite from this. I want to go to where I am "from" (ethnicly not literally) because I want to get a greater understanding of where I came from. I think that that is why from the time I was little I have felt drawn to Ireland. And when I was there the first time I felt the most comfortable in the West, where it turns out my family was from.

That being said I have a real interest in seeing Latin and South America and parts of India and NZ and OZ and Africa and.......

wait maybe I want to see everything.....

but my point is I feel the most drawn to where my blood lies...

CM

Orientalism is an awful book.

For me going to Lebanon and Italy was a great experience! Roots baby! Roots!

I also seek out places that are distinctly different from my ethnicity.

I'm a white male American brought up in a Protestant family in Indiana. I'm the archetypal WASP, and everywhere I went in the US, I was perfectly normal.

So it's exciting now to travel to the Middle East and be the only American within a hundred miles. Maybe it's a little selfish, but I like getting the extra attention that comes with being the "exotic stranger" in the places I visit. I get a chuckle when people ask, "Your home sounds very exciting. Please, tell us more about...Indiana."

ooh, Elis, Barukh, there should be a Said thread, maybe in the reading forum... so interesting...

I was born in Finland and lost my mother tongue growing up in the States I love going back, but it is most definately not the same way I travel in countries where I dont look like the people, dont have fam etc. It IS less exotic, because it is home. Even tho I dont speak well, Finland is engrained in me, the food, the culture, the traditions. I do love to learn more, its like peeling back layers on my self, my people, and there is always more to uncover.

That said, plenty of other Euro and even English-speaking countries seem like STRANGE TERRITORY to me. I mean, can someone explain what is going on with the New Zealand accent?? And hellooo Pacific menfolk... But I digress....

Anytime family is involved, it is less exotic hehehe

quote:

Originally posted by Michelle@yourlife:
Maybe I am easily pleased, but pretty much every new place I have traveled has seemed exotic to me. I grew up on the east coast (us) and have spent time living in Chicago, the Netherlands, Hawaii, and now Seattle. All of these places have seemed exotic, exciting, and strange - Hawaii perhaps the most due to the aformentioned ethinicity concept.

However, this fall I visited Kansas, my first real venture into the heartland of the us. It was absolutely exciting and truly exotic to me. I had never been to such a place, so strange and so exotic - and yet kansas is about as whitebread as you can get.

that's great Michelle, I can totally relate!!

Here's an interesting yet totally unrelated titbit: apparently the largest ethnic grouping in the world is "Caucasian".

As you were

I found my most comfortable and at the same time exotic times in Italy, where my Great-Grandparents are from. Some people don't travel to separate themselves from their past or try to stand out in an exotic locale. It's very rewarding to return to where your ancestors lived.