I got talked into going. I suppose in the end it was a good enough evening, but --
I've mentioned this before, and I don't want to point at it as bad or wrong. It's just that in Phnom Penh, and more concentrated in Siem Reap, there is this scene of almost entirely expat, young people, who are here to party, hang out with each other, but just in different countries. Most of them are just passing through, here for and not everyone who was at the Halloween party at Eighty8 last night is like this, but there were certainly plenty.
Apparently the guesthouse is known as a 'backpacker's hangout'. In Phnom Penh these are more spread out, though we have our own version of Pub Street on 278, where I also found myself last night.
I don't want to get into a holier-than-thou kind of thing. I freely acknowledge that I am becoming more boring by the minute, as anything that doesn't have to do with my projects, work, and career is getting less and less interesting and I literally have to be dragged out at night. It's not because I'm trying to make a point, it's just not where my head is at right now.
And for whatever reason, I just don't understand this backpacker scene. I don't get why you would go to a foreign country and spend your time partying among people like yourself. Maybe it's just an evening thing and you spend the days exploring, but what if you're spending the day just seeing the sights, looking at the places the guide says to, and then going back to party? Or maybe I'm missing the point.
Either way, I don't get it. I guess if it works for the people inside it, that's fantastic. And it's not like I'm saying I want to avoid all expat scenes. Part of the challenge of being here is learning to balance the cultures -- eschewing western culture altogether is not the solution, and I find often that a good western coffee shop does wonders in the midst of a crazily different world.
But there's a different energy, between the backpackers and the coffee shop. The former just has an energy I'm not comfortable with.
New plan: embrace what has been called my "getting-old"ness and zone in on what matters the most to me!
You bring up a lot of interesting points, Gillian - I have never understood the people who party in one place, and then spend thousands of dollars to simply bring the party to another place, when all they are doing is moving from bar to bar, so to speak. Perhaps it is an insecurity. These people truly want to experience the culture, but they live in fear, and therefore, have to drag their culture with them wherever they go. I remember being in Honduras - a woman named Buffy, no joke, asking if there was a McDonalds...I truly wondered why she even left Tennessee...;)
ReplyDeleteI completely relate. I spent most of my time in Japan among Japanese people; when I met backpackers I felt as though they were missing the point. Even when I travelled in Europe for three weeks, hostel to hostel, one year, I couldn't understand the appeal of the constant partying. I'm sure youve talked about this in your other posts, but how are you getting by communication-wise? Is french suitable? Or are you picking up Khmer?
ReplyDeleteNo one speaks French anymore. The level of English is actually quite good, but I am picking up Khmer and working with a tutor twice a week to get better at it. :)
DeleteAlways an issue for me, and so very difficult to talk about. One the one side you can't judge how other people travel or know what they do in a country the 99.99% of time we're not seeing them, but on the other our rare glimpses of our own culture in foreign lands has a mean way of appearing disgusting. I just got back from Argentina and never saw more than one or two Americans until the final day when we went to a guidebook-recommended outdoor shopping area in BsAs. I must have seen 20 Americans at least. I spent hours going back and forth on whether to be embarrassed, annoyed, guilty, and all sorts of other worries and complaints. Why are they here? To buy cheap gifts from one of the few Argentine plots of land outside 4 and 5 star hotels that speaks English? But can we judge their travel style simply because ours is different? I like that you talk about it, because I understand the feeling and can never bring it up on my own.
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