Asia Review

I figure after almost five months in South East Asia, I should try and give a quick and incomplete review of the experience.

First of all, the good things. There were far too many great experiences during my trip for me to recount here. However, a few of my favorite things about my travels in Asia were the selfless kindness of people, the genuine openness and willingness of people to invite me into their homes and lives, and the high value placed on people. What was great is that even among great poverty there was still great humanity. On average, people in the areas I traveled tended to be very happy. Their quality of life was more dependent on the people in their lives rather than access to goods and services. Throughout my previous posts, I tried to highlight some of the more outstanding experiences, but there is a lot of great people and a lot of great places in this special part of the world.

Unfortunately, I also saw some ugly things while I was traveling. Although a good portion of my time was spent in Singapore, the places with less infrastructure and less development had more of an impact. I found that people many people were living happy lives with very little possessions. This is not a bad thing. However because these people are living so close to the poverty line any disruption to their lifestyle puts their basic ability to survive in jeopardy. This could come in the form of natural disaster - as with the tsunami -, economic downturn, job loss, sickness, or even the far reaching consequences of a few madmen - if tourism is hurt in Cambodia due to the incident in the international school. Life in these countries can be pretty precarious and can be a delicate balance between living and dieing.

One of the saddest truths is that sex tourism and the sex trade - trafficking of human beings - is flourishing in South East Asia. I've made casual references to this in the past, but to this point I have limited my commentary to the offers I have received.

Throughout my journey I have spoken to many travelers and heard many different viewpoints with regards to prostitution, sex tourism, and the trade of money for physical pleasure. Among the more disturbing things I've heard was the statement that "every woman in Asia is a prostitute, you just have to have the right price". While I strongly disagree with this, both in fact and in feeling, I have been overwhelmed with the number of people that act as "go betweens". These pimps can be taxi drivers, street vendors, "friends", or virtually any other occupation. They exploit desperate young females and males, often children, in order to make money. What's most disturbing is that people get trapped in a devastating lifestyle. Drugs and alcohol are often the only means of escape. These short-term solutions only create more desperation and further subject people to the abuses of others.

One of the saddest things to contemplate is the basic laws of supply and demand. If there was no demand, there would be no supply. The fact that I've been propositioned so frequently, and in so many countries, is testament to an abundant supply. This also indicates that that there is a demand from many Western travelers. It sickness me to think that people would come to countries half way around the world and emotional and physically abuse their residents. What's worse is that people think money is fair trade for somebody's dignity. Anybody who engages in this kind of dehumanizing activity treats these victims as objects that can be bought and sold. It's sad and it's wrong, but it's still prominent.