Why I’m sick of the “woke” and the hypocrites.
I never thought I would write a post like this. Why? Because I’ve always considered myself liberal. Maybe not a far-left liberal, but always liberal. In fact I’ve always hated the words “conservative” or “Republican” and still do to this day. But sometimes I actually “get” what they are talking about when complaining about the “woke”. And I hate that I do.
This post was inspired by a post I read on Adventurous Kate: How To Be Less Of A Traveling Asshole In 2020. I like Kate, I’ve followed her blog since I started blogging about 10 years ago. She’s honest and unfiltered in her thoughts, she has a fresh point of view…and even if her niche is ‘solo female travel’ I’ll read her blog because in the end it’s about travel and travel experiences.
But it doesn’t mean I relate to or like everyone of her posts.
Most of Kate’s points on being “less of a travelling asshole” are obvious and things I’ve previously covered on the blog. Some of the others get me riled up.
Let’s cover some of her points on how to travel being “less of a travelling asshole”.
1. Visit less touristy places
Visiting touristy places contributes to over tourism. Kate cites places like Iceland, Bali and Barcelona as all having been covered to death
Yes, you should get off the beaten track. Our best travel experiences have been in less touristy places. Who wants to be in a place chock-a-block with tourists anyway? I didn’t like Barcelona (I just wasn’t that impressed honestly) and I generally dislike places where tourists outnumber the locals.
So I’m in full agreement with her on this point.
Why “Off the beaten path” places are the best places to Visit
2. Reconsider how often you stay in Airbnb’s
I’ve written about whether you should stay in hotels or Airbnbs. There are pros and cons to each. One of the arguments against Airbnb is that – in some cities – it has ruined neighbourhoods.
I agree with that.
But is that the fault of travellers? I don’t think so. Instead, put the blame on greedy speculators, Airbnb and the municipal governments. They’re the ones to blame for the growing Airbnb-ization of some cities in recent years.
As full-time travellers for 6 years, Airbnb was our bread and butter. It’s how we were able to afford the lifestyle. But, more than that, we met great hosts (some who we still keep in touch with) and had some unique stays in neighbourhoods off the tourist path. We loved travelling with Airbnb and met some great people, many of whom got into Airbnb early on before it morphed into what it is now.
PS. It isn’t just Airbnb anymore. There are tons of different platforms renting out short-term apartments. So you can single out Airbnb…but if it didn’t exist people would just flock to Vrbo, Booking.com (which has gotten in the apartment rental business), Agoda, Homelike, etc etc…
Calling travellers assholes for using Airbnb isn’t fair, you can’t paint everyone with the same brush. If we restarted travelling full-time we’d go back to using Airbnb in a second.
3. Stop photographing children
I was in Mexico with my mom last year taking a photo of the outside of a church when a man stepped up to me and asked me not to take a photo. The reason? On the steps of the church were bunch of teenagers (15-17?) lounging around the way most teenagers lounge around. Their group leader: “You can’t take photos of the children!”.
I was incredulous. Why are they lounging around there? Why don’t they leave? And since when are 15-17 years olds considered children? I’ll bet most are posting videos of themselves twerking on Instagram.
I spent the rest of the day imitating Larry David.
“You can’t take photos of the children!”.
“Mom, is the coast clear? I don’t want to take photos of the children”.
I agree you shouldn’t take photos of little children. Unfortunately that’s what the world has come to. But come on, have some judgement. Calling 15-17 year olds “children” is ridiculous and overly “woke”.
So I’ll agree with Kate but I’ll put an asterisk on that one.
4. Be picky about animal activities. Don’t ride elephants, don’t have photos taken with tigers and leopards (they’re sedated), don’t go to dolphin/whale shows (because the animals are kept in captivity).
I’m totally in agreement.
But I will say one thing – animal preservation isn’t black and white and there are many travel bloggers who think they know all about the subject because they spent a couple of days getting a comped volunteer stay at Elephant Nature Park.
I learned that out when we went to a lesser known elephant sanctuary (Hutsadin Elephant Foundation in Hua Hin, Thailand). It was run by volunteers who took care of about 6 elephants, most of who had been abused or abandoned. Unlike Elephant Nature Park, this sanctuary hasn’t been covered by National Geographic, Animal Planet, the BBC and a bunch of Hollywood stars. And unlike ENP, it doesn’t charge $75/day for volunteers (you read that right. Volunteers pay to volunteer at ENP).
Instead Hutsadin counts on tours like the one we did, where we saw the elephants and fed and watered them…but also on elephant rides and a 10-minute elephant show where a baby elephant kicks a ball and does a funky dance. Not ideal. But the bigger picture is keeping elephants cared for and alive.
I had shared the post with some of the big eco-bloggers, hoping that it would help drum up help for this sanctuary. What I received instead were comments, most from veggie-eating, dreadlock-wearing types (you know, the type that walks around barefooted) saying the place was ‘horrific’.
They’d rather see elephants die.
So yes, be picky about animal activities…but do your research and look at the bigger picture. There are many people on this earth who dedicate their lives to help animals and get zero help from anyone. It’s fine to say that you’re an animal lover but few actually put their money where their mouth is.
Which reminds me: I recently had a post about Mo and the Mexican hairless dogs that she rescues and fosters. We had tons of comments on FB praising her. But did anyone actually donate a cent to her cause? No. Only us. Because people are hypocrites.
5. Consider offsetting your flights by buying carbon credits.
Ie. to compensate the planet for the pollution you’re created by flying, give money to a company that plants trees and/or invests in energy-saving businesses. She herself says that she offset all her flights in the year.
Good for Kate, she obviously has a good heart. And I love reading people’s comments patting her on the back and saying how it’s a great idea and that they would look into offsetting their own flights.
Bullshit. 99% won’t. Because flying is expensive and has only become more expensive. And because people are hypocrites.
6. Reduce your consumption of animals (especially beef) to reduce your carbon footprint…and eat locally (ie cutting back on imported products is another way of reducing your carbon footprint)
Asking someone to give up meat one day a week sounds reasonable. And cutting back on imported products cuts your carbon footprint and reduces your costs (as I found out last week when I inadvertently paid 4.50 Euros for a mango imported from Brazil).
But again, can anyone preach to others about their eating/drinking/smoking habits? Because it’s a fine line saying you should eat this or that…and telling obese people they should eat less because they’re causing the death of too many cows and chickens and sucking in too much air.
7. Read books written by locals, not just travellers. Bonus points if you read books by women and people of color…because most travel books on about non-western regions are written by privileged white people (ie. “wealthy white male visitors”)
This was the point that got me heated up enough to write this post.
Why do you think it is that most travel books are written by “wealthy male visitors”? Well, most travellers visiting far-away places have money and most have historically been male (combined with money, males usually are freer than females because society doesn’t expect much from us family-wise).
As a foreign visitor you’re looking for insights as a visitor. Yes, I could read a book written by a local – a person of color – for deeper cultural insights. But as a traveller I’m looking for travel information written by someone who’s an expert on a destination from a traveller’s perspective.
She rails about J.M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace”, a book that usually makes it on the list of books that one should read if planning a trip to Africa, saying it plays into “racist stereotypes”.
I thought about that when thinking of Wilbur Smith, one of my favorite African authors. Wilbur Smith started writing about Africa in the 1960’s. His books are racist (by today’s standards) and definitely sexist (by today’s standards). There’s no doubt about that. But no author has, my opinion, ever described the beauty of Africa and its peoples the way Wilbur Smith has.
His books are dated. But I would never tell someone with a love of Africa to not read Wilbur Smith because his books are sexist, racist or because he’s a privileged white man.
On that note: A few years back I read Alexandra Fuller’s novel Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood. A beautifully written book that conveys both the harshness and the beauty of Africa. I’ve read a lot of reviews on this excellent book and even she doesn’t get away without being called a racist. The truth is that nobody wants to know the truth – if anyone knows anything about Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe), they know that it was a racist society. Does that mean someone can’t write a book about the actualities of life at the time without being branded a racist? There’s a difference between being “woke” and just sticking your head in the sand.
BTW – I lived in Africa for a few years as a child, living in next door Zambia at the same time Alexandra Fuller’s Rhodesia was going through a civil war. I wrote about that here.
Can’t we just say you should read award-winning/bestselling books without having to discriminate between sexes, colour and nationality?
Another thing: it’s become ‘a thing’ now to crap on the “privileged white man”. I get it on the blog, I get it on social media “of course that’s your opinion, you’re a privileged white man”.
And it’s usually from young and privileged white women.
Spare me your outrage.
8. Spend your money close to the ground (ie. buy locally, stay in local hotels and not international hotels etc).
In total agreement with the above. Plus you get some local flavour – who wants to travel to Japan to stay in a Marriott room exactly identical to that which you have at home?
“What this all comes down to is putting aside your personal wants for the greater good”
Again, it sounds good.
I guess the bottom line is that I don’t want to be told what to do because of someone’s opinion of what the “greater good” is. I’m tired of the preaching, I’m tired of agendas, and I’m especially tired of the “woke” and the hypocritical.
On that note: today we were banned from Facebook for 6 days. Why? A few of our posts on FB were reported as offensive and blocked from pages. Because I say I’m not impressed with Alicante? Because I said I was disturbed by the poverty in Oaxaca? Because I just posted an Expat interview featuring a Black Expat helping others relocate to Mexico? If someone on Facebook doesn’t like what you have to say they can report it and page admins can remove your posts…and if you get just the right number of “reports” and “removals” you trigger the FB rules and you get banned.
It’s kind of ironic that this last post would ultimately end up getting me banned – here I was promoting a black woman who moved to Mexico and started her own business. Isn’t that “woke”? It seemed to trigger a lot of people on those Mexico Expat pages. Precious isn’t it?
So I’ve effectively been censored by the same company that pushes fake news and soft porn.
So please keep your tips on how I can be a better person to yourself. I’m sick of it.
PS. Kate, still love your blog.
Related: Reasons why I don’t visit your blog
Related: Why I’ve had it with Instagrammers (and some travel bloggers)
Related: “Not everyone can travel”. About Privilege and Virtue Signalling
Late to this party, but as was no doubt expected this post generated some heat. Also, everyone is correct, aint that a kick? Yes, some have taken the “woke” a bit far but I just wish folks would see this simple truth. Woke became a term in the USA because the right wing of American politics and its media voices determined it had good rage messaging. No one in the moderate or left /progressives used the term much before. It was reserved for the black communities and specifically directed at other blacks who they wished would see the persistent effects of white racism. In this sense, both the right and left are culturally appropriating and redefining a term.
The defining reality however is to look at contention as a relationship. Make no mistake the left and right in America or any other nation’s politics are in a bitter relationship, like old marrieds who publicly hate each other, but can not separate. All relationships follow biological rules. And when one party pushes the equilibrium hard to one direction, the other party consciously or unconsciously moves farther to the opposite.
So look at this probably temporary woke move as one of those who wish for universal compassion, vs those who have other goals.
Very well stated. I didn’t want this post to become a general political discussion over the work “woke”, it was meant to be a more specific rant on “woke” ideals in the case of Kate’s post. But I guess that’s part of a larger conversation…
Hi guys hope you are well. Check out Phattalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songhkla if you go back. I also recommend Khon Kaen, Bueng Khan.
Phattalung is like the 1970s. Nothing else in Thailand still like that. Some great caves and temples all free, no tourists.
Cheers
Hi Tom! Nice to hear from you, it’s been ages.
You know, Thailand starting to feel attractive to me again. Every 5 years or so I get a craving to go back. So I appreciate the comment!
Frank,
“I never thought I would write a post like this.” Well, I never thought I’d write a reply like this. Like you, I come from the liberal region of the spectrum. And I have grown to hate “woke,” which is just taking political correctness to an extreme. As someone who lived in San Francisco for 29 years, I’m sick of it, its labels and its accepted behaviors.
Consider offsetting your flights by buying carbon credits.
Living in San Miguel de Allende, I know far more liberals than conservatives. These “enlightened” folks talk endlessly about all of the conservatives and corporations destroying the planet, while they pack their suitcase for another round-the-world trip. Not once have I heard one say that it occurred to them that are being hypocrites.
My redneck brother in Missouri has done far less harm to the environment than these folks, and in fact, has contributed positive things such as planting trees and conserving land. Meanwhile the woke types burn up lots of oxygen expounding on their superior intelligence about global warming. But they don’t actually do anything. Please don’t invite me to your cocktail parties.
As to travelers buying offsets, should they consider doing something that is a little more than breaking even, so that they make a contribution, not just a cancellation?
Read books written by locals, not just travelers.
Read good books, period. Your argument on why most travel books are written by wealthy male visitors is sound. In addition to books, in my travels I have seen countless examples of those same wealthy male visitors contributing to the local economy, funding archaeology efforts, taking actions to preserve cultures, and create lasting foundations. They use their wealth to help in the places they visit.
Trashing travel writers because they aren’t native to what they are writing about is weird. An outsider’s observations can be a big part of “the story”. The perspective gained by contrasting and comparing to other cultures and norms makes it all so fascinating.
It’s become ‘a thing’ now to crap on the “privileged white man”.
If this weren’t true, it would be ironic and funny. It isn’t. It makes me fume.
I too, have had it with all this labeling, hypocrisy and speaking from on high. Live your own life and stay out of mine. Alternatively, we could talk about all you haven’t done for any of the causes that you rail on about. You don’t really want to make a difference, you just want to make a stand for your mental superiority. One of the big advantages of traveling is getting away from this better-than-thou type.
I feel better now.
I think we are in total agreement Randy 🙂
The pendulum on ‘woke’ has definitely swung too far… but are you all ready to throw the baby out with the bath water?!? There have been progress, right? Bullying is now universally considered bad. We’re more aware of minorities circumstances and the merits of diversity. Great progress in social acceptance of queers. Can we all agree these things progressed our society?
I think woke culture may be the most progress we had in human society since the hippy culture at the end of the sixties. And like in that case… we’re taking it way too far.
I found your blog while searching for info on Nong Khai. What a wonderful blog you have and such photos! Amazing.
I have no idea who Kate is, but, here’s my 2 cents: Right now, everything seems to be about keeping the anger going, and it’s usually about clicks and views. The Internet, and especially social media, rewards bad behavior with ad revenue.
As an old lady, I’ve decided to stop engaging, at least with anger. It’s like ignoring a 2-year-old’s temper tantrum. When someone gets to you to the point that you can’t resist responding, unfortunately, you end up perpetuating the anger. And, it’s too easy to do it, anonymously, on the Internet.
I get it, totally, though, where you’re coming from. This story reminds me of when I was fresh out of high school from the SF Bay Area in 1974, as a city girl, and moved to the Pacific Northwest all angry about trees getting cut down. I stayed and bought property and soon realized that trees grow like weeds up there, literally. I had a driveway cleared and within about a year and a half, there were baby Douglas Fir seedlings slapping the bottom of my car. If I wanted to keep using my driveway, I was going to have to kill those trees 🙂
As you say, people need to learn what they don’t know before judging. But, maybe that just takes time and lots of years before we grow that wisdom.
Plus, it feels good to feel superior. That’s a human trait. I will say that I thought the suggestion of off-setting your carbon footprint by paying someone to plant trees — rather than actually changing your own behavior regarding flying in the first place — was pretty funny.
Keep up the wonderful blogging, please. I’m glad I found you guys.
Thank you for the comment Kelly.
By the way, I checked out your website and found it interesting. You have a post on retirement homes in Thailand which correlated with my mom’s story – she lived in Thailand for about 10 years and would talk about the retirement homes (where she though she might end up). She also had excellent stories about the medical attention having had a double mastectomy in Thailand. Of course that was about 8 years ago…but I’m sure all is still true today.
I had no idea you could get banned so easily from FB groups! I mostly use groups for tech-related things because of work so maybe that’s why. I agree about the woke nonsense these days. While I would never be a right-winger (even when the GOP was considered “normal”), there’s a lot of common sense missing from some on the left. As a non-white from outside looking in, a lot of it mystifies me. It just feels like those people want to feel superior about themselves more than anything else.
I have read a few posts on Kate’s blog but this one I missed so I went to it immediately after reading your take here. That post does go too far, in my opinion. So she travelled to all the over-touristed places in the past, made money off of writing about them, and now expects others to stay away? She’s gushing about places like Amsterdam! Buying carbon offsets? I wonder if she ever bought plane tickets for 3 from Bangalore to Rio de Janeiro using a currency other than the dollar, pound or euro when she was just starting out? Airbnb helps make travel affordable for many families. I guess being a young single white female gives her blinkers. Ironically, not woke!
BTW, I watch the Handmaid’s Tale (oh, just wanted to mention – have you heard that they’ve banned this book in Florida? Unbelievable). I almost quit halfway through the 2nd season but stuck with it and it got better. In the beginning, it did seem farfetched for the west but it’s not that far off from some poorer communities here in India. The treatment of girls and women even in some educated families is bad enough.
Hi Claudine! Yes, I didn’t know you could get banned from FB so easily either. The next day Lissette noticed that she had received a text on her phone that we could appeal – so we did and the ban was automatically lifted with no manual review. But it should never have happened in the first place.
We agree on all the points. Watched Handmaid’s tail as well and didn’t really stick with it, listened mostly as Lissette continued watching. At the time it seemed so farfetched as you say (for a Western country)…now I don’t discount anything because America keeps digging itself in a black hole…
I always liked Kate’s blog too, but have the same issue with sometimes going overboard to show how “woke” she is. What really got me was her once lamenting that none of Stephen King’s 10 favorite novels (as listed in his “On Writing”) were written by a minority writer. Is he supposed to lie about his favorites just to include an Asian writer, an African writer, etc? His favorites are his favorites!
I try to take my pics of architecture and scenery. I avoid people pics. If they are in the pic they are far away. If some one told me not to take a scenery pic of a church because there are teenagers in it…well I would tell them to move their teenagers. Plain and simple, they are loitering, want me to call the police?
AirBnB, I go hot and cold with that company. In the USA, I think hosts are ripping people off with all the excess charges. I have also had reservations cancelled 3 times by hosts. I finally stayed in a unit in Panama City, Panama. The unit was ok. It was clean, but very old. The toilet took 30 minutes to fill. I would not stay there again. Panama City was great, but I would try another place to stay. People have to look at AirBnB units very carefully as many hosts are dishonest.
In April, I returned from a 3 week trip to Japan. I have also visited Japan in 2019, pre-Covid. While I enjoyed this trip, it definitely had elements that will make think twice about returning. First the Japanese removed many of the English signage and replaced it with signs that have tiny English print. These bigger English signs were erected for the Olympics. Some places all the English signs were removed. The worst place for this is the train stations. In Tokyo station, we spent 70 minutes waiting in lines for the wrong JR company. Three sets of JR lines, because all the English signs are gone for the various JR companies. We had purchased actual train tickets (not a Pass) on-line and ticket machines would not print our tickets. I kept thinking we would miss our train and it was close. Only to get to our car and have aisle blocked by 2 groups of people arguing about seats. For 15 minutes we stood, 10 of those minutes the train had been moving. Finally, I started yelling to THOSE people to move. We finally get to our seats and people are in our seats. I ask them why they are in our seats, “well, because other people are sitting in our seats”. I told them, “Get out of our seats, right now!”. We had reserved seats that allow that passenger a space to put large luggage. There was also luggage in our spot. I rolled them out! Some idiot American, states to me that we are in the same boat. I yelled back, “No we aren’t! We specially reserved these seats!”. I was that nasty American and I was damn proud! Because that group arguing over seats were Americans and Chinese. They were in the wrong car and had been blocking that aisle for 30 minutes! Again signage for car numbers flashes the Arabic numbers fast, mostly displaying the Japanese characters. Easy mistake to make, but I wasn’t the one blocking the aisles! Also, the American group had the wrong car…
As far as picking local hotels over international brands, I will pick the American branded hotels over Japanese ones because the rooms in Japanese hotels are tiny. In Bali, which I started visiting almost 30 years ago, (and will visit again despite what anyone says), local hotel brands have poor cleaning methods. Many have bathrooms covered with mildew, or they smell damp and moldy. One local hotel experience was good, the rest I will never use again.
Never rode an elephant and have zero desire to do so. Elephant Nature Park is charging $350 USD to be a week volunteer. $75 is the per day rate. That is an utterly and totally asinine amount of money to pay to feed and wash elephants!!! You also get to scoop up elephant manure! I’m flying 8000 miles to scoop up elephant manure?! You get room and board for a week for the $350, while scooping up elephant manure?! I still can’t see everyday tourists wanting to do this. The cost of living in Thailand is very low compared to industrialized nations. $75 USD buys a lot in Thailand!
As far as this @Gene Seybold, ignore this pompous blowhard! You are too nice to people who display such arrogant attitudes! He says he’s a liberal, but the way he writes, reeks of Trumpism!
I was banned by Twitter because I posted that Trump is a dickhead! I wear like it a badge of honor! I don’t need Twitter! You don’t NEED Facebook either. I used to be an independent but after George W Bush, I could not tolerate my conscience if I voted for any Republican. I will never change that attitude no matter what Gene Seybold states!
Ha! You made me laugh John. But great points.
Wow, surprised by Japan. We went back in 2016 and we were impressed by the signage in English. So why would they take it down (or have them replaced by small print)? Isn’t it easier to keep them? What message are they sending by taking English signs down? Brings back memories of he language laws in Quebec where language inspectors were going around measuring French Vs English lettering on signs to make sure that French was at least double the size of the English. That attitude was the one that made me decide not to spend the rest of my life in the province of Quebec…
Elephant Nature Park perfect example of everyone jumping on the same bandwagon. It IS ridiculous. Even back when we went it was ridiculous. Why do all these people and bloggers HAVE to go to the same place? That’s not being innovative and it doesn’t give you a well-rounded view of the actualities of animal conservation in Thailand. I’m especially upset at these big eco-bloggers…damn hypocrites.
Thanks for the comment John, always appreciate your insights.
I sort of agree, but my take is that wokeness is the unfortunate and unavoidable side effect of a generally positive development towards a better (less racist, less sexist) society. There will always be excessive radicalism and ridiculous virtue signaling in any movement. I choose to ignore it most of the time, sometimes I ridicule and criticize it. Under no circumstance would I allow it to turn me into a reactionary or conservative, like some people do (not you).
Don’t get me wrong RJA, I’ll never turn into a conservative.
Like some in the comments say, the term “woke” has been hijacked by both the right and the left. The GOP version of “woke” is anything that allows for equal rights for women, the LGBTQ, and racial/religious minorities. They use a word – a word that their followers hate – to take rights away. The left uses it mostly in terms of inclusiveness, tolerance and equality (all of which I totally agree and support). But the far left goes even further (affirmative action rules, universal free education, gender neutral bathrooms etc etc). Sometimes the far left is too politically correct and too categorical for me. You talk of ridiculing and criticizing it – that’s kind of what I’ve done in this post. It gets on my nerves. But despite me poking fun at it, I’ll take that any day over the hard right “anti-woke” view of the world.
And with this post you just lost me as a subscriber. As a person who has spent the last 24 years travelling on my sailboat, primarily in Mexico, Central America, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, I found your blog informative as my wife and I plan our transition to land based travel. Particularly since you have visited many of the locations on our perspective travel bucket list.
But when you decide to to publicly attack another blogger for being too “woke” because you can’t accept that her position might differ from your from your own, I’m done. I didn’t come here for that. I’ve met and known many self proclaimed liberals who as they reach the later stages of their life turn rabid right, losing friends and becoming isolated in a world filled with hate and disdain for others who don’t view things according to their new found principles. I’ve watched them transition from live and let live, respect the local traditions of the countries your visiting into raving homophobes, misogynists and xenophobes. I find it particularly offensive you refer to Kate, who’s blog I didn’t follow until today, as “even if her niche is ‘solo female travel’”. Well, aren’t you just special!!!
I have travelled to places far more remote and isolated than you can reach by land travel. I’ve visited villages in El Salvador, Guatemala and even Costa Rica that cannot be reached by roads because there are none that connect them to the rest of the world. Not to mention at least more than another 100 in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia and many of the islands of the Pacific. It is not at all uncommon for people to have strong superstitions or religious beliefs who are actually afraid of having their souls stolen by having their picture taken. I’ve seen women cover their children’s eyes and turn away in fear. My wife is an avid photographer and before ever thinking of taken a photo of people with children, particularly in remote areas, she always asks first for permission. If they in any way decline, she puts her camera down, thanks them and walks away. There is always another photo to be taken elsewhere. Perhaps you should stop and consider the feelings of the local people rather than discounting, ignoring and becoming “incredulous” that someone dare question your quest for a photo. It’s called common courtesy.
I’ve spent a great deal of time in Thailand, years in fact. Perhaps you missed the part where the elephants used in tourist rides have a 6 foot long chain secured to their leg, tied to a tree until they’re ready for the next batch of tourists to arrive and beaten badly if they misbehave in anyway. The animal photo opportunities with tigers and other exotic animals are equally horrific. These animals are so drugged they can barely lift their heads off the ground. All done so a tourist can get photo.
And how you can possibly criticise Lex and the Elephant Nature Park is beyond me. I can only assume you have never been there. I have! And yes it’s expensive to visit but she cares for many times the number of elephants as your 6 elephant tour attraction in Hua Hin. She cares for injured, abused and blind elephants as well as water buffalo, dogs and other animals. All without chains or tourist rides. It takes money to operate and feed that many animals, pay the staff the tends to them and the volunteers who pay to be there get a lifetime opportunity and the few I spoke with there said it wasn’t there first time as a paid volunteer.
I’m not a Facebook user and for good reason. I don’t know what you posted that got your post removed but I do know that these days it takes something pretty severe to get a post removed and based on this blog entry I suspect it was probably deserved. So continue on your descent into right wing intolerance. From my encounters with those that start down the path, the trend is irreversible. As people turn away from you and you become more isolated the descent will continue. Welcome yourself to the ranks of “The Ugly American” traveler.
Wow, you did a good job misreading and misrepresenting this post.
– How can you say I criticise Elephant Nature Park? (a place I went to back in 2008 before every other blogger discovered it. If you had clicked on the link that I included you would have seen that). My point was that not every sanctuary can be ENP, ie. not every place can have the resources and get the endorsements of ENP. I don’t know why I have to spell that out, it’s pretty black and white. My point is that some of these lesser known places have to include activities that are not ideal in order to survive and they are lucky if they have volunteers at all, never mind paying ones. But that doesn’t make them less deserving of help. THAT was my point.
– Why are you including all these examples of animal cruelty when I agree with Kate that I’m totally against that? Did you actually read the post?
– I know very well about people sometimes not wanting photos taken and I DO ask people before I take a photo. This wasn’t even brought up in the post, my point on the photography of children had nothing to do with this.
– If you don’t know anything about FB then why comment? I explained it but you still don’t seem to get it.
– Kate is no wallflower and when you have a post entitled “How to be less of a travelling asshole” you expect (and want) some pushback. Just as I expected some pushback on this post. I have no problems with a different opinion as long as the person actually reads the post and has pertinent arguments. As far as the comment of her being “solo female travel” my point was that (as a male) it’s not in my niche. I usually wouldn’t follow someone writing about “solo female travel” just as I wouldn’t follow someone writing about “family travel”. Again, a different niche that I’m no particularly interested in. The point I was making is that despite that I follow her because she’s a good and interesting writer. I’m not sure how you find fault in that.
A lot of blah, blah, blah. Remember, eyes are for reading and the brain is for processing.
He did not attack her. He disagreed with her. People’s inability to grasp that difference is a big reason there is so much hate in the world.
Creepy and nasty post. Speaking of intolerance
People like you should be denied a passport
What a judgmental ass!
Gene, you sound miserable. Big hero on a boat. Massive bore no doubt. Good riddance.
Frank and mrs sound great compared to you.
This blog is and always been no 1. Good honest reviews.
HA! Appreciate the kind words Tom 🙂
Frank you mentioned a Facebook account
What is your name on FB?
Really enjoy your newsletters and your ‘frank’ness and points of view. Been following since before Split.
Keep up the great work.
Hi Mary Lou! Thanks for the kind words. We have a few different FB accounts but the main one is here.
Frank… I have no idea how you could get banned on facebook for those posts. Makes no sense to me unless you have an enemy out there who reports things without foundation and FB are too lazy to actually check the content reported. My issue with some of the stuff you’re taking issue with is that the people doing the preaching are almost always white telling other white people what to do. You know if you’re in a country and locals with good reason say dont do this or that, fair enough but when its a white person telling other white people it feels like someone is just trying to point out they are better than others. it’s BS. The word woke isnt, or shouldnt be a bad word. But it’s been hijacked by BOTH the left and the right for completely different (Yet similar) reasons to push agendas which is really sad. thanks for an open and honest post as always Frank
Hi Andy – all it takes is people not agreeing with something. We do a lot of social media (Lissette is my social media queen) and you’re exposed to the “democracy” of FB. One of the posts was on a FB group called Expats in Alicante where I had one line in a post saying that I wasn’t impressed by Alicante. People complained to the admin and the post was removed.
But you’re right: FB doesn’t check anything unless you protest it. If you ask for a review then they’ll manually check it OR, even without doing that, reverse their decision. That’s what happened to us in this case: we asked for a review and within minutes the ban was removed.
About “white people” and the hijacking of the word “woke” – totally 100% agree with you.
Thank you Andy
P.S. Frank, still love your blog and am total agreement with you on all counts !
Thank you Caryl for the kind words.
What a great topic! I have to say that the GOP version of hating “wokeness” is total BS. I try to be, and I wish everyone was truly “woke”. In my world “woke” means empathetic, compassionate and curious about life and the world. It also means (to me) someone who continues to be openminded and eager to learn. What you are describing is distasteful & beyond annoying to me. It is condescending, arrogant and judgmental. It is hypocritical and privileged at best. It is shaming. And in some ways it embodies one of “the ugly americans” of the 21st Century.
I hate the GOP. You’re my mom’s generation Victoria – how did we get from women’s rights and the freedom to have an abortion to what’s happening today? A few years back I watched the handmaid’s tale and it sounded so far fetched that I kind of tuned out. Now I really wonder if that’s the future. These republicans have brought the US back 40 years. It’s crazy what’s going on in the US.
The GOP version of “woke” is anything that allows for equal rights for the LGBTQ, racial/religious minorities minorities and women’s reproductive rights. It’s as you say total BS, using the word “woke” as an umbrella to take equality rights away.
My “woke” that I’m referring to is the far-left “woke” where everyone is just to opinionated and close-minded for their own good.
We’re on the same page 🙂