Why people in poor countries like Cambodia and Laos look so happy? I mean a lot of them have nothing (in our materialistic way of thinking), but yet they smile to you, they stop and chat to each other (sometimes it sounds more like a fight) and you always have feeling that their life is not really bad. Even if you got to a "fucked up" village near Siem Reap where you can see things that resemble houses and you figure out they live there, they still look happy.
Another thing I noticed was that tourism gives a lot of local people chance to get some very much needed dollars, but it also brings with them a lot of problems - explotation of cheap labour force, very harsh competition and individualism, drugs and prostitution. And begging children to whom parents from the cradle up tell that tourists have money and if you marry them we will become rich, not knowing that in many cases they are paving their path to drug abuse and prostitution.
It goes something like this: a little girl gets a dollar from a old white tourist and a bit later when this little girl becomes bigger she gets more dollars, but she becomes his friend while he is traveling in Asia to "to release stress he gets in his everyday job". I can see the temptation of the money for your girls here as salaries average around 120$ in Cambodia and one night with a white man gives you 100$. And I can not see the excuse of the white guy on why he is doing that (well I have to admit that Chinese tourists are not any better probably). It is very strange, if not disgusting to see young girls to walk hand in hand on the street with old, big beerbelly, guys from wealthy countries. If not anything else they give very bad impression on all of us, so basicaly all white tourist became "walking bag of money" from which they wants a share!
What is the solution?
For the first part I would say that a clishee of "money can't buy you everything" really is true. I think our society became too obsessed with beeing productive that we forgot the reason for what we are productive! We are working more so we can buy more things that we only need because we are going to work! And because we really need that new phone, a better car than neighbour and that perfectly lawned garden even if it is 40 degrees with harsh drought in the summer. Maybe we need to stop and take a breath as a society, because I can assure you: another medicine for curing hypertension will not make us more happy. It is more probable that more time devoted to things you really like and persons you really love will.
As for the negative parts of tourism goes, I think we should be less carefree on where our money goes. Not buying things from kids will do them much more good than a dollar which their "pimps" will probably take away 5 minutes after you leave will. Giving the fair price to the things you buy is another thing - do you really want to pay just few cents less, what means nothing to you, just because some poor guy desperately needs money to put his kids in school?
Buying products from animals or endangered species is another no - and no, not knowing that it was endangered does not count. Same goes to taking pictures with wild animals that are beeing sedated (do you really think you look brave next to that tiger who looks stoned form 100m?).
And for sure don't be a dick and keep your dick in your pants if you are not able to have sex without paying someone for it!
Yeah, I know, a lot of things that seem normal to a lot of people, but sadly a lot of them still do not get it!
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