Hi everyone,
I'm doing a university assignment on the different experiences you get of the culture and local people when you backpack through Thailand, as opposed to staying in resorts. My approach is that you get a better experience of the culture and people when you backpack.
I'm posting on here so that hopefully some of you will be able to comment on my claims, maybe even have some examples for me
Thank you for any help,
Ashleigh.
It seems you have made your mind up on which mode of travel in Thailand offers the 'better' experience, as such your project aims to reassert your preconceived ideas - Not aiming for a first then?!
" My approach is that you get a better experience of the culture and people when you backpack."
Not so sure about that one really, I seem to see loads of backpackers staying around KSR or on the Islands, surely they will not have an inch more experience with the locals, as tourists who stay at resort type of places.
Agreed. Backpackers often prefer the company of other bckpackers and have their own tourist traps like KSR etc. The experience comes from interacting with Thais, not from how you travel.
Perhaps a study on the experiences of an overweight, balding 55 year old sex tourist who actually gets to visit a real Thai village up in Isaan might offer something a little more 'mind opening'.
That is if you can get over the preconceptions.... a fist is within your grasp.
" Perhaps a study on the experiences of an overweight, balding 55 year old sex tourist who actually gets to visit a real Thai village up in Isaan might offer something a little more 'mind opening'."
What about a slim built 37 year old, who has never ever paid for sex anywhere in the world, and who has visited several Thai families in several parts of the country ? Would that be okay :)
^ Probably, but if the study misses him now it can pick him up with a follow up study in twenty years time.
wadmana you might want to read this topic:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1665634
There was an interesting discussion about what really was backpacking these days in Thailand.
It really depends what you mean by backpacking. To some it means a gap year filled with going from one backpacker haunt via a tourist bus to the next as part of their world-wide drinking tour. Thailand seems to be the most popular spot for Europeans to stop-over on the way through to Australia or NZ. Sure there are obligatory visits to temples and ruins occasionally, but I'd hardly call this a particularly profound cultural experience.