Blaming Mass Tourism

Lao Songtao by Stuart Towns

Oh no, another article lamenting the decline of once-untouched forgotten paradises in Southeast Asia, this time focusing on Luang Prabang in Laos, Pai in northern Thailand, and Siem Reap in Cambodia. And yes, once again blaming Lonely Planet and Joe Cummings for the increase in tourism, new hotels, and too many banana pancake cafes.

Get over it. Telling the present generation of travelers "you should have seen it when" is just irritating and self indulgent, and deprives the new arrivals seeing these places with fresh eyes. It still looks like paradise to them, so please don't spoil their show with your know-it-all comments.

Yes, Southeast Asia has changed dramatically over the last few decades, but such is the pace of tourism progress around the world. And most of the locals don't resent the arrivals of tourists or modern amenities such as schools, paved roads, hospitals, clean water, and all the other "evils" of advancing civilization.

It's the author of this article who should examine his attitude and opinions, and not the travel writers such as myself and Joe Cummings, who didn't "spoil" these untouched paradises, and don't regret that once impoverished regions are now enjoying the benefits of cash flow and tourism. Luang Prabang and Pai are still beautiful places, and Siem Reap hasn't been ruined, just changing.

Maybe the package groups and top-rung vacationists, with their high-maintenance demands, leave a bigger footprint than backpackers. But in Asia, backpackers have served as the industry's reconnaissance teams, penetrating rural hinterlands to colonize idyllic spots and pave the way for upmarket travelers. The banana pancake circuit it's called, after one of their requisite staples.

Take Pai, a village embedded in an expansive, mountain-encircled valley of northern Thailand. It used to be a great escape into an easygoing, exotic world, with tribal settlements scattered in the hills — until the global migratory tribe appeared in droves, dragging its own culture along.

Bamboo and thatch tourist huts hug the meandering Pai River as far as the eye can see, gobbling up rice paddies and clambering up hillsides on its left bank. On the right bank, high-priced resorts have begun to mushroom.

The short downtown strip is jammed with Apple Pai and nine other Internet cafes, video and tattoo parlors, bars, yoga and cooking classes, countless trinket shops and an eatery featuring bagels and cream cheese.

There's even an English-language newspaper, published by Joe Cummings, an author of those Bibles of shoestring travel, the Lonely Planet guides, which probably did more than anything to put Pai on the circuit. In a wicked daydream, I condemn Joe to eating nothing but banana pancakes and lugging a 500-pound backpack through all eternity.

USA Today