Matador Network's Blog, page 2088
July 8, 2015
Cultural truths about German wine
Photo: xlorddashx
1. Because who doesn’t like “macht frölich”?
I asked an older gentleman working at the Niederwald Chairlift in Assmanhausen about his preference for German wine over beer. He patted the back of his head while he thought for moment and smiled.
“Bier trinken macht aggressiv und Wein trinken macht frölich!”
Basically he saw beer drinking as a more aggressive pastime or something you do after a bad day. Wine, however, is about having fun and being “merry.” And as a man who splits his time between his native Bavarian home and Rudesheim, I’m inclined to trust his judgement.
2. There’s not an ugly sight in Rüdesheim along the Rhine.
The scenery of German wine country is postcard perfect. The picturesque villages, the vineyards, the perfectly green hillsides, and of course the tranquil Rhine itself — all of it is absurdly Instagrammable. Anke Haub, born and raised in the region and now working for Rüdesheim Tourism, described living there as “like being on holiday all the time.”
3. Not many other wine regions go back to the 1200s.
You would be hard-pressed to find anyone more passionate about German wine than Ulrich Allendorf. That’s because his family has been in the wine business in the region since the 1200s — not a typo — and Allendorf headquarters remain in nearby Oestrich-Winkel.
4. “You drink to remember.”
Ulrich offered this as his own reason for reaching for a bottle of German wine rather than the typical pint. Granted there are exceptions to the rule, Ulrich admitted, but in general beer drinking is something you do to forget. But wine? A good bottle of wine is for special occasions that are to be remembered for the rest of your life.
That of course begs the question — why German wine then?
5. Germany is the undisputed king of Riesling.
Allendorf can trace its history back to the 1200s, but Riesling has been in the region for at least 2,000 years when the Romans brought Germany’s now famous grape varietal to the area. Though Ulrich suggested that the number might actually be 4,000 years, since the grapes are genetically the same as Mesopotamia.
Too much history for you? Just drink the damn wine then, and enjoy.
6. You can see the grape go from soil to customer.
Ulrich calls out how he sees the winemaking process in California versus Germany. “We go from the soil to the end, they go from the end to the soil.”
By that he suggested that a new entrepreneur in California winemaking (winetrepreneur?) has to start by begging the banks for a loan. But because they’ve been doing what they do in Germany for thousands of years, Ulrich argued they have a “more authentic” process that starts from the grape.
7. Frankfurt is a short train ride away.
Drinking wine in Germany doesn’t have to mean being out in the sticks the whole time. One of the most powerful cities in the world is just a 60-minute train ride away -- Frankfurt, home to some of the most renowned banking institutions (205 to be exact) in the industry just a short walk away from Bahnhofsviertel’s infamous red light district. Totally a coincidence, I’m sure.
Because Frankfurt is catering to an international business clientele, it’s also developed a culinary scene to match the palette of their visitors. While the menus vary, one thing remains fairly consistent — German wines are featured heavily.
8. And it’s not nearly as touristy as Munich.
You can cover the entire city by foot easily over an afternoon of walking and avoid mobs of clicking cameras without even trying. In Frankfurt, you can easily slip into a Chinese-run café decorated like a traditional German home and blend right in with the global crowd.
9. Frankfurt is also the home to a drink that tastes “like the angels peed in it.”
If the idea of Apfelwein shot your snobby nose to the air, imagining glorified apple juice, you’re sorely mistaken. This is a regional specialty that comes with the same passion as winemaking when you’re drinking with Frank Winkler of Lorsbacher Thal in the cobblestone-covered Brückenviertel neighborhood just south of downtown over the Main River. A typical Apfelwein ranges from four to seven percent alcohol with the cheapest bottle running at just a euro. But spend 10 euro and you can get a bit more alcohol and a bottle of booze that I would happily put up against a bottle of wine. Or as Frank put it, something that tastes “like the angels peed in it.”
10. Yet it remains undiscovered compared to German beer.
All of your traveling buddies want to go to Munich and get sloshed at Oktoberfest. Maybe they already have. Either way, you know what you’re getting and what to expect out of Bavaria. Wine along the Rhine is something different that your friends probably have never tried.
Besides, just drinking beer in Germany is a cliché. You’re not a cliché, right?
11. You can end the trip like a true Frankfurter with a shot of Mispelchen.
A pickled mispel fruit is put into a small glass of calvados, an apple brandy of about 40 percent alcohol. Suffice it to say this drink finally answers the question, “Can an apple put you on your ass?”
Yes. Yes, it can. 
Born and Raised in Northern Ohio
Photo: Tiffany Dawn Nicholson
You have to explain that Ohio isn’t West Virginia.
Come every election season, Ohio gets thrown up as a key battleground state. This much is true. What isn’t true is that the entire state is a battleground. The only corners of the state trying to pull us back into various bygone centuries are in southern Ohio. Needless to say we northerners get a little frustrated when the coasts overwhelmingly paint the entire state as some conservative backwater when the north, specially Cuyahoga County, basically gave President Obama both of his victories. And when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country, we were issuing marriage licenses practically seconds after Justice Kennedy proclaimed, “so it be ordered.”
When you see a hill, you’re not sure what to do.
Appalachia Ohio and southwestern Ohio were naturally blessed with an interesting topography. The rolling hills of Cincinnati have formed some of the coolest urban neighborhoods in the country. Hocking Hills Park might be the most beautiful natural landscape in the entire state. Northern Ohio, however, is as flat as a pancake. Show us the path of least resistance, please.
You’re a regular national park visitor.
Okay, this applies mostly to Cleveland/Akron rather than Toledo. But in between the two former Rust Belt juggernauts is one of the most popular national parks in the country — Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It’s also just about the only place in the north where we can find a decent hill to hike.
You have one of the world’s largest bodies of fresh water nearby.
Northern Ohio traces the southern coast of Lake Erie. Despite what you may have heard, it’s not a cesspool of toxic waste. At least not the whole thing. Sure, Toledo has its issues and we thought putting a power plant nearby was a good idea. But it still gives us some pretty mesmerizing sunsets.
You knew the Black Keys before they were the Black Keys.
Akron-proud.
You knew LeBron James before he was MVP LeBron James.
Again, Akron-proud.
You know true sports pain.
Cincinnati likes to try and lump themselves into the mix of sports pain misery with Cleveland. Maybe some people don’t remember the last time the Queen City won a national championship, but that also probably means they’re a teenager because the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series in 1990. The last time for Cleveland? 1964. And even then there was a separate professional football league going on. So sorry I can’t empathize with Cincinnati teenagers who can’t recall a sports championship when we’re reaching the point of people living full lives without seeing a Cleveland victory.
You know what a train looks like.
Cleveland is the only city in the entire state with any kind of rail transportation. Cincinnati is working on it and Columbus remains the sad emoticon of the country with the unfortunate distinction as the largest city in the United States without rail. Not that the south is to blame. The state’s Department of Transportation is arguably one of the most masochistic in the country.
You know what Paul McCartney looks like in person…
…along with a whole slew of international rock stars because of their routine visits to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland.
You know what Tony Packo’s is.
And you’ve seen the Burt Reynolds autographed hotdog bun.
Your prom weekend was at Cedar Point.
Or you just generally grew up with weekends at the world’s greatest amusement park. 
15 things you’ll miss when leaving Perth
Photo: Daniel Lee
1. Never wearing shoes.
Whether it’s a general “no worries” Aussie attitude or something specific to this beachside town, I know I often went whole days forgetting my sandals. Once I had to put gas in the car and realized at the pump that I’d left home with no shoes. Nobody cared.
2. South Beach
Probably one of the prettiest white-sand beaches around (although North Beach and Swanbourne are also up there), the grassy area has a ton of barbecues for hanging out under the trees, there’s a nice cafe close to the carpark, and if you walk along the dunes far enough, you’ll see the statue of C.Y. O’Connor on his horse charging into the surf.
3. Perth Fringe Festival
The vintage, mirror-covered venue Der Spiegeltent is only one part of Perth’s fantastic fringe. Some shows, like all fringes, are bizarre and should have remained conceptual, but the vast majority are hilarious and full of local talent (like Ginger LaMinge, the sassy burlesque star who does a Crazy Cat Lady routine with stuffed kitties glued over her privates).
4. Tiger Tiger
This tiny coffeeshop has a full menu, serves drinks, and tiny rickety tables in a cobblestone alleyway. It’s one of the best cafes in Northbridge.
5. Greens & Co
Right down the street from the Leederville skate park, Greens & Co had their sign changed by a graffiti artist (they added “ck” to the place’s name), but nothing can change how fantastic their cake is. I would travel across the outback for this tasty, tasty cake. The gorgeous paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling are pretty spiffy too.
6. Mulberry season
Wherever you can find mulberry trees (try Perth’s only urban farm City Farm), you can find people with purple fingers snacking on the abundant fruit.
7. Tin roofs
When it rains, which is as bad as winter gets in this incredibly warm state capital, everybody’s roof sounds like handfuls of gravel are being thrown against them. It’s very restful.
8. Backyard chickens
You can have up to twelve assorted backyard poultry in my old neighbourhood of Victoria Park alone, and a lot of people have a stash of laying chooks to keep them (and their neighbours and their coworkers, given how well the little suckers can produce) in eggs every day. Chickens are really dumb, but very friendly; my old housemate once left our back door open after a nighttime trip outside, and woke up at 6 with a chicken amiably pecking around the socks on her bedroom floor.
9. The Melville flea market/car boot sale
Every Sunday morning starting at 7am, this glorious market opens. It’s full of electronic equipment, tools, and vintage clothes, and you can often find fantastic one-of-a-kind items for only pennies (if Australians still used pennies, which they don’t).
10. The Atrium breakfast buffet
It sounds silly to go to the convention centre/casino complex just to get breakfast, when there are many cheaper or less touristy places to go…but the breaky buffet at the Atrium must be seen to be believed.
11. Only a couple of hours’ drive to some really bizarre and impressive scenery
The Pinnacles. Balingup. Margaret River. The Yalgorup peninsula. Walpole. Turns out that southwestern Australia is gorgeous and remote and you can see wonderful rock formations and enjoy massive tingle trees without even going that far from home. There’s also Rottnest, as long as you don’t mind being surrounded by teenagers on school holidays, getting drunk and taking pictures of quokkas.
12. How cheap it is to get to Bali
Those bucket Asian airlines can offer puddle-jumper fares for tiny amounts of money. Get your Bintang singlet and head for the Ubud Monkey Forest on a weekend away, for as much as dinner for two with a nice wine. Okay, so dinner for two can be pretty expensive in Perth, but it’s cheap for a plane ticket.
13. Little Creatures brewery
Perth’s local microbrewery features a “hopinator”; if you like your IPA with extra hops, they’ll dump it in and add even more flavour to the brew. Technically in Fremantle and not Perth proper, it’s got an amazing view of the water.
14. Amusing stories about stuff that will kill you
The years I lived there, there were two great white shark attacks at Cottesloe, one of the most popular beaches in town. I went to an AQWA talk about sea creatures once, and it was all about blue-ringed octopi and cone shells; one woman, the curator said, had stepped in a pool of water that contained a blue-ring, not even on the octopus itself, and was laid up in hospital for a month. The extreme toxicity of Australian animals is delightfully weird.
15. The Freo doctor
Every afternoon, the sea breeze blows in from Fremantle. This either a) perfectly cools down your 40 degree Celsius summer afternoon or b) turns your preferred beach into a sandblasted disaster zone. Usually both. 
10 abilities Miamians have over everyone else
Where most people have to pay an arm and a leg for a language tutor, that’s not the case for us. Many locals are willing to teach for the right price, but even then it’s not costly. The best part? Offer us some home-cooked meals and in exchange we’ll teach you how to flirt in true Cuban/Mexican/Puerto Rican/etc. style.
If you’re a monolingual coming to live in Miami, you’ll learn real quick that doesn’t fly. Plus, everyone will know you just moved here. Us Miamians hear so many foreign tongues in one sitting that it becomes second nature to identify their country of origin. Want to learn a new language? Take your pick because we have a different one for every day of the damned week. The more languages we know, the more jobs we can handle.
2. We know how to provide for our entire families.
And I don’t just mean our brothers and sisters. However far our bloodline extends, we take care of each other. It’s common for us to live with our parents, well into adulthood, and often times our grandparents will live with us too.
Yes, it can be crowded at times, but there’s nothing better than waking up to a lively home. Café and a fresh selection of pastries is a daily ritual we enjoy together before everyone leaves for work.
Nothing is more important than family, not even our own lives. You think your family is better than ours? Not a chance because as far as Miamians are concerned, we have everyone beat on that.
3. We have complete and utter mind control.
Aside from everything being a competition, from us having the best family to who wore it best, we are always right. About everything. Why? Because if we believe it, you believe it.
Eventually we drill our ideas so far enough into your brain that you start believing we’re right all the time. Why do you think Miamians are great in sales? Our master manipulative techniques get us what we want, when we want it. Let the games begin.
4. We’ve perfected the art of drinking.
It’s completely acceptable to drink mimosas in the mornings, wine before noon, and a couple of drinks during your break at work. Let’s just say that our alcohol tolerance is so high, we can party until six in the morning and still show up to work looking sober.
5. And people watching.
Miamians can be a little obsessed with fitness. Therefore, we’ve got some of the most beautiful people you will ever meet. No, seriously. We’ve got scantily clad women and barely covered up men who walk around displaying themselves all day in South Beach. Why? Because our city is where models get discovered and porn stars reside. We have no shame when it comes to checking someone out. Men do it to women and vice versa.
Because we’re highly observant when it comes to reading body language, Miamians know when to stop. This comes in handy and prevents our face from landing into a fist. Especially when the person we’re looking at is indeed with someone else.
6. We have growing mercados in our backyards.
Why buy fruit from a supercenter when you can pick them from your own back yard? Aside from the sweat in our ass-crack and drenched shirt, our sub-tropical climate is nothing to complain about. We can grow carambola, lychee, and other fruits not grown anywhere else in the U.S.A. Not only do we save money, we profit from selling our goods at the Farmer’s Market, or on the streets.
7. We know how to negotiate.
You’re at a stoplight and someone is tapping on your window. What do you do? First off, no one panics. There’s no reason to fear, someone’s just trying to sell you something. Whether it’s a cold water bottle or flowers, we’ll pester you until you buy. Even if it means two for the price of one. Why? Because we’re selling it to you at double the price anyway and we know you’re too hot to care — or you just want us to go away.
And just when you think you’ve dodged all Miami’s street vendors, you’ve probably passed at least five fruit stands in the last two minutes. That juicy mango sure is looking good right about now, and that sweet coconut is definitely making you thirsty — but which stand are you going to go with? The one that costs you less, obviously.
Negotiating is a way of life here and a practice that has been brought over by Cubans, South Americans, Mexicans, Russians, and just about everyone else. We need thick skin to get our money’s worth in Miami. That goes for both the vendors and the buyers. If someone is at an impasse, then it’s time for one of us to give it up.
This story was produced through the travel journalism programs at MatadorU. Learn More
8. We can actually keep a laid-back approach.
Driving being the only exception, we let our worries wash over us and we don’t overwhelm ourselves with stress. Miamians don’t even bother to worry about punctuality. Miami Time is two to four hours behind the rest of the world, showing up early or on time is unheard of and even insulting. Unless you’re planning to sit alone for a few hours, we suggest you take a nap, get ready, take another nap, and then finish dressing up. That should do it.
9. We are superbly hospitable.
When we have guests over, we expect them to be comfortable while we wait on them hand and foot. Not only do we prepare a meal to their liking, we make sure to refill their plate at all times, and never let their drink run empty. We make enough food for guests to feed their families for a couple of days and any refusals will not be tolerated. Don’t ask why. It’s just something we learned to do since before we could walk.
Reverse the roles and we feel completely lost. When we become the guests, we have the urge to serve the plates, clean the kitchen, and try to cut our hosts work by half. The most ridiculous part? We get upset if you don’t offer to help, but the guest is still not expected to do anything. It’s a double-edged sword my friends, tread carefully.
10. And of course, we know how to move.
Miami’s known to have a killer nightlife and standing around here just isn’t an option. Not only do we hold the Ultra Festival each year, we have all kinds of clubs for different tastes. From latin clubs to jazz bars we can dance to it all. If all else fails and you have two left feet, start humping people on the dance floor. If anything, you’ll look like everyone else after they’ve had a few drinks. 
Your dose of travel fuel: Vietnam
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CANBERRA FILMMAKER CHRIS ARNOLD has perfectly captured Vietnam’s energy in this 5-minute film. With music by Delorean setting the dreamy, poppy tone — the vid you’re about to watch might just be the ultimate call to arms to getting out there and experiencing the world. 
July 6, 2015
Hilarious French speaking tics
It always takes me several days to find my bearings when I come back to France, but once I’m fully immersed, deep into the culture again, I can’t stop the strings of “Olalalala”, “Bref”, and “N’importe quoi” coming out of my mouth at close intervals.
No, it’s not pretty, and, yes, it sounds like we’re constantly pissed off (which we probably are), but that’s the way we talk.
So, if you want to pass for a French or understand one, you’d better forget the Berlitz text books and the Rosetta Stone tapes, they won’t teach you the way we, French, speak, but this video sure will.
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Don't be scared of shark attacks
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters
SHARK WEEK IS ONCE AGAIN UPON US, AND WITH IT, a string of 8 shark attacks off the coast of North Carolina. That number is uncharacteristically high for that region — the most in over 80 years — and has understandably been met with a lot of concern by the public.
The proper response, however, is not to panic about your trip to the beach. Dying as a result of a shark attack is still astoundingly rare: your chance as an American of dying in a shark attack is around 1 in 3.7 million. You were far more likely to die this past weekend in a firework accident (1 in 340,773), or by being struck by lightning (1 in 79,746).
For whatever reason, though, shark attacks seem to cause a media feeding frenzy more than those other similarly dramatic ways of dying ever do, and, unlike with fireworks and lightning, we have a way to retaliate against the perceived culprits of these attacks. And while sharks only kill an average of 12 humans worldwide per year, we kill a staggering average of 11,417 sharks per hour.
Most of the shark deaths are a result of bycatch (when fishermen catch unintended species in their nets) or through the absurdly cruel and unethical practice of shark finning. In other words, they are extremely preventable deaths. And sharks are incredibly important to their ecosystem as apex predators.
“Fundamentally, shark attack is driven by the number of humans in the water than the number of sharks,” George Burgess, of the International Shark Attack File, told NPR in an interview. On top of this, shark attacks have been becoming less fatal over time, thanks to both medical advances and to increased beach safety.
If you’re still worried about shark attacks, you can take steps to prevent an attack: most attacks occur against surfers, and there are wetsuits and surfboards available which are “invisible” to sharks, as well as other deterrent technologies. You can also protect yourself by staying in a group (as sharks are more likely to attack loners), staying out of the water around twilight (when they are most active), and by not wearing shiny jewelry (which can resemble fish scales).
But really, the best thing to do is put it into perspective: it’s very unlikely that you’ll be attacked by a shark, and if you educate yourself, you are going to be able to avoid putting yourself in dangerous situations. 
25 signs you were born and raised in India
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2. You still feel like a traitor because you weren’t aware of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s collision with Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman during the first ODI of the three-match cricket series.
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3. When your uncle from Indore is in trouble and asks for a loan, the first thing that goes through your mind is wonder if you will be a pig in your next birth if you refuse.
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4. You pay 5,000 rupees for that midnight blue Anarkali at Shopper’s Stop, yet you haggle with the vegetable vendor for free coriander and chilies.
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5. You hadn’t heard of yoga the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of it — but whether or not you practice it is a different matter altogether.
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6. You swell with pride at the mention of the Taj Mahal, even if you’ve only seen it in the ‘Times of India.’
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7. You’re not surprised to see a cow standing without a care in the middle of the road. Not only do you drive past carefully, you also seek its blessings before continuing the journey.
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8. You believe love always wins — ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ and ‘Jab We ‘Met’ are proof enough.
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9. Your life is thrown out of whack when maid ‘Shanta bai’ who not only does vessels and cleaning but also keeps you updated on what’s happening in the Gupta household, doesn’t turn up.
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10. You have by far the biggest suitcases of anyone you see on international trips.
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11. You recently told a total stranger on the train why you were still not married at 25 and what you planned to do with your life.
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12. You don’t talk about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex weddings because movies like ‘Unfreedom’ and ‘My brother Nikhil’ got banned before you could even think of watching them.
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13. Your mother cannot contemplate a life without home-cooked ‘idli-sambhar’ or ‘rajma-chaaval’ — if you’re a man, it’s part of the reason you get married. If you’re a woman, you learn to cook.
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14. You are proud that ‘misal pav‘ was recently declared the ‘tastiest vegetarian dish in the world’ by the Foodie Hub Global Awards. You’re not even from Maharashtra, so you don’t even know what it tastes like. So what?
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15. You use the head nod to say ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘what,’ ‘whatever.’ And you expect people to know exactly what you mean.
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16. You never moved out of your parents’ house, even after you got married.
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17. You are sure that a marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime-event. What you are not sure about is if you love (or even like) Mrs. Iyer’s daughter who has been chosen as your bride by the family.
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18. You still haven’t forgotten the Italian risotto, Mexican tortillas, 10 kinds of sweets and 15 kinds of ice creams that were served at the Malvankar wedding.
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19. Your cousins flaunt their lehengas at weddings but can’t do without their regular jeans in college. You have a lot of cousins.
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20. You wake up to a cup of tea made the same way each day — with lots of milk, sugar and ginger/cardamom/chai masala.
This story was produced through the travel journalism programs at MatadorU. Learn More
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21. Amazon India’s ‘aur dikhao’ ad with the Sikh kid reminds you of the time when you were asked to dance for the benefit of Mr. and Mrs. Shah who were chomping on ‘gulab jamuns’ that you were not allowed to touch until the guests left.
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22. You stare a lot and you don’t know why it makes people, particularly foreigners, uncomfortable.
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23. You don’t realize how much celebrating Holi and Diwali mean to you until you leave the country.
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24. You start bawling when you hear Lata Mangeshkar’s songs at your Gujarati hairdresser’s salon in Toronto.
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25. For the life of you, you can’t understand why anyone would ever buy kiwi fruit when they can have mango.
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I’m a woman of color and I studied in Thailand. Nobody knew what to make of me.
I am a traveler and a mixed race woman of color. When I visited Thailand my junior year in college, I moved through that world as all three: a traveler, a woman, and a biracial person. In the year and a half I was away, I only recall seeing 10 black people and no biracial travelers like me. My gender and biracial background prompted me to analyze my travel experience from a different perspective that most people don’t have.
While traveling, I had to fight to be considered biracial and American– two concepts that were considered mutually exclusive to so many people in the area. People assumed Americans were wealthy and white. Black was bad. Biracial was inconceivable. A Thai tuk-tuk driver told me, “No, no, you are not Western. Too short. Too brown.” The “melting pot” concept didn’t seem to exist in Thailand as it did in the States.
Blackness in general or anything dark was also seen as connected to poverty and ugliness, whereas whiteness signified wealth and beauty. That concept is ancient, deriving from old systems that validated fair skin over dark skin because the latter represented peasantry. Not only was white skin praised–as made evident by the skin-bleached billboard models throughout Thailand and my inability to find any beauty product without whitening cream in it– but white people were considered more respectable, because they had fair skin and, presumably, more money.
The bias ran in many. I saw countless dark Thai men and women hold onto the arms of white foreigners exclaiming how beautiful they were, “White skin so pretty.” “White skin more beautiful.” On the other hand, I was being hassled by beach kids for being “so black” and “so ugly”. There were almost unbelievable parallels between this and slavery ideals in America: dark field negro versus light house negro. I never went a day without someone remarking on my complexion, features and hair.
Months after arriving in Thailand, my light brown skin had turned a deep, reddish dark brown, and suddenly, in the minds of local and foreign men alike, I was considered a prostitute. Catching a motorbike was hell–I was being asked for the fare instead. Old white men grabbed my arms and ass and said:
“Ah, where did you come from? Can you take me tonight?”
My sun-darkened complexion classified me not only as a person of undesirable socioeconomic status, but also categorically as a sex object. It was disturbing to watch my white counterparts bask in the sun and frolic on sandy beaches while I was being hounded into sex for money by young locals and old white expats. I felt tense wherever I went, as I watched people attempt to make sense of who I was.
Sometimes, being perceived as attractive transcended the negative perceptions of dark skin and black people. People walked a tight rope to balance their actual perceptions with their bias. I’d often hear “Oh, you’re so beautiful, but so black,” as if they really wanted to say, “Black people can’t be pretty, so why are you?” The Thai lady who served lunch at the university I attended told me the same thing every day, repeating in awe, “so beautiful, very dark” with disbelief she didn’t apply to the blonde German girls in my course.
I felt that my mixed race background and skin color isolated me amongst the majority of my fellow backpackers; and I thought even harder and deeper about the sociocultural beliefs entrenched in the places I visited. The inability of so many of my white peers and friends to understand how different my experience was compared to theirs left me frustrated. I envied white travelers for their privilege of not being confronted with the same issues. Most would laugh off any upsetting experiences I had, while I was fighting this constant battle to simultaneously assert my identity and blend in. White backpackers would just nonchalantly say,
“Oh my God, I don’t get it. They all want to have fair skin, while we’re sitting here baking in the sun!”
I became close friends with a Belgian woman who too often felt that I was being hyper-vigilant about the negative attention, and excused the behavior by saying, “but this is how they are.” Only when a young Khmer boy said, “Skin so black, very ugly girl,” did she finally berate him. She was one of the few to understand how the privilege that comes with fair skin, even as a foreigner.
Often, white travelers also confused me for a local or half Asian, as many Asian features bear a striking resemblance to the full lips, almond shaped eyes, and dark skin typical of African-descent people. I overheard a German man say to a friend when he saw me, “Wow, some of these people look black.” I smiled coolly and said “Surprise!” in my obvious California accent.
When my then-partner introduced me to some other travelers, one of them said, “Wow, she’s so beautiful, does she speak English?” I smiled and (again) said “Yes.”
Despite the gender and racial discrimination I encountered on my travels, I wouldn’t discourage any black people from traveling to the parts of Asia or the world. I still believe in experiencing other cultures even if it means being the odd one out. My experiences in Southeast Asia made me realize the importance of being secure in my sense of self. In fact, the bluntness of many Southeast Asian people ultimately forced me as an explorer to look critically at my experiences, since so many others didn’t have to. I ultimately became more solid and resilient.
Despite these experiences, I met many forward thinking people living and traveling throughout Asia: friendly non-judgmental (faces) people eager to learn and share. When I could talk with locals, I was grateful for the chance to educate them. I remember being on a beach in Southern Thailand renting a kayak. Two Thai men approached me and asked to touch my hair. I let them. They smiled and said, “Wow. So beautiful.” That’s the type of experience I want more locals to have, and want people of color to give them. If I am privileged enough to be in a foreign place to learn about them, I can be grateful for the chance to teach them about me.
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