Jaunted

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Fast Food and Jeans Belong to the World

It can be easy to visit a new, "exotic" place and be bothered by all the stuff that seems inauthentic to you. Why are all the locals wearing blue jeans? Don't they have some colorful, non-Western clothes to wear? And why are they drinking those Cokes and eating all those burgers and KFC? For you (and us), Dreaming of Dreaming of Hanoi has a few choice words:

I can't stand foreigners who visit Hanoi and complain about the new restaurants that serve non-Vietnamese food (I have heard it too often lately). Excuse me? People have a right to eat whatever they want. A growing number of Vietnamese can afford to eat out and you think it's your right to decide that they should stick to traditional Vietnamese dishes because an upscale Italian restaurant ruins your idea of what Vietnam "should be," doesn't quite meet up to those "exotic" standards you were expecting?

I am equally annoyed by foreigners who claim to "love" Hanoi and insist that anyone who enjoys the modernities of life there--restaurants, bars, hotels, and swimming pools, is not truly "experiencing" the country, or is somehow being immoral. I think it's the opposite. To the locals and those who call it home, Hanoi is all of the things that now constitute it; it's constantly growing and changing.

Ironically, it is the distinguishing characteristic of the type of expat/tourist I talk of to want to have the "authentic" experience, while avoiding anything they feel might "ruin" it. . . . They go to Asia to find the simplicity and serenity that they feel has been lost at home, so they get angry when others there live a modern lifestyle. . .  People exist and live and grow and strive for their own sake, not for yours. Do not go overseas and treat the places you see and the people you meet as if their only purpose in life is to "spice up" your world and make your travels more interesting. . . .

Image: McDonald's grand opening in Bangalore, India

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