Barber at work by railway, Puno, Peru
Whether we consider ourselves as seasoned travellers or occasional tourists, we invariably seek out the ‘authentic experience’ wherever we are staying. It may be the restaurant that sells authentic food, the authentic hotel run by local people, or the boat trip to visit the authentic village, where “people go about their daily lives as they have done for centuries, untouched by the outside world”. So just what is the authentic experience? Does it exist, and if so where should we look for it? I suggest it’s not as elusive a phenomenon as some would think.
If we take the US as an example, a natural reaction will be to dismiss New York as “not the real America”. If we take this a step further, surely the most unauthentic experiences are suffered in and around Times Square and Midtown. So let’s consider the restaurants around here. Are these authentic American? Well, the food is generally poorer than elsewhere in the city (with some notable exceptions), and many businesses operate on the principle of short-term gain. Customers will typically be passing tourists, and a good reputation is not a pre-requisite for survival as even the happy eaters will probably not return. Can we experience ‘authentic America’ here?
Christmas in New York
If you strike up a conversation with the waiter, you will probably learn about his journey to work. He may live in the Bronx or in eastern Brooklyn, and have a journey of an hour to get to work each day. He may have recently come to America from the Middle East, and tell you of his family; his children, how they are adjusting to American education, how his wife is lonely but has found fellow countrywomen to spend time with while he is at work. For him, this is the real America in which he is living.
It is similar in the most lavish hotels in India. Our first reaction may be to dismiss these as nothing to do with the ‘authentic India’. They are however very real for those who work in them and make a modest living servicing the tourist trade. And in my very limited experience in these places, the staff are very pleased when someone takes an interest in them as a human being, and the stories of their lives, their families and their aspirations are perhaps more readily available than they would have been with someone on the street. Again for these employees this was the real India in which they made a living and struggled to bring up their families.
Kyrgyz boy on horse
What is authentic? Is it that hard to find? Isn’t everything that goes on around us authentic in its own way? Isn’t it just up to us to see the reality around the gloss that is put on for our supposed benefit? Perhaps the authentic is far more real in the places that hold no pretentions, where people get on with their lives and treat us as we are: visitors/tourists/travellers, whatever we call ourselves, who have come to observe and hopefully for them dish out a few of our dollars. The authenticity comes not from a fancy costume or a traditional ritual, but from the willingness to share a little of one’s everyday life with a stranger.
I was looking at some pictures of Southeast Asia the other day, and all places seemed to be flooded with tourists. You know, the average looking tourists; khaki shorts, camera, boots, etc. And it reminded me of being in Peru and seeing them (us, tourists) everywhere. It annoyed me because it felt like there was no authenticity in what I was looking at, despite it being an ancient historic site or just nature. Everything seemed to be dressed up for tourists – natives were dressed up as ‘natives’ and doing typical dances at 6 in the morning… it wasn’t real, street vendors, beggars, etc. It was all about making money and putting on a show. You walk on the streets and tour agents are trying to convince people to buy their tickets, tour rides, etc… That made me think that no trip is ever going to be authentic, ever, in the way we imagine… it’s all a show, I thought to myself.
And when I read your last paragraph, “Isn’t everything that goes on around us authentic in its own way”, it hit me. Wow. You are so right. “Isn’t everything that goes on around us authentic in its own way?” So I guess you’re right…. instead of wishing things were “real”, we should just try to observe and see behind all the show… it’s still real.
Love your blog! It just keeps getting better.
Cheers!
Izzy
Hi Izzy and thanks so much for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the post. It’s not easy to enjoy a place when you’re pestered to the extreme by everyone wanting a piece of your wallet. I hope my calm perspective on this matter is still intact this time next week after our first few days in Thailand
I don’t think we can brand anything as purely authentic or not. There are various elements of an authentic local experience in most activities and yet all are somehow compromised. As travellers, we should be able to sort those elements out to a major extent. Certainly you can still learn and get great experiences at the most crowded and touristy of locales, packed with camera-toting visitors, whether it be the Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower or Tower of London by striking up conversations with people, learning about the history of the place or whatever. I think your last sentence sums it up – authenticity to a certain extent comes from a willingness “to share little of one’s everyday life with a stranger”.
The counterpart of searching the “Authentic” Experience is that lots of places already lost their roots, and you can’t find the experience you are looking for. The civilization and globalization killed the roots of the people, something sad, but I think that if we were already in this roots we wouldn’t search for other cultures. Sometimes I think we feel lost in the planet and that’s why we try to search other cultures and places to know. At least, that’s how I feel sometimes.
Travelling Lost
JM Leon.-
Many thanks Mark and JM for your comments. We can feel sad about the loss of individuality of a place, yet at the same time see the unique circumstances of those who live there and learn about them as individuals. I am convinced there is something we can learn from everyone we meet in any situation.
Why should places remain “authentic” to satisfy the created, consumerist (yes, we “consume” places as much as things) desires of young (wealthy middle class) Western travellers?
That’s the real question.
And the real answer is if you don’t want somewhere to “change” don’t go there. Leave the place alone.
As soon as any Westerner arrives and brings their needs with them it will change forever (I personally have no problem with that).
Even the very notion of “authenticity” is carefully put together – our fantasies of what the East (or any other place) should be like are rooted in a colonialist discourse that goes back for centuries.
Take Thailand – most of what people consider “authentic” Thai food is not Thai at all but has its roots in China, Laos and even Mexico (yes, that’s where the chili came from).
The gap between how locals actually live somewhere and how outsiders, with their expectations rooted in powerful imagery of what a place “should” be like, is absolutely massive. And always will be. I see it in London as much as I see it in Bangkok.
We can never escape our own histories nor fully experience someone elses.
What we can do is enjoy ALL of what our host culture offers, even if it doesn’t fit our fantasies of authenticity.
Great post – over tourism is making an authentic experience hard to come by. Online travel guides are also making it easier to find out a new experience, which is no bad thing?
Great post. Just experienced similiar feelings traveling through Australia. Kept trying to find that truly authentic Oz experience. Filled with Thai restaurants, French bakeries and Italian coffee shops, we kept thinking, what it authentically Oz? We soon realized it was all around us.
How does one know that a place is authentic enough or not? Surely even a village never visited by tourists is not same as it was 50 years before. People change and as a result places change too. What once was meant for tourists can be an integral part of a place now.
As you rightly said, it’s the people who count and taking time to know them makes your travel worthwhile.
It’s funny, when you think about it, Times Square is probably the most “authentic American” part of New York City. Especially if you think of New York as “not really the authentic America”, and the “real” America being strip malls and chain restaurants, or people who talk like the characters in the movie Fargo (and wear white sneakers and sport-socks with khaki shorts and blow-dried hair). Because Times Square is where those people go when they come to New York, and it’s been fitted out with businesses that will remind them of the world that is familiar to them, “authentic” America.
When you walk through Times Square, it’s likely that you’re surrounded by the most “authentic” Americans you’ll ever meet as a traveler through the USA. On the other hand, we New Yorkers, the ones who aspire to look and act like Europeans, avoid Times Square on pain of death (unless, like you mention in the post, we work there).
Of course, I like to see New York as its own place, not as an example of America. And in that sense, we are authentically ourselves, just as the Ohioans in Times Square are authentically themselves while borrowing a little of our real estate.
Thanks Soan and Sara for your thoughtful comments.
Sara, you reminded me of our visits to the boroughs when we lived in NY. We would take visitors to experience an authentic Brooklyn experience, an authentic Queens one and a trip to the Bronx to see another ‘real NY’. And was it any more real than what they found in Times Sq? Of course not. For each person their own environment is authentic to them. As other commentors have said, it’s up to us to make the most of each encounter.
When talking about an authentic travel experience, we can say that any trip you do is a authentic experience. When we visit new places and enjoy new cultures we are just opening our doors to the real thing. However, in a globalized wolrd, some times this is lost. Some countries like Costa Rica bets on agricultural tourism, offering pinapple tours, banana tours and coffee tours, to get to know Costa Rica true esence.
very interesting thoughts my friend. I agree with you totally about how in our interactions with people, we truly can find the authentic side of a destination. Assuming those conversations are genuine, warm, and respectful. My advice would be to catch those workers maybe at their post-work watering hole and skip the Bubba Gump in Times Square though, lol! Thanks for the thoughts!