2009.04.03: April 3, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malawi: Writing - Malawi: Tourism: Telegraph.co.uk : Paul Theroux promotes Responsible Tourism Awards

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Malawi: Special Report: RPCV Paul Theroux: Paul Theroux: Newest Stories: 2009.04.03: April 3, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malawi: Writing - Malawi: Tourism: Telegraph.co.uk : Paul Theroux promotes Responsible Tourism Awards

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.110.173) on Saturday, April 11, 2009 - 6:37 am: Edit Post

Paul Theroux promotes Responsible Tourism

Paul Theroux promotes Responsible Tourism

There's a good reason why people fly first-class and stay in luxury hotels: it's an awful lot of fun. But I do think that if a traveller wishes to know how people live, and wishes to gain a little insight in a country, it helps to travel on the ground and stay in simpler places that might not have a big wall around them. Overland travel is obviously more difficult and time-consuming, but it is much more revealing. I could have hopped from capital to capital in travelling through Africa for "Dark Star Safari", but African capitals – new buildings surrounded by preposterous slums – are places to avoid. And you can't say that you have travelled anywhere unless you have crossed a frontier – in a literal and also figurative sense. "Becoming a volunteer teacher in Africa with the Peace Corps changed my life. I was in a bush school, with wonderful students, absolutely cut off – no telephone, no computer. And because I was cut off I had to make friends, learn the language (Chichewa) and get to know the area. I realised that Malawians had dreams of transformation just like mine. I assumed that the Africans I knew would become teachers and doctors, following the example of foreign volunteers. This did not happen, as I saw to my dismay 40 years later." Author Paul Theroux served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi in the 1960's.

Paul Theroux promotes Responsible Tourism

Responsible Tourism Awards: Paul Theroux on why the awards matter

Nominations are now open for this year’s Responsible Tourism Awards, sponsored by Virgin Holidays and organised by responsibletravel.com. Paul Theroux, the veteran travel writer, explains why the awards matter, and singles out some countries that deserve to be among the winners.

Last Updated: 10:13AM BST 03 Apr 2009

Why are you supporting The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards?

In the past, awards were given for Best Meal, Best View, Most Grovelling Staff, Biggest Ballroom, or whatever. It's encouraging that someone is being rewarded for doing something that is ethically right or supporting a position that will help the planet. That's the greatest lesson of travel: it is a very small and easily bruised planet.

"Dark Star Safari" was one of the best travel books ever written about Africa because you caught buses, walked and connected with local people. Do you think there is something rather superficial and thus irresponsible about the way some of us travel now – flying first-class to stay in luxury hotels?

There's a good reason why people fly first-class and stay in luxury hotels: it's an awful lot of fun. But I do think that if a traveller wishes to know how people live, and wishes to gain a little insight in a country, it helps to travel on the ground and stay in simpler places that might not have a big wall around them. Overland travel is obviously more difficult and time-consuming, but it is much more revealing. I could have hopped from capital to capital in travelling through Africa for "Dark Star Safari", but African capitals – new buildings surrounded by preposterous slums – are places to avoid. And you can't say that you have travelled anywhere unless you have crossed a frontier – in a literal and also figurative sense.

How did your early experience volunteering in Malawi shape your attitude towards local people and poverty while travelling?

Becoming a volunteer teacher in Africa with the Peace Corps changed my life. I was in a bush school, with wonderful students, absolutely cut off – no telephone, no computer. And because I was cut off I had to make friends, learn the language (Chichewa) and get to know the area. I realised that Malawians had dreams of transformation just like mine. I assumed that the Africans I knew would become teachers and doctors, following the example of foreign volunteers. This did not happen, as I saw to my dismay 40 years later.

Of all the places you have been, which stand out for you as having maintained a strong sense of place – a distinctive local character as opposed to an identity assigned to them for tourism purposes?

This is a hard question; all places change, because of politics, modernisation, conversion to another religion, or simple corruptions. But I would single out Bali, the people of the Trobriand Islands, many of the villages in Vanuatu (New Hebrides), the remoter parts of Scotland and the lobstering communities on the coast of Maine. People who are proud of their traditions, who have faith, and who have retained their language and their special skills – agricultural or nautical, or artistic skills – survive as happy people and tend not to envy what others possess. I would say also that these people tend to be the most responsible in environmental terms.

Do you think it's possible as a traveller really to connect with a place? Should we even aim for this? Where have you felt most and least connected to during your travels?

I felt the most connected in Malawi, because I was completely unconnected to the wider world. I have felt unconnected in Japan because of the language barrier and what seemed to me a somewhat impenetrable culture. But I have also felt utterly alien on a rainy Sunday afternoon in Macclesfield.

Do you believe that tourism can play an important part in conservation efforts within destinations?

Yes, of course, especially if the tourist goes armed with a little information. But the hotels and the local infrastructure bear the most responsibility. The tourist is merely visiting: here today, gone tomorrow.

We hear a great deal about how train travel is greener than flying, but aside from any environmental benefits, what is it about train travel that you have always really loved? And what is it that you dislike about flying?

Apart from the speed of it, air travel is hideous – but everyone knows that it is stressful, germ-laden and uncomfortable. I have always liked the elbow room on a train, and that fact that you can read, write, walk around, chat to strangers, look out the window, loiter in the vestibule and, on the better trains, have a good night's sleep. I took an overnight train from Berlin to Paris recently and had a bedroom and a shower stall. Last year I took a long train trip from Calcutta to Assam – not a smart train but a trip full of excitements and discoveries.

What are your reasons for rarely taking a camera on your travels?

I am no good at taking pictures, or even keeping them straight after I've taken them. Cameras need maintenance, they get stolen. And they are a major distraction to someone who wishes to concentrate on a scene and make notes.

Tour operators are seeing a large increase in British people travelling closer to home. Do you have fond memories of specific places in Britain from your time spent living here?

The British countryside always beckoned. When I got restless in London, I used to take the overnight train to Inverness with my bicycle, and then would get off in the morning in the Highlands and set off cycling along the lochs, sometimes detouring to the islands, or heading south towards Glasgow, and the train home. At other times I hiked in the Cotswolds with my wife, or alone. There was a kayak centre near St David's in South Wales where I would go paddling three or four days. The happiest memories I have are of staying in country-house hotels in Scotland and Yorkshire with my wife and two children and spending the days walking and talking. Even then I thought how I wanted it all to last, and reflected, "Look thy last on all things lovely, every hour…"

You live in Hawaii. Do you spend much time exploring or holidaying closer to home?

I live in a countrified place, with beehives and bamboo and geese. I ride a bike on back roads when the surf is too high to swim or paddle in; when the sea is fairly calm I paddle a kayak. Pretty much my routine when I lived in Britain. I think it's clear that I'm not a city slicker.

Do you have any tips for travelling responsibly?

Always bear in mind that no matter how hard a time you're having, the people you are travelling among have it much worse.



Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: April, 2009; RPCV Paul Theroux (Malawi); Figures; Peace Corps Malawi; Directory of Malawi RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Malawi RPCVs; Writing - Malawi; Tourism, Ecotourism and Travel





When this story was posted in April 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed

 Site Index Search PCOL with Google Contact PCOL Recent Posts Bulletin Board Open Discussion RPCV Directory Register

March 22, 2009: Special Envoy Date: March 22 2009 No: 1343 March 22, 2009: Special Envoy
Holbrooke is Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan 26 Feb
Peace Corps Madagascar Program Suspended 16 Mar
Peace Corps Volunteer Murdered in Benin 12 Mar
Joseph Acaba Makes First Spacewalk 21 Mar
Michael O'Hanlon: Can Obama win in Afghanistan? 20 Mar
Dodd faces Rebellion in Connecticut 19 Mar
Mike Honda writes: Request for Internet Ideas 19 Mar
Laurence Leamer writes: Tragedy of the Peace Corps 16 Mar
Gaddi Vasquez at Annenberg Foundation Trust 16 Mar
White House defends appointment of Chris Hill 14 Mar
Ted Kennedy promotes national service bill 10 Mar
John Dunlop helps Iraq recover 8 Mar
Want a better safer world? Volunteer. 6 Mar
Guy Consolmagno writes: The Search for Earth-like Planets 5 Mar
Charles Murray to receive AEI Award 5 Mar
Sam Goldman started D.light to replace kerosene lamps 4 Mar
RPCVs apply Ideas To Hometown In Need 3 Mar
Senator Bond: Peace Corps and Smart Power 26 Feb
Bob Shacochis writes: Rebuild the Peace Corps 24 Feb
Stephen Andersen promotes Kenyan artisans 24 Feb
Francis Koster writes: A shard of glass 24 Feb
Read more stories from February 2009 and March.

PCOL's Candidate for Peace Corps Director Date: December 2 2008 No: 1288 PCOL's Candidate for Peace Corps Director
Honduras RPCV Jon Carson, 33, presided over thousands of workers as national field director for the Obama campaign and said the biggest challenge -- and surprise -- was the volume of volunteer help, including more than 15,000 "super volunteers," who were a big part of what made Obama's campaign so successful. PCOL endorses Jon Carson as the man who can revitalize the Peace Corps, bring it into the internet age, and meet Obama's goal of doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011.

Director Ron Tschetter:  The PCOL Interview Date: December 9 2008 No: 1296 Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez.



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Telegraph.co.uk

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Malawi; Writing - Malawi; Tourism

PCOL43689
81


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: