Massive Changes in the Travel Scene. Ya, Massive.

Much of the world is very different these days for a lot of reasons. On the travel front, here is the big news: The Chinese, the Indians, the Russians, and the South Koreans have a shit ton of money and they have hit the road. Remember that there are 3 billion Chinese and lots of Indians. Yes, many do not share in the extreme wealth, but it takes only a small percentage of 3 billion to drastically change the picture. And changed it is. And it is only the tip of the iceberg.

Let that sink in. It is a massive, huge movement of people who until very recently stayed buckled up at home struggling to make ends meet. People from the USA have never been big travelers. People from Europe and Australia certainly have a deep travel tradition. But their numbers are so small comparatively, you hardly notice them. This is my news of the day.

So, if I take a tour in Northern Thailand, everyone I meet is Chinese or Korean. This is not a bad thing, it is just new. And like a lot of newly rich people, they are spendy. Don't offer to split the bill with these groups. By the same token, there is a lot of generosity especially because of the respect my grey hair brings to me.

Another thing I have noticed is that there is little or no curiosity about the USA and our provincial little agonies. We just are an old fashioned curiosity. These countries are developing at warp speed and we are debating things that were solved ages ago. Mostly, we are not interesting except for our few famously famous points. We like guns. We hate blacks, Mexicans, Arabs. We make movies. Steve Jobs and the iphone is known, as is our disrespect for different religious beliefs. And we keep trying to occupy countries and are not good at it. They all reference "The American War.' We seem to call it "The Vietnam War." These are the things most people from other countries who travel know about the USA.