Asia: The new backpacking-through-Europe experience
August 23, 2007, 08:48 p.m. EST
Kelly Murray / kelly@bootlegonttheweb.com
While you may confuse London or Paris with New York or L.A., Tokyo, Hong Kong and Tibet are drastically different from any Western city.
The ultimate road trip has long stood as tradition among American twenty somethings. In the ’60s and ’70s when the West Coast was still full of free love, it was the cross-country drive. Then it changed to the infamous backpacking-through-Europe adventure, where it has firmly remained for the past 20 years.
Once again, this trip is witnessing a shift as Europe no longer holds the luster that it once did. Thanks in most part to mass media, the global economy and accessible air travel, Europe has changed from a quaint, mysterious continent to being chock-full of family vacationers and tourist traps — not quite the free-spirited trip a backpacker might expect. In an attempt to find the next unconquered frontier to fulfill the expectations that such a trip should embody, eyes have turned to Asia.
Asia is the Europe of the past—mysterious and practically unexplored. While you may confuse London or Paris with New York or L.A., Tokyo, Hong Kong and Tibet drastically different from any Western city. Once you step off the plane, you are completely immersed in their culture. It’s like going into a fantasy novel — a chance to enter a different world.
Asian tourism is just starting to get the recognition it deserves so it hasn’t been commercialized to fit the needs of tourists. For the most part, it’s all original and has something to offer everyone.
Take Tokyo for example. If New York City and crack were to have a lovechild, it would be Tokyo. Perhaps the most technologically advanced city in the world, venturing there is like experiencing an acid trip. The entire city is alive with skyscrapers, thousands of billboards and screaming neon signs—think Times Square taking over all of Manhattan. Home of the bullet train, life goes by faster than you can keep up. Here self-expression is worn, as their unique style of clothes gives evidence to. You can shop all day, and then at night sit down for a sushi dinner that will make you swear off the Americanized version. After that, venture to a nightclub that gives definition to the phrase ‘happening.’
If a slower life is more your speed, look no further than China, where the old and new collide. In the middle of its awkward teenage years, China has all the tradition of monasteries and Buddhist monks combined with the modernization of fast-paced cities and new technology.
In Tibet, time seems to have stood still. The majestic Himalayas serve as a backdrop for the sounds of chanting monks ringing throughout the Forbidden City. Then journey to the see the Great Wall of China, and come to understand why it can be seen from space. Either way, you get a taste of the foundation of an old world that is quickly becoming new.
If all of this sounds awesome, but you’re worried about the price, don’t be. Once you get airfare figured out, it’s all downhill from there. While you can’t get by on $5 a day in Europe anymore, you can pretty much do it anywhere in Asia. Even hostels, which yes, you should stay in, range between $1 - $5 per night (www.hostelsasia.com). So if you’re looking for someplace completely untouched and extremely unique, look no further than the Far East.
