Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World

I sit there several mornings a week and watch the routine. Between 11:00 and 11:30, a large bus pulls up and lets off 40 or so Chinese tourists. They come flooding into the restaurant in absurd, mismatched clothing – often with cameras around their necks and fanny packs. It’s as if they’re 20 to 30 years behind in geeky tourist wear.

The group goes to upstairs where the second story of the restaurant and it’s breathtaking view of the rice fields is waiting just for them. There they take photos of the rice fields and each other. They have a great time. The air fills with the loud sounds of Mandarin.

There’s no need for them to order their lunch – the tour operator took care of that. Just like so many social events I attended in Taiwan, there’s a fixed menu and everyone receives exactly the same thing unless the meal is family style – as is also very common in Taiwan and China. Waiters and waitresses start running between the kitchen and the second floor delivering trays of food like it’s an airplane.

Later in the day, their bus – along with up to eight others – will be parked in front of the Ubud Market. They shop for souvenirs and see Ubud’s historic center. By mid-afternoon, everyone’s back on the buses which then clog up traffic in every direction as they pull out. Bali roads – especially Ubud roads – are not meant for large buses.

By 4:00, the Chinese are gone and the town returns to its moderate to quiet hum.

This isn’t the first time on this trip we’ve encountered Chinese tourists – it’s just the first where we’ve seen them traveling en masse.

I’m sure it makes me old, but the more I see Chinese tourists – especially in large tour groups – I marvel at how much has changed since I was a kid. When we were kids, Chinese people couldn’t even leave their country without special dispensation. Their government worried that if they could, they would mass emigrate.

Even five years ago, I never saw Chinese in Bali. People still didn’t have the money to travel even when they were allowed.

Today, we see the people of what was one of the most closed off countries in the world, traveling freely, being part of the world.

In Thailand, we encountered a group of Chinese college students checking into our bungalow place on Koh Samet. They were having trouble communicating with the Thai staff. The Thai staff came over to where I was working and asked for my help. I went up to the Chinese students, thinking I would try to use my feeble bits of Chinese to help. When I did, they responded in perfect English with minimal accent.

Things are changing.

Two weeks ago, as Emily and I sweated our way through Ubud’s Monkey Forest, we noticed a group of three Russian tourists in their late 20’s playing with the monkeys. Stupid people. Never play with the monkeys. Nonetheless, they were down on their haunches, monkeys jumping on their shoulders, taking food from them and playing with their water bottle.

We didn’t stick around long enough to see them leave, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they had been taken away in an ambulance. A monkey scratch or bite usually means being evacuated to Singapore or Australia where they can treat people for the fatal and degenerative diseases that monkeys can transmit. I didn’t know a nurse in Singapore who didn’t warn me to stay away from the monkeys when I flew to Bali. They’ve all seen it.

We weren’t surprised at the Russians. As horrible as I know it is to say, we don’t have a very favorable impression of Russian tourists. We started off our travels surrounded by them. Our all-inclusive beach resort in the Turkish Mediterranean was filled with Russians.

The staff complained about them. The all-inclusive package included unlimited local alcohol. The Russians began drinking at 10 am and didn’t stop until the bars closed at 11pm. Everyone smoked and most of them chain smoked. They were loud, amazingly immodest and fantastic eaters.

Emily and I were most taken aback by the 300 pound women who wore bikinis.

Although we made the first friends of our journey – Eugene and Christina – and they were fantastic people, we didn’t leave the resort with a pressing desire to meet more Russians.

Along our travels, there have been at least a few Russians just about everywhere. It’s hard to describe fully, but there’s a certain roughness and lack of consideration for others that we’ve seen in Russian travelers. They push. At Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Emily was ready to throttle a group of Russian tourists who seemed to feel Emily was invisible as they knowingly pushed her while standing in line.

On Koh Samet, we accidentally took beach chairs near a group of Russian tourists. Some were taking Playboy centerfold-type photos of each other up and down the beach – sometimes in the surf. There were the usual 300 pound women in bikinis and 300 pound men in Speedos. And one special young couple stood in front of everyone making out and feeling each other up for about a half hour until it didn’t make sense not to pull out a condom….

All of that said, the more remarkable part is that when we were kids, our government negotiated constantly with the Soviet Union for the release of their own people. When the Soviet Union ended and people were allowed to leave, it took non-profit and government aid to help people emigrate as so many Soviet Jews did. No one could afford to leave on their own.

Today, Russians are on the same beaches in Thailand and Turkey alongside Americans, British and French tourists.

From what we’ve gathered in our conversations, it seems like Russia has made greater strides toward wealth distribution than China – where the divide between the prosperity in cities like Shanghai is in sharp contrast with the villages and cities of Western China. Although I’m sure there are still many poor and struggling Russians.

Either way, seeing vacationers at international hot spots around the world is a very good sign for everyone. People who lived in oppression and segregation are becoming part of the world-at-large. Mr. Gorbechev tore down that wall and his people are now drunk on a beach in Turkey – as is their God-given right.

Even though it seems strange that the Japanese and Australians who have long dominated the Bali tourism scene may have to make way for the Chinese, I’m happy to see the bus pull up to the restaurant, and the people step out freely.

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