The experience

The little monk

One of the things that my travels have learned me is that the greatest tourist experience can come from the most unexpected moments. When backpacking through Cambodia you cannot exclude a visit to the ancient Angkor (which means “Holy city” in the Khmer language). Crowded by tourists as they are, the ruins still prove to be a beautiful and impressive sight. But when I rethink my journey, a small temple on an island on the Mekong River might have left a greater impression. Not so much the temple itself – I can barely remember the temple – but the encounter with the people that lived there. Especially the little, young monk with his orange robe and his shiny baldness, that ran in front of us, with his happy smile. Leading us the way to the temple, lighting incense for us and saying a prayer in front of the – somewhat decaying – Buddha statue, urging us with his hand to do the same. Kneeling in front of Buddha, I felt part of a culture and a ritual that was even more ancient than Angkor.   

This authenticity – experiencing “real” culture – is something all tourists are searching for according to Dean McCannell. Quite a generalisation I would say; it does not take into account other forms of tourism and definitely cannot be applied to all tourists - but it does apply to me. When going to an area, I prefer to travel at slow pace. Taking my time to absorb the culture and the impressions. This allows me to search for the “core” of the country and find that authenticity, instead of the pretence of authenticity that is often performed for tourists.

The Sri Lankan Kandy dance performance is a perfect example of staged authenticity. The show is only visited by tourists – needless to say I went as well. It was pretty, but it did not feel like a thing done by many Sri Lankans. A completely different story was the ‘’Devil dance” I had witnessed in a small village: I was invited by my local friends and was the only non-native person standing amidst the entire village that had come to watch. The dance was held on account of a sick woman and the goal was simple: the dancers would dance all night to chase away the “devils” that lived inside the woman. At one point they got a rooster – ready to sacrifice I thought. It turned out only to be a sign of good luck. The sick woman was put into a trance and started to dance as well. The next day she was better. All in all, they performed a marvellous show, with fire, beating drums and frantic dancing. I would not have wanted to miss this for the world…. But the thing is; I also did not want to miss the Kandy dance show. Or the Angkor city. Both authentic and faked - they all add to my tourist experiences.          

To learn more about early theoretical explanations of tourism and staged authenticity, read MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity arrangements of social space in tourist settings….and don’t forget to watch the devil dancers in the video :-)