No offense to anyone I hope but for a bunch of folks who are or intend to be "world cruisers" this thread shows a fair amount of intolerance. Having lived in
Asia for 25 years I can assure you that stereotyping any Asian culture or country is going to be incorreect.
Most Asians who do not travel establish their stereotypes the same way westerners do. By watching tv and then watching the tourists.
Western culture is depicted through television to be rich, without moral, spoiled, warmongering and rude. Imagine if all you knew about the
USA was Jerry Springer, Jersey Shore and CNN warclips.
Now imagine if hundreds if not thousands of Indonesians showed up every month in Baton Rouge with pockets bulging from millions of Rupiah on sex holidays to invade strip clubs and dance clubs. The good ol' boys would be having a field day...
Yes one could argue that the sex
trade is a monetarily driven,
government sponsored problem. But clearly Westerners and now rich Asians are the enablers.
Going to Bali, Jakarta, Phuket, Bangkok, Manila, Olongopo or Cebu and saying you've experienced Asian culture is like going to Hollywood blvd or Kings Cross and saying you've experienced US or Australian culture.
Anyway - sorry to preach. If you ain't interested in Indonesia, don't go but please don't slag them off. I have many Indonesian friends as well as Thai, Filipino, Malysian, Vietnamese, basically the whole spectrum. And yes there are individual crazzies and a-holes in every society.