And what an affect it had on me, including inspiring me to focus more of my attention on international development - near the intersection of conservation, climate change adaptation and resiliency, rural and indigenous community empowerment, and small entrepreneur/enterprise development. But that is for future stories (or blogs in today’s vernacular).
What I want to focus on here and now is how big and diverse and different the people and cultures of the world are. But not really. Not in what it is we want in life, what we hope for, what we strive for, what we need. I am reminded of a slogan used amongst the traveling “backpacker” community when I was in southeast Asia. Same Same But Different.
As my experience has it, the phrase was originally coined in southeast Asia - I think it started in Thailand. It grew out of the typical response given by the owner of a backpacker lodging, or the waiter at a restaurant, or the agent at a tour company: Same Same. It was their broken english way of saying that what you just asked about (a different room, another meal, an alternative trip) is the same as the one about which you previously asked. When, in fact, they were not the same. They were somehow different. The second room had a better bed, or a shade on the window. The other meal had more sauce, or a different side dish. The sunrise tour to the Wat was different than the one that arrived in the heat of the day, when the crowds were greatest.
So, the backpacker community came up with “Same Same But Different.” Enough so that it was a common conversation piece at the local hostel, restaurant or bus station.
It was not until I arrived back in the states that I realized how Same Same But Different was a metaphor for the human experience on this planet. I was asked to give a presentation at the local library about my time in Thailand (I had been there for the December 2004 tsunami, which gave my story some extra spice). As I was developing the presentation, and re-living how the locals acquired their food, worshipped their god(s), celebrated their holidays, commuted to work, built their homes, played with their kids, and all the other things we humans do, I realized that we all do the same things.... but we do them in such amazingly diverse, and thus intriguingly different, ways.
Thus..... Same Same But Different.
This is the first story, or article, or post, or blog (call it what you will) that I plan to write as part of my desire to explore – and share – my experiences from around the world, as well as the observations I’ve made, curiosities I’ve had (and still have), and understandings I’ve gained from what is now 15 months of travel to 22 countries in the past 9 years. These writings will generally fall into four categories:
Same Same But Different: as defined above. For instance, why did the local Thai people say it was the same, when so many backpackers thought the options were different? Was that just a language barrier, or was there some broader cultural difference at play? I don’t really know, but I’d like to.
- Turning Our Disadvantage into Our Opportunities: interesting and exciting ways we humans can get our collective selves out of the worldwide mess we are in - or are rapidly creating. I want to learn, and share, more about clean energy technologies, triple bottom line businesses, enhanced cultural understanding and acceptance... stuff like that (have you heard about the highway surfacing material that produces solar energy?).
- Sustainable Development: what does it mean, what does it not mean (according to me and other scholars!?!); what works, and what doesn’t work (again, according to me and other scholars!?!).
- Sectors of the International Development Field That Interest Me: entrepreneurialism, gender equity, rural/indigenous community empowerment, microfinancing, and more.
I don’t claim to know it all, and never will. But I sure am intrigued by it all, fascinated with it all. I hope to ask as much as I offer, and I encourage you - if you have read this far - to provide any facts or fodder to the conversation. After all, as the world gets flatter, hotter and more crowded, we are increasingly in this altogether.
For now, here are some pictures from my trip around the world that speak to the concept of Same Same But Different. More soon.
[NOTE: These images may not be the best representation of Same Same But Different from around the world, but I am traveling and most of my images are in storage at home.]
HOMES
We all need a home. Staying with a group of reindeer herders in northcentral Mongolia.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-10289
Fijians building a bure (traditional Fijian hut) at Long Beach, my third destination in the Yasawas.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613
Bamboo scaffolding in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21529
This small village on the Nam Tha River in northwestern Laos did not have electricity, but it did have a stereo (they use car batteries recharged by boat engine for their electricity).
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353
FOOD
In the town of Nong Khiaw in northern Laos, if you don't own an electric food drier, then you use a solar food drier.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359
Preserving crops from the garden. In this case, it was rice that came from a field in northern Laos filled with small craters (remnants of bombing runs during the Vietnam war), and dried on the side of the road.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359
At the start of a three day trek into the Hill Tribe region of Laos, I came across this food drying effort. The mats of food were made of a ground-up river grass sprinkled with onion and some other vegetable for flavor. Sort of like a fruit role, but not. Same same but different.
In northwest Laos, I rented a boat to take me two days up the Nam Tha river. The second day was filled with adventure, including watching some villagers drown a deer they caught fording the river. At first I thought they were swimming out to save the deer!?! One white guy's wildlife sighting is another village's meal.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353
On a trip across northern Laos, we stopped at a bus station for a short break. And just like any other bus station, they had food available for the weary traveler.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359
Portland, Oregon just banned plastic grocery bags, so maybe we'll start seeing these around town.... from the area around Doi Inthonan, Thailand's highest peak and surrounding national park.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21902
NATIONAL SECURITY
The extremely busy Laos immigration office across the Mekong River from Thailand (north of Chiang Mia).
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353
Building walls to protect one's country from invading aliens is not a new phenomena.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11495
China, East Germany and Israel have done it. Any other countries come to mind?
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11495
Are we really that different than the Chinese? Think Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11362
RELIGION
Sunday service, fijian style, on Taveuni - Fiji's Garden Island.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13975
Lucky boy. As a kid, I used to want to sleep in church...
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13975
Religions.... maybe the ultimate "same same but different." The concept of "do unto others..." comes to mind as being universal amongst the world's major religions. A monk teaches the teachings of Buddha at Wat Po (the Reclining Buddha) in Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21515
RECREATION
Recreation: "re-creating body, mind and spirit. An activity we humans enjoy around the globe, like starting the day with a good stretch. Freestyle tai chi at 6:00 AM at Beijing's Temple of Heaven.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13962
Tai ball (part badminton and part lacrosse) at the Temple of Heaven.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13962
Rugby practice on the small island of Wayalailai, in the Yasawas of Fiji.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613
Two things kids like to do, build stuff out of scrap wood, and enjoy the water. Also in the Yasawas.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613
Even off the beaten path, villagers are dependent on tourism dollars. I rented this boat to take me two days up the Nam Tha river in northwest Laos, and in doing so provided transportation for locals and their supplies.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353
EDUCATION
An education of a different kind. At one village along the way, all of the students came out to see the bald bearded tall white guy that had hired the long boat to head up stream.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353
A sports field day competition for four local schools (green, blue, yellow, red) on the Fiji island of Taveuni.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961
A good track, maybe not as sophisticated as those typically found in the US, but plenty functional.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961
Striving to win, the world over.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961
ENTERTAINMENT
Evening comes, and as is often the case, you can find adults gathering together to have a drink in a poorly lit watering hole. In this case, the drink is kava, outlawed in the states because it is much more dangerous than alcohol!?!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613
A night of music and dance at the theatre.... in this case, it is sufi dancers in Cairo.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-33880
Traditional costumes, traditional customs. All of it interesting, all of it the same, with most of it done in very different ways. Same same But Different!!!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-33880
Yours truly wearing a full-sized traditional Mongolian garb (called a "deel") made of lynx fur, because the locals wanted the US predator advocate to see how nice and warm lynx fur can be. When in Rome, do as the Romans!!!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-10289
