Gringo Bingo

[marylou]

2) Local clothing for color. Gringo wearing some hideously woven, garish, only for tourists shawl or shirt.

 

I was on a trip last year to Singapore and points beyond. I didn't see a lot of Westerners on the whole trip, but when I did, invariably the women had "gone native" and were wearing some ethnic Malay or Indonesian garb, especially sarongs. Now people in SE Asia wear sarongs a lot, and wow there are some beautiful ones to be had, but Singapore is a big cosmopolitan city, and a sarong is more like something you'd wear to the beach than on the streets.

[Distel32]

I wear a "deel" in the countryside when it's cold....pretty much every foreigner I know who works here in winter does.

[cj001f]

cj that is exactly true.

 

I always say hi to other white folk here in mgl, some peeps won't even look at me, just turn away, so lame.

 

But then I've met really great foreigners who have asked me to help with their language and translate for them.

 

I've met some of the most interesting, well versed, coolest people ever travelling. For me you have to get off the beaten path, which takes more and more work (and more time than you get on an American vacation) with every year. Or maybe it's just my cynicism, aggravated by a recent visit to Nepal where I saw what a dump the tourists have made of portions of the city and country side, the general zoo like atmosphere (oh - look at the peasants, aren't they quaint!), and tried to beat into the heads (generally unsuccesfully) that for as "modern" as Kathmandu is - only 15% of the population lives like that. The others thresh grain under bus tires (if near a road) or use hand cranked stone grist mills if not so lucky. But enough of a soapbox.

 

 

Oh, and r.e. mufti - if you are white, you stick out like a sore thumb in India. Yes, even in a saree - which may be comfortable in the heat of summer. In the dead of winter? No. Wear pants and a shirt like the rest of the Indians who can afford do.

[magellan]

Are their noses green? WTF?