Asian

So I've been trying to figure out what is the primary motive force that pulls all these westerners out to Asia. Maybe it's obvious; People want several things. They want to party for cheap, they want to "experience a different culture", albeit in the limited fashion of interacting with guesthouse staff and taxi drivers, they want to see some natural beauty and historical architecture. Those seems to be the most common motives, but not at all the only ones. I would be insulting myself and my peers if I said that.

Funny thing about absorbing another culture is that there's a massive barrier to most of us: We don't speak the language. We can't understand what locals say to each other, other than what basics are communicated by body language and expression and activity. So how much are we absorbing? How much of what I've learned about Thailand even comes from Thais, rather than filtered through layers of foreigner hearsay? Not knocking that avenue, there is gold in them thar hills, what stories we farangs tell each other in cafes and curbsides, but it's not a primary source.

It's a drag being so dependent on foreigners to speak my language and being unable to speak theirs. I know so little Thai.