Little Tibetan Lama，Sichuan，China / Photo: utpala

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Burma, China, and Cuba: just a few of the countries out there with poor human rights records and a history of authoritarian governments.

Some travelers and organizations have advocated a travel ban to such countries, arguing that tourism helps to support the offending regimes.

Does it make us bad global citizens that my husband and I consciously chose to visit these countries and have a few more “rogue” states on our travel wish list?

We think the opposite. Here’s why.

1. Understanding and Advocacy

Father and son play games at their Ippodrom market
stall in Tashkent. Photo: Uncornered Market

It’s difficult – if not impossible – to truly understand a place without experiencing it first-hand and interacting with its people. You can be an advocate without ever having visited a place, but your advocacy carries more context and authority once you’ve traveled there and spoken with people on the ground.

What you see, hear and experience in country will influence, and possibly change, how you think about effective actions that support local people. Share this newfound knowledge and insight with others.

We had read about Chinese business interests in Burma, but it wasn’t until we visited Burma that we understood their importance in keeping Burma’s military officials, literally and figuratively, in business.

Another Matador writer explains how travel is a patriotic act. Her experiences in Cuba provided a sophisticated understanding of this misunderstood country; she now shares this knowledge with others.

2. Reject Isolation

A mother and daughter moment, Burma
/ Photo: Uncornered Market

Authoritarian governments generally want to keep their people isolated from the world. Their strategy is to control their people’s access to outside information and news. This is why they prefer tour groups to independent travelers. Organized tours help ensure that foreign tourists only see the “beautiful things.”

If possible, travel independently. Even if you’re forced to take a tour, find a way to engage with locals. Talk with real people at the market, in the taxi, at your guesthouse, and at street stalls.

We didn’t need to initiate discussions about politics or daily challenges – local people brought the conversation on their own when they felt comfortable with us and in a safe environment. We found locals’ views on their country to be surprisingly complex and nuanced, as were their questions about our home country.

In Turkmenistan, a country almost completely closed off to the western world until 2007, Turkmen people surprised us with their openness and curiosity.

3. Where You Spend Your Money Does Make a Difference

A spin around the vegetables, Turkmenistan
/ Photo: Uncornered Market

It is impossible to prevent every cent of the money you spend from slipping into the hands of the government. However, tourism is the people’s business.

Spend your money consciously: at privately run stores, street stalls and guesthouses rather than government-sponsored hotels, shops and restaurants. We believe the benefits that independent travelers spread by spending their money and sharing themselves with ordinary people outweighs the amount of money the government might collect in taxes and visa fees from your visit.

In places like Uzbekistan and Burma, people we spoke to felt the same. As tourism numbers dwindle, it’s the ordinary people working in guesthouses, restaurants, markets and shops who really feel the pinch. There just aren’t a lot of other job options.

4. Breaking Down Bias

Jose of Cuba / Photo: Sami

The perception we receive about a country often comes from the evening news, front page of a newspaper or the latest movie. Media is in the business of reporting crisis and Hollywood is in the business of creating drama. Countries, and their people, may look ominous and dangerous in this media light, but the reality is often something different.

I’m certainly not immune from these stereotypes. Before traveling to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, I thought of these areas as dark, evil places where people mysteriously die in prison. (Much of this is due to the fact that I worked for a media organization whose journalists were at risk). I initially resisted traveling to these countries, but my husband convinced me otherwise. And I’m glad he did.

Not to diminish the relevance of the transgressions that do still occur, but there’s more to these countries than their governments’ human rights records.

Like anywhere else, average citizens are just trying to make a living, raise a family and hope for a better life for their children – many times with extreme challenges. This is just as much the story as the rogue governments that run their countries.

5. Experienced-Based Empathy

At the animal market in Kashgar, China
/ Photo: Uncornered Market

When you’ve traveled through a country and have a connection with its people, the news about that place becomes more personal. When our own empathy is rooted in experience, it becomes deeper – we want to help.

Why does this matter? Perhaps this empathy will motivate you to act and become an advocate – to raise money, volunteer, or share your knowledge and educate others.

Even though we did not visit Tibet during our travels across China, the time we spent in two other minority regions – Kashgar (in the western province of Xinjiang with a primarily ethnic Uighur community) and Xiahe (in Gansu Province with a substantial ethnic Tibetan population) – provided the context to understand some of the impacts of the Chinese government’s development actions and attitudes first-hand.

I had seen plenty of “Free Tibet” slogans before our trip, but I now have a deeper understanding of what those signs mean and the nuances of the situation.

Although we’ve decided to travel to these countries with shaky human rights records, each person needs to decide whether to visit countries with governments they may not support.

If you make the journey, it’s even more important to travel responsibly and with an open mind. And don’t forget to share your experiences when you return.

What do you think – do the benefits outweigh the negatives when visiting banned countries?

The Tashkent post office / Photo Daniel Noll

As travelers, we have all visited post offices abroad.

We rarely relish these visits and often avoid them until the last possible moment. However, the post office provides an unusual opportunity for cultural observation and comparison.

From almost being arrested in Kazakhstan to almost being trampled in India, I’ve had my share of post office adventures (usually mailing DVD backups of photos and videos) over the last 18 months on the road.

Twenty-five countries and countless postal queues later, here are five cultural characteristics I’ve observed during all that waiting.

1. Spirit of Entrepreneurship

Culture, education, society, economy, and government all play a role in shaping the entrepreneurial spirit of its populace.

Ironically, some of the most entrepreneurial places I have visited are communist (Vietnam and Cuba come to mind).

In Hoi An, Vietnam, tourists flock to the tailor shops. After their shopping sprees, dazed tourists lugging large bags of custom-tailored clothes are greeted by poised post office employees who, for a small fee, craft the perfect packaging from tape and makeshift boxes.

Compare this with Tashkent, Uzbekistan where our friend emptied the contents of his bag on the counter in order to have it packed and shipped. To each of his “Eto mozno?” (Is it possible?) queries, he received a defiant “Nyet” (No).

Are postal employees creative in solving unusual requests? Is there a resourcefulness in getting things done? If so, that’s a sure sign the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.

2. Rules: Meant to be Broken?

Post office Phnom Penh / Photo sugarmelon.com

How do people view rules? Are they meant to be broken, or at least bent? Or are they blindly adhered to? The answers will tell you how society views government and authority.

Chinese society believes in the value of rules and authority to maintain order and harmony. For example, at a post office in Kunming, China, I noticed all the indicators of an international postal service, including a box and a sign that read “International Service.”

It turned out, however, that this location wasn’t the official international post office for foreigners. The postal employees reacted indignantly as I pleaded to mail my package anyway…against the rules.

In contrast, a postal employee in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan actually enlisted our help to break the rules.

She explained that since it is illegal to mail cigarettes, the customer next to us needed something inconspicuous in English to complete her customs slip. Wouldn’t we help her?

During the era of the Soviet Union, people survived by using rules to their advantage and circumventing them when they found them inconvenient. Much of this attitude towards authority and rules survives today in the newly independent states.

3. Relationship with Technology

Like entrepreneurship, some cultures embrace technology and change. Others avoid it in favour of using the past to guide their future. A quick look around a post office will tell you about the country’s relationship with technology.

Singapore’s endless delivery options and extensive computerization exhibits one side of the spectrum, while Uzbekistan’s use of the abacus marks the other.

While Tashkent’s post office did have computers (with some even turned on), the abacus was still king. Additionally, our Uzbek package was wrapped in a hand-sewn burlap bag and secured with dark red wax seals that nostalgically recalled another age.

4. Personal Space

Post office, India / Photo Nice Logo

Each culture has its unspoken rules about personal space. Nowhere is this clearer than in a post office queue.

Having spent over one year in Asia, I thought I had adjusted to the Asian sense of personal space. Still, my visits to post offices in India felt like endurance sport: people stood so close to me I could barely breathe.

Meanwhile, oodles of empty space behind them remained unoccupied. In contrast, the Austrian’s queue in spatious rows that can scarcely be called lines.

5. Paranoia and Big Brother

Wonder whether Big Brother is watching? Having a gut feeling of unease?

Here’s a paranoia litmus test: take a photograph inside the post office. (Note: Do not try this when a “no photos” sign is clearly posted. I don’t want any arrests on my head.)

When my husband photographed a series of elementary-school drawings at the main post office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, several plain-clothed policemen approached and questioned him in Russian: “Are you a journalist? Why are you doing this? You know, we don’t take photos here in our country…in Kazakhstan.”

He was eventually released without a fine, but we were cautious each time we brought out our camera afterwards.

A week later in Bishkek, Krygyzstan, postal workers laughed when we asked permission to photograph the mosaic hanging above their heads. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be allowed?”

The Upshot

Post offices are an unusual study in sociology and culture. Next time you happen to be waiting in line to mail that postcard, keep your eyes open and you’ll be surprised how effectively your postal experience illuminates the place you’re visiting.

Have you had any culturally memorable experiences in a foreign post office? Share in the comments!