perspectives: post-travel

Yes I know, this post has been a long time coming. I have been on blogging sabbatical and now I'm back. Over the past month I made a massive trip through Malaysia and IndoChina mostly on work. In Malaysia I attended the AFCSR and met a lot of eminent CSR personalities. It was all very exciting.

Vietnam and Cambodia were both a revelation. Cambodia was only 3-day break during the whole trip of networking and meeting people. So I stayed in a quaint little place in Siem Reap and visited the famous Angkor temples. The people in Cambodia are incredibly friendly and live in abject poverty. Yet for some reason, are more hopeful and optimistic than most Indians I know. I also noticed that even if they were poor, they weren't starving mostly because they grew their own vegetables and fished in the three large lakes in the town. Siem Reap is a gorgeously green little town and is under conservation in Cambodia. The country is not without problems; apart from the mentioned poverty, it also has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.

The point of food self-sufficiency kept striking me as something obvious that every government should be striving for. The government of every developing country is moving in the opposite direction of introducing a centralized food production system that is taking away from something basic in the lives of most people.

My next stop was Vietnam. I was in Ho Chi Minh City which is very much like Mumbai. It is so much better planned, cleaner and developing at an unprecedented rate. However, unlike in India I saw a plan in their growth and development which was forward-thinking and heartening. Vietnam, like India is an SME-based economy and also many MNCs have entered the market, awareness of sustainability issues are not that high. However, I did have the chance to speak to a few people and through them I learnt that many companies are becoming more and more aware, which is encouraging.

Overall, the trip was fruitful and insightful especially in gaining new perspective about development in other countries. More to follow on here and also on Justmeans.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan © View of Saigon with the Saigon tower.

the not so golden triangle...

I know I have been terribly neglectful of this blog lately. It's been a month since my last post, the longest gap yet! But rest assured that I have been working hard on my Justmeans blog and have been writing about a lot of things there and now write for two categories - CSR and ethical consumption.

I recently returned from the famous 'Golden Triangle' tour covering Delhi-Agra-Jaipur and it is extremely strange to be a tourist in your own country. Travelling in India is an experience beyond anything that can written about. It is uncommonly hot, difficult, tiring and everything about the place assaults you in a myriad different ways. The kind of tourist attractions it offers is on a gargantuan scale of its own and in many ways pales the rest of the world in comparison.

In the space of 5 days I saw the largest gateway in the world, the Buland Darwaza; the largest sundial in the world in Jaipur; several forts, an entire city of red stand-stone and of course the Taj Mahal. This smorgasbord of sights is difficult to top.

For me, it was also deeply disheartening in many ways. For all the beauty on offer, the monuments in India are dismally maintained. Akbar's tomb in Sikandra which was absolutely gorgeous on the outside was a sad let-down upon entry. The intricately painted walls were peeling and in need of desperate restoration.

The whole city of Jaipur was extremely forlorn in appearance and did not seem at all like a capital city of a large state. The roads were appallingly bad and the rains did not bode well with the ancient sewer systems. The Amber Fort was gorgeous in bits but many of the walls were defaced by visitors and again several areas were in need of maintenance.

I can moan on about the fact that people in India are in desperate need of civic sense which for most part is true but who is to teach this valuable lesson. Without a sense of pride for national treasures how can preservation be insisted upon? Indeed, without civic sense how can environmental consciousness even be comprehended?

We cannot boast of trying to be an emerging super power, our IT prowess, space program etc etc when our basic sense of a civilized society is misplaced. Travelling India filled me with a deep sense of pride and an equally deep sense of shame. I wonder if things are ever going to change for this country so filled with potential and yet so encumbered with blindingly obvious faults.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

travellin' thru

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

Like the option of greening everything, travel too can be 'greened'. The biggest environmental impact of travel comes from the mode of travel and where you stay. This is why it is recommended that you take a train, bus or drive rather than fly. Avoid taking flights for short-haul trips and definitely try to travel long-haul during the night time only. Ensure that you use a e-ticket as that reduces paper wastage. Whatever your mode of travel, pack light as every kilo increases the amount of fuel expended and this is especially true with car travel. If you are renting a car on your travels, rent a hybrid and whatever car you use, ensure that the tyres are properly inflated and employ driving techniques that ensure low fuel wastage. Other options to get around include bicycling and taking walking tours - the slower pace of both ensures that you will not miss a lot and if you like taking photos on the way (like me) both modes will ensure that you don't miss the perfect shot.

Things you can do before you travel:

• Ensure that your AC and heating are turned off
• Turn water off at outside connection (to prevent flooding should a pipe break while you're gone)
• Unplug appliances such as TVs, computers etc because they can draw or 'leak' as much as 40 watts per hour even when they're off
• Decant lotions, shampoos etc into smaller bottles and reuse these bottles instead of buying travel-sized bottles everytime
• Carry reusable water bottles with you and try not to buy bottled water

Accommodation:

• Ensure that you have the most eco-friendly accommodation which is why going camping, forest lodges etc are great options
• Let your hotel know that you do not want replacement towels and sheets everyday
• Turn off the electricity when you leave your room
• Take your dirty laundry home to be washed
• Pack your used soap to reuse or decant body wash into small bottles for use whilst away
• Do not open complimentary bottles of amenities if you do not want them

For more eco tips look here. In order to ensure that travel becomes a greener experience, many hotels and hostels are going green not only as a USP but also because running a hotel is very energy intensive and employing green initiatives also includes a cost-saving benefit. Travelocity is a great website that gives you travel tips and a list of eco-friendly hotels. Treehugger also has a list of twelve great eco-hostels.

For your next holiday try something different - toss the beaten track and tread on the path less followed. If you have always enjoyed spa breaks and staying in five-star hotels, consider eco-holidays that bring you closer to nature. Think about going on an expedition or even trekking, scuba diving or river rafting. Ecotourism begins first with the choices you make. Wherever you go learn to respect natural surroundings and follow basic rules like not littering, harming local wildlife, making loud noises etc.

Holidays with my family have always left me feeling refreshed because we have always tried to explore the quieter vistas and get away from the city. As naturally inclined travellers rather than tourists, we prefer to stay in places that encourage ecotourism. From this I have learnt that holidays that refresh the mind and body need not cost the earth.