Chapter 244: Can any CITY Represent an Entire Country?

A situation recently happened with a friend of mine, Nicola, a 58 year old female solo traveler. She’s been on the road about 3.5 years and just landed in Sri Lanka, a country we have been trying to visit for two years, and she had a horrible time, and a bad first impression. The town of Negombo gave off such a bad energy that she wanted to leave. The city of Columbo didn’t work either, so the question(s) is/are: “Should she leave the country? Is it all bad?” Would you?

There are no solid answers to either one, but it reminded me of this post, which I’ve had in draft for several weeks. So I wanted to share this question of the week:

Can any CITY Represent an Entire Country?

My response is “absolutely not,” but I have been guilty of writing off the entire country of Thailand just based on my first bad experience in Bangkok. And Bangkok is nothing like most of the country!

In January 2020, Kat and I came to Asia for the first time and had a room reserved in Bangkok. The 36th floor apartment was sweet, and a few floors up, on the 42nd level, there was an infinity pool, lounge area, and gym. And we were paying under $400 mo. Mind you, this was our FIRST entree to Asia and our first really big city to stay in (11M population). We had only been on the road for less than one year (Feb 2019).

To say it was a shock to my system is an understatement, but we had it reserved for two months and weren’t sure what to do. We knew we had to return to the US in March for a wedding, so we only had a limited time no matter where we went. Long story short, we kept the room and used it as a base, bebopping to other Thai cities like Chiang Mai and Chumphon (loved them), plus Cambodia and Vietnam. The time went quickly even as COVID was picking up speed. And we recently spent two months in Thailand and came away with a totally different vibe, and are considering it for a longer term stay.

The Bottom Line: my feelings about Bangkok were valid, but my knee jerk reaction to the country was premature.

The Bali Dilemma

Here’s another situation we have encountered several times. Kat and I love Bali. He have not seen the entire island, but there are some places we intentionally have not visited: Seminyak or Canggu are two of them because everyone says they are “too touristy and crowded.” And several times we have had people say they “hate Bali,” or “it’s not like it used to be.” And where did they visit? Many times Seminyak or Canggu! So it’s no wonder they’re not feeling the warm and fuzzies.

Ubud kind of falls into that trap, too. We stayed there last year on our first visit, and it IS busy and it IS touristy. Even so we did love it, too, but we would not go back for a longer stay. And we DO love Sanur, as well as the islands of Lembongan and Ceningan, where we just returned from. The bottom line is that neither approach justifies painting the entire country with one brush color.

We considered Egypt a “one and done” visit since the residents in Cairo and Giza were unbearable aggressive and irritating, and anyone/ everyone selling anything would not take NO for an answer without a fight! The history and beauty were magical, but we said, “no mas.”

But is that the right response?

We’ve known some travelers who really enjoyed Egypt and raved about OTHER cities and parts of the country. They knew something we didn’t. Truth is, with as much of the world we have yet to see, and other places to return to, Egypt is not high enough on our priority list to consider.

What about America: Is it a good place to visit?

There is no American town that truly represents “America,” in my opinion.

Over the years we have been to more than 50 countries. We have met foreigners on their native soil, plus many from different countries, and with most of our fellow travelers who we share experiences with, in almost every situation, the initial conversations usually start like this.

“Where are you from?”

That elicits one of two responses from both sides: “oh, we had never been there,” or “oh, we have been there and… we (a) usually liked it, or (b) weren’t there long enough to make a decision. Rarely do we ever say we hated somewhere!

Then we then go on and compare notes, and when we say that we are from California, they immediately perk up, since it is probably one of the most noteworthy states that people identify with America. However, the California that they see on television and movies, both new stuff and old, is truly not a representation of California. Orange County, my home for decades, is not “like” California any more than San Francisco, Fresno, or Los Angeles is. Unless they they have lived in the US, they probably don’t “know” California enough to decide if they like it or not, nor could they realistically say that about the entire country.

So, the Big Question : is there such a thing as any CITY that can truly represent an entire country? In my opinion, NO.

Many foreigners have been to the United States, and believe they understand what America is “like” based on that experience. They may visit New York City, or Chicago, but they probably have never been to Omaha, Nebraska, nor Denver, Colorado, which are two significant cities, but nothing like each other.

When it comes to travel, I believe it’s important to take a very wide view along with a very open mind. We have loved almost every country we’ve been to, but haven’t loved every single city. Some were too big, others too smoggy. Some had few things to do, others overwhelmed us.

Nicola, my friend who started this tale, has been to Sri Lanka before and liked it. But since then there has been civil unrest which has been devastating for the locals and for their economy. And there are many countries in the world that have had similar internal strife that is best avoided.

Will WE visit Sri Lanka? Since we’ve planned to go twice, our third time will be the charm