Culminating Experience Reflection: A More "Serious" Comparison of Paradises - Thailand and Australia

My time spent in Australia and Thailand was so filled with adventure, sightseeing, and relaxation that it often became easy to lose sight of the fascinating culture surrounding me. It is with this entry that I intend to bring forth the many cultural observations I made, but did not necessarily note in previous blog entries, for the sake of comparison.

As I sit here reflecting on my time spent in each of these countries, it's difficult to find a starting point. These are countries unified in their status as tourist hotspots (particularly amongst Europeans - we Americans have the Caribbean to enjoy in our hemisphere) and places to escape to paradise, but entirely different in so many other ways.

This post will follow a method of comparison similar to that of my last post, as I humbly believe it proved effective. That in mind, there are three key areas I intend to compare:

1. Attitude towards Americans
2. Quality of service
3. Cost of visiting

1. Attitude towards Americans

I'd like to start my post by acknowledging that my writing is based largely on personal experiences and the personal observations made by others. My interactions with locals in both Thailand and Australia were mostly positive, with the former edging much closer to exclusively positive experiences than the latter.

Thailand

I speak with certainty when I say that, as an American and foreigner, I felt more welcomed in Thailand than I have anywhere else in the world. There is something so uniquely wonderful about the Thai people in that the fine line between seeing dollars signs above tourists' heads (read: Ghana) and treating others as nothing more than an obstacle (read: New York City) is walked so perfectly. While my experiences around the world have left me with the realization that I, as a white American, will always stand out as a business target in less wealthy countries, I never felt this dictated the interactions I had with locals in Thailand. 

I take this stance optimistically, with the more pessimistic conclusion being that Thai people are simply better actors than I encountered anywhere else and that ultimately, their goal was nothing more than to get into my wallet. Well, if there's a Thai man laughing somewhere because he charged me three times the normal rate for his Nutella pancakes, props to him, I genuinely felt that he took an interest in my persona and my reasons for visiting his country.

These are actually taxi drivers, very happy ones it seems. The yellow vests indicate that they drive these motorcycles.

See? Clearly he's friendly. That flaming torch he whirled so close to my girlfriend Melissa's face could have caused some serious damage if he wanted it to.

Australia

My experience as an American in Australia was very much a mixed bag. It is here that I feel it's most important to remind the reader that my writing is based on personal experiences, not fact. Why do I reiterate this? Well, I believe that like America, Australia has significant diversity in the attitudes of its people depending on where one is. I also believe that Gold Coast, where Bond University (my study abroad program) is situated, is among the least welcoming places in the country. I hold this stance based on discussions I had with numerous Australians who I studied with at Bond. Gold Coast and its surrounding areas embody the "paradise" that tourists traveling to Australia seek. The result of this is an often overwhelming number of tourists, many of whom travel to the Gold Coast for the party scene. Understandably, local Australians quickly become fed up with the drunken revelry of rowdy Americans and as a result, draw generalizations about Americans as a whole. I felt these negative generalizations being directed at me on occasion but in general still felt that most people in the area were eager to introduce themselves to me, hear my accent, and learn my story. 

And, as I ventured inland and away from the coast and its booming tourism industry, I found some of the warmest, most welcoming people I've ever encountered. Australia's inland territory is largely farmland, and I had the chance to stay with a family on their farm for a week. I can not speak highly enough of these people and am comfortable drawing an overwhelmingly positive generalization about Australians who do not spend each and every day dealing with often obnoxious American tourists.

2. Quality of Service

The inclusion of "quality of service" as a major talking point for a comparative reflection may at first seem strange, but rest assured I included this point for good reason. This has to be the most area of the most glaring contrast between Thailand and Australia, and an easy example to elaborate on this point can be found in the service at restaurants and bars. Let me start by saying that I feel, in general, service in America is excellent, if a bit forced at times. Tip-reliant waiters and bartenders are sure to be pleasant to customers in an effort to earn a healthy living. 

Thailand

Thai people do not generally receive tips from other Thai people. One might say there is no underlying expectation of a tip in Thailand, then, though this would likely ignore the undeniable expectation of Thai people that they will receive a tip from a Western tourist in exchange for good service. That being said, the story here is the size of the tip. When I visited Thailand I learned that a "good" tip is often less than 10%, with a few extra dollars (converted from Thai Baht) being more than sufficient to bring a huge smile to the server's face. Similar to my the way I felt welcomed as an American, I never felt as though my server was simply acting in an effort to earn extra money. Rather, I had the impression that the server was genuinely interested in making me happy. Again, a cynic might call it good acting, but I refuse to.

Rather extravagant services such as monkey photo ops do require a bit of a monetary contribution.

Shortly after this photo was taken, I bought a phenomenal Banana Nutella pancake from this man. We chatted for more than a few minutes and not once did money come up.

Australia

Service in Australian restaurants is awful certainly nowhere near as good as it is in America (or Thailand). Such a statement violates every rule of cultural development and exploration with its blanketed, overwhelmingly negative nature, but I'll be damned if it isn't close to the truth. I am willing to at least take one step back. I admittedly couldn't afford to dine in high end establishments very often in Australia because everything is so damn expensive (more on that later), and this may have somewhat contributed to the poor service quality I so often experienced. But, even when I spent $15 or more for a meal (which was most of the time if I was sitting down to eat), I felt as though I was nothing more than a burden to the server. The waitress would come by and give us menus, often without saying a word, and then carry on for any number of minutes as if we didn't exist. If we were lucky, he or she might come by once during the meal to refill our water. 

McDonald's may be self-service, but in Australia, it's not as if one is sacrificing a wonderful dining experience.

Australians do not receive any tips. Offering a server a tip is really a bit of an insult, and when I did make the mistake of doing so, the money I offered was rejected. I suppose this is nice in the sense that I knew how much I was going to spend going into the meal, but there is one glaring problem with this model. Servers have absolutely no incentive to provide great service. A waiter could spend thirty minutes writing down my customized order, insisting that the chef accommodate my every last wish, or that same waiter could give a simple "No" response to all of my requests - they're going to be paid the same in each case, so why bother with the extra effort? Writing this is a bit unnerving as I really do love Australian hospitality when it is present (and really it is most of the time), but the difference in general service quality between Thailand and Australia (as is the comparison here) is night and day. Australian restaurant owners, please find some way of incentivizing quality service!

3. Cost of Visiting

Thailand isn't necessarily cheap, but when compared to Australia, it certainly appears that way. Ridiculous currency fluctuation over the past few years and an inordinately high standard of living has rendered Australia and its major cities as some of the world's most expensive places to live. When one considers the relative weakness of the American dollar, things become even harder to manage.

Thailand

There are some wonderfully inexpensive pleasantries in Thailand. The most iconic of these would have to be the massage. Intense competition for massage business has driven the price of a 30 minute massage down to a few dollars which, when compared to the $60+ one could spend for the same service here, is an incredible bargain. Food is also extremely cheap, as is alcohol, thanks in some part to the aforementioned lack of significant tipping. Further, anything that the locals partake in is going to cheap as well. For example, public transportation or even taxis are inexpensive because locals wouldn't be afford to the same prices that we are accustomed to paying in the US.

Where things stray from their typically cheap tendencies is in activities that are particularly touristy in nature. Thai people, much like any other group, understand business and have recognized tourism as a very profitable industry. So, as a white tourist in Thailand, expect to pay for your ignorance and obvious unfamiliarity with the country.

These chairs look nice, right? Well we had to pay a few dollars to use them for the afternoon, so one would hope so.

A half-day trip of snorkeling, sightseeing and hiking set us back about $70 per person. Not so bad, but hardly cheap.

Australia

My wallet hurts when I think of my time spent in Australia. The primary reason for the ridiculous costs of visiting Australia can be identified through a glance at a historical currency exchange chart. As one can see below, there was a time in the not too distant past when a US Dollar was worth nearly 1.7 Australian dollars, and for most of the time before that the US Dollar was worth at least 1.25 Australian dollars. I visited Australia during mid-late 2012, where on average one of my dollars was worth about 95 Australian cents. So, right away it's apparent that things were almost twice as expensive when I visited than they had once been simply because of the strength of the Australian dollar. 

Source: XE Currency Chart

The standard of living in Australia is also astonishingly high, with minimum wages sitting well above ours (more than double in most cases). According to the Australian Government, the national minimum wage for adult workers with benefits and guaranteed employment is $16.37/hour. Those without benefits and guaranteed work (28% of the population) are guaranteed $20.30/hour. Those under the age of 20 are not promised quite as impressive pay, but when considers that the economy is almost exclusively controlled by adult spending, the message becomes clear: Australians make way more money per hour than we do. This of course translates to higher prices and higher taxes.

Bearing these two factors in mind, it becomes easier to comprehend how I spent $1200 in a weekend which included a budget 2.5 hour flight, a night in a middling hostel, and 2 nights crammed into the cabin of a catamaran. Granted we were sailing through arguably the most beautiful place in the world, the Whitsunday Islands of the Greater Barrier Reef, but still, it's not as though we were enjoying any particular amenities. 

Our Catamaran, Wings. There's beds for 26+4 crew, a kitchen, hot tub, and 3 bathrooms...wondering how it all fits? Me too.

Enjoying a beautiful sunset over the Reef

Interestingly, Australians don't see the strength of their currency as a point of pride. Rather, it poses a serious issue for the country's economy. The cost of labor is too high for Australians to justify, so many jobs are outsourced. Further, the cost of visiting the country has become so high that tourists have begun to shy away from what is already an expensive and long flight. As a result, the country has become extremely reliant on its booming mining business. However, mining by nature is a temporary revenue stream and as such economists fear the collapse of the economy is steps are not taken to reduce the strength of the Australian dollar, bring back tourists and currently outsourced jobs, and diversify the economy. 

Culminating Experience Reflection: Infrastructure - Contrasting Ghana and Singapore

"The trotro is an experience like no other. This is Ghana's attempt at public transportation, only it's entirely private. The lack of regulation means anyone can more or less get into the business. They just need to get their hands on an old van and have a "mate" to travel with. When I say old, by the way, I'm talking about vans that are often more than 40 years old. I'm yet to ride in one that had anything left on the inside but the sheetmetal itself. These vans are packed with people at all times and there is DEFINITELY no air conditioning, but hey, this all comes together to deliver what could possibly be the world's cheapest transportation system. If I wanted to, I could travel all the way to Ho, probably a 5 hour commute, for less than 5 cedis. That is less than $3. Granted, I might be uncomfortable on the way."

I wrote the above on June 24th, 2012 after about two weeks spent in Ghana. In retrospect, I question how I could have been so familiar with the country in such a short time. I remember moving a mile a minute during those first few weeks to experience as much as possible, though, which I believe explains the above.

The purpose of this reflection post is to compare not only the infrastructure of Ghana and Singapore (as experienced by me), but also to reflect on the observations I made in each country and add an additional layer of insight based on my thoughts today. My hope with this post is to compare three areas of infrastructure that were of particular relevance to me during my stay in each country:

1. Housing and its associated costs
2. City cleanliness
3. Transportation and its associated costs

1. Housing

Starting with the obvious, housing is at its basic level is far, far more developed and upscale in Singapore. However, Beyond this basic observation lies a wealth of interesting factors that give each country its own advantages and disadvantages. 

Ghana

If one were to live outside of Accra, Ghana's capital, their home would cost next to nothing. In reality, those living outside of Ghana's few cities build their own homes on non-zoned plots of land in a completely unregulated fashion. To that end, there is simply no way of pricing a home outside of the city. I will focus on Accra, then, as this is where I lived during my two months in Ghana and where I have the most familiarity.

My home in Accra

The first thing one might notice from the photo above is the amount of security surrounding the home. This highlights one key aspect of housing in Accra. It's easy to tell who is middle class or higher by the security surrounding their home. Any home without a gate and barbed wire is vulnerable to break-ins and thus signifies relative poverty. As I wrote in my original post, "[My] house is gated and the concrete walls surrounding the property are topped with barbed wire and shards of broken glass that were placed before the walls were completely hardened. Oh, and there’s a Rottweiler that lives exclusively outdoors for security purposes. The windows and doors are also backed with metal bars and the front door has 3 locks all moving in different directions."

Interestingly, a home like mine isn't really as cheap as you might expect. Joyce, the owner of the home and my host for the summer, explained that her 4 bed, 3 bath house would sell for more than $300,000 easily, and if she wanted to, she could even rent it for more than $3,000/month! The home was certainly nice on the inside and was convenient to the downtown area. That said, it also bordered one of Accra's major slums, which brought the price down.

Singapore

The housing situation in Singapore is nothing short of fascinating. To appropriately discuss Singaporean housing, one needs to first make clear the major distinction between Singapore's massive public housing units (HDBs) and the more traditional private housing market. HDB stands for Housing and Development Board, the government unit tasked with privating public housing for the majority of Singaporean locals. HDBs differ from public housing in other countries because their is no stigma of poverty associated with living in one. Rather, the cost of housing in Singapore is so astronomically high that even a small, basic HDB unit requires an individual to earn near or above the poverty line.

Where the numbers really get interesting is in the private housing market. Prepare to be blown away.

The apartment complex I stayed in while visiting Singapore

What would you expect the cost of a relatively nice, but relatively small high-rise apartment to cost in "suburban" Singapore? I put quotes around suburban because Singapore is really one endless metropolis. I'm referring to an area that requires a 15 or 20 minute drive to reach the downtown area.

Here's your answer as written in my original post: "Monthly rent for a reasonably nice apartment runs between $10-12,000. Houses can move closer to $25-30,000 in nicer areas." This obviously leaves Ghanaian housing looking dirt cheap. Bear in mind that Singapore was recently named the worst most expensive city, in no small part because of its housing prices (Read: lots of people, strong government presence, tiny amount of space).

2. Cleanliness

Ghana

I challenge you to look past any and all generalizations you may have formed about African living conditions before reading further.....Now that you've done that, I must unfortunately confess that, when it comes to cleanliness, Ghana has some serious problems. 

This is within a few minutes walking distance of our hotel, one of the nicest in the city.

Food isn't just hard to come by for people it seems. On the other hand, it might not be uncommon to see a pig do this in the U.S., either.

I remember the smell of my morning commute. As I stepped outside my door I was greeted by the rancid smell of hot waste - human and otherwise. Streets in Ghana are lined on both sides with open drainage ditches. Unfortunately, those who are less fortunate (or even simply less educated) use them as bathrooms. The abundance of farm animals living remarkably close to the city certainly contributed to the issue as well. Ghana's waste issues can be attributed to three key factors: education, poverty, and government planning. Obviously these three factors are highly interconnected. There is no central water plumbing system anywhere in Ghana. Toilets are built over holes in the ground and, once they fill up, people resort to using the bathroom in the streets. A lack of understanding about the impact of littering explains the horrific amount of trash that lines the roads and fills the ditches all over the country.

Singapore

Wow, prepare for a seriously different situation. Singapore is often heralded as the "cleanest city in the world," infamously known for its anti gum-chewing laws. Here's an excerpt from one of my original posts, written on August 25th, 2012. "It's amazing, really, how a place so crowded and busy can be so clean. Littering is fined heavily in Singapore, but the reality is that it's a cultural thing. The fine is $500 for littering, but the U.S. has pretty hefty fines for littering too, and from what I understand there really is no one there to enforce the littering laws of Singapore anyway. Even so, if a piece of trash falls to the ground, you're sure to see someone bending down to pick it up right away. That's a refreshing sight."

Whether walking or driving through Singapore, there is something strangely serene, yet almost bland, about the city. Everything is in perfect order it seems, reminding me eerily of the setting of The Truman Show. Here's another appropriate excerpt from that August post: "Facts and figures aside, the country is beautiful. There is no such thing as a pothole, and despite the skyscraping housing developments jamming as many people as possible into what little space there is, there is no shortage of "green" here. And I'm not talking about money this time - I mean plants and trees lining every road and building, keeping with the city's pride regarding its cleanliness."

One of the busiest spots in Singapore and not an ounce of trash in the river.

Even this high-traffic market street maintains a trash-free appearance.

3. Transportation and associated costs

Ghana

As you may recall from my introductory quote, trotros take the cake as the most dangerous, inexpensive, and entertaining/insane form of transportation in Ghana (if not the world). While I'd like to say I embraced the experience day in and day out, my commute lent itself to a more taxi-centric approach. While hopping in a taxi every morning in Boston might empty one's wallet quickly, the ridiculously low taxi prices in Ghana provide insight into two interesting aspects of the Ghanaian economy. The first is negotiation. If you end up paying 70% of what the driver initially asked for, you've failed. My white skin left me facing stiffer than normal prices, but with more than a month of daily price negotiations under my belt, I left the country proud of my ability to negotiate a 5 cedi fare in the morning. That amounts to about $2.80 for a 20 minute ride at peak times, if you're wondering. This is the second aspect of the economy that taxi prices exemplify. Transportation throughout the country is astonishingly, ridiculously inexpensive IF you don't mind having someone ELSE drive you. Buy your own car and you'll suffer some extremely high import duties and be forced to pay high gas prices. My advice? Let the taxi driver bear the brunt of high gas prices and pay the $2 to have him drive you where you want to go. The roads are pothole ridden and overrun with traffic for most of the day anyway, so its not as if there's much incentive to get behind the wheel.

One of the aforementioned trotros. Judging by the amount of gear it's carrying, this one's likely inbound from well outside the city.

Our street at dusk. You can see the fire on the right.

Singapore

Housing prices in Singapore may be absurdly high, but it is my humble opinion that transportation costs are even more astounding. Surely this was the factor that put Singapore above Tokyo, London, and Copenhagen as the world's priciest place to live. You see, the Singaporean government has taken a unique approach to driving in the country. The country is no democracy, and the government has declared it a privilege, not a right to drive. What exactly does this mean in practice you might ask. Essentially, the government has established an auction style permit system in which there are only a limited number of car registration permits available each year. As demand increases, the prices do too. The prices continue to rise until each registration permit has been sold at the highest possible price. In 2013, the permit just to put a car on the road cost $65,000 USD!!! 

Here are some interesting figures from my original post on the issue: "The cost of registering a single vehicle: Minimum of $65,000 (registration lasts for 10 years)

Then, one must pay import taxes at around 100% of the vehicle's cost.

The result? A Honda Odyssey becomes a $160,000 car. An Audi S5? $275,000

The prices go up with increases in engine size, too, so Ferrari's flirt with a $1,000,000 price tag. And despite all of this, not a minute of driving goes by without seeing a Lamborgini, Maserati, or some other exotic ride, and Mercedes and Audi are more common than Toyota and Hyundai (well, not including taxis)." This may come as no surprise when one realizes that Singapore is the world's wealthiest nation per capita, with 17% of its resident population being millionaires.

With driving costs being so unbelievably high, Singapore would face a serious problem if it weren't for its incredibly efficient and reasonably priced subway system - the MRT. It is quite literally newsworthy if a train arrives more than a minute off-schedule and, as expected, the trains and stations are impeccably clean and well-maintained.

Conclusions

In a sense, Ghana and Singapore represent opposite extremities when it comes to successful infrastructural development. However, the success of Singapore has not come without limitations, evidenced by the need for heavy government involvement (and in return, high taxes) due to the pricing crisis surrounding vehicles and housing. Ultimately, the country has recognized that drastic measures are necessary to manage the country's large population and booming economy within such a small space. A lack of corruption and advanced education system has made this possible. Ghana, on the other hand, suffers from a severe lack of government involvement in the country's infrastructure. The result is a rather embarrassing waste issue, poverty-driven crime which has lead to increased housing prices in safer areas (and severe dips in unsafe areas without proper security), and a desperate workforce willing to drive you where you need to go for less than it would cost for you to get there on your own.

Simple Stuff: Photos from Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Taking the advice of mom, something I wouldn't dare admit doing under normal circumstances of course, I've decided to keep this post simple so I can share in a more timely manner. I recently had the chance to visit Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Bond University's dime, having won two free passes in a photo competition. The sanctuary is really an amazing place and was a pleasant surprise. I had been under the impression that there would be little more than kangaroos and koalas to see, which there were plenty of, but the diversity of animals to be found could easily have been classified as 'zooworthy'.

Beyond all of the animals, Currumbin is home to an extensive ropes course. With three increasingly difficult stages lasting about 1.5 hours in total, Melissa and I were exhausted by days end. But, we left with a feeling of accomplishment and to my pleasant surprise, standing on a platform at least 50 feet in the air at times secured by nothing more than two ropes and a harness (which needed to be removed and transferred in between obstacles, one rope at a time) barely even caused me any worry. Just months ago I insist that these heights would have had me on the verge of tears, my lifelong fear of heights getting the best of me. I credit my reckless canopy walk in Ghana and the abundance of roller coasters I've ridden in recent years for giving me the confidence boost. This said, I still get the chills when I consider the inevitable bungee jump and/or skydive of the coming months.

And that's all I have to say, really. Enjoy the photos. Many of them are up there with my favorites to date (I have a bias towards animals).

A quite clearly upset Geico mascot.

How is this not fake?

Ambushed by a vicious python.

Stars of the show.

This is the expected behavior at all times unfortunately.

Thanks Melissa for the encouragement. She insisted I change to my macro lens to get an extreme close up of the bird and having been convinced, I have to say I'm thrilled with the outcome.

Same same.

Meditation.

I would have more koala photos but this one become quite aggressive and attacked! As seen in the photo above of course.

Aussie's raise their kids right. Teaching the little one how to hunt for Thanksgiving early on (so what if that's an American holiday...)

Echidna.

Roo is inspecting our food bag.

Hard to capture but I managed once, luckily - Joey popping his head out.

That big fellow in the foreground is about my height when standing on his hind legs.

In rehab for a drug problem.

These guys live the life. They get handfed all day long.

Trying to pick a fight with me perhaps?

I got on his good side soon enough.

Poses by both parties, rare.

Friends.

Someone should really tell this Joey it's time to get out of his mom's pouch...no?

Reminds me of a certain dog back home.

Classic animal move.

One of my favorites, I'm far better at animal portraits than human ones.

The feeding trough, as if handfeeding wasn't enough.

The babies were far easier to startle, so getting them to come close wasn't all that easy.

But I'm a real charmer you know.

The other drug buddy in rehab.

Another favorite, I like the greens in the background.

In for the kiss

Saying hello to the little guy.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed them and if you already saw all of these on Facebook, I apologize for the repetition. Back to studying.