Travel contains complex pitfalls and
challenges for a writer. It has been said that a writer needs to have a deep
sense of place in order to write well about it. Louise Erdrich, Richard Ford, and John Updike are just a few examples that come to mind It can take many years to understand a place well enough to write convincingly about. When you visit
a new place you usually don’t have that much time. Still, it’s easy to get seduced by
this exotic new land full of strange new foods, customs, and peculiarities. When this happens there’s a danger of losing your voice
and becoming a touristy write
But it must be said that when you visit a new place you experience it with fresh
sensibilities. When I first came to Thailand I was amazed to see entire
families on motor scooters. Sometimes I’d see a father, young child, baby, and
mother at the rear. JoAnn and I playfully dubbed these “four-tops” and were
delighted whenever we saw one. But after being in Chiang Mai for three weeks I noticed that my amazement at this phenomenon began to fade. A whole family on a motor scooter? Oh yeah, that's pretty cool. I started
taking it for granted. I wonder if there’s a way to reconcile these two dichotomies—exotic newness
with deep knowledge?
