There are two types of travelers, the tourist on a prepackaged tour and the traveler who makes their own itinerary. On a recent trip to Thailand my wife and I had a chance to do both and noticed significant differences in what we saw and how the locals treated us. We saw traditional dances and rituals made into performance for tourists. That is, they had been shortened--the real ritual too slow or too long--or had been enhanced in some way to appeal to our tastes.

Food is also often changed to suit. After a few banquets put on by tourist hosts in Thailand, we decided that while the food was spicy, it still quite agreeable to our palates. We decided to get away and try a local restaurant in Bangkok, going to a small place that obviously did not cater to the tourist. Just to be on the safe side we asked for the meal to be toned down in chili and spice. One mouthful and mama-- was it hot! We literally could not eat more than two small mouthfuls. A whole branch of pepper and assorted chilis were found at the bottom of the dish. This is local cuisine. Food is an essential part of life as are rituals, customs and beliefs. If food is changed to cater to us, then what else is?

Many of the so-called traditions that are shown to the tourist are a small part of the culture -- often a culture long-since gone. Places such as Thailand, China and Indonesia have been industrialised for some time. Much of the population lives in the city and works in computerised offices and so forth, as we do.

However, we can hardly expect the airlines and tourist companies to promote sameness. And they do not disappoint us. For example, Japan is one of the world's richest countries, yet a recent airline advertisement invites us to join in a centuries-old Tea Ceremony. This is akin to Australians advertising themselves as rugged bushmen or to Americans presenting themselves as wearers of ten gallon hats -- of course some do, but very few of us live that way.

A woman travel writer in 1902 wrote about a rickshaw ride, "You own the whole world. You have a man - a flesh and blood man - running in harness." Perhaps the woman enjoyed the novelty of power that generally women did not have in their homeland.

Do we still feel the same? Do we enjoy getting away from our generally subservient lives of employment and home mortgages and into a position of power, where we can have what we want due to our relative economic strength? Is it a form of neo-colonialism?

Our fellow tourists were delighted to bargain down the price for commodities. The Thai business owners probably considered this by setting prices higher to start with. However, the utter distress of our fellow westerners who were 'gypped' because they did not haggle was way out of proportion to what they had lost. The tourists that were 'done over' had paid the equivalent of 2 American dollars rather than the normal $0.50 for a T-shirt. In Australia, the same T-shirt would have cost at least $10.

Of course, the tourist can often be a spectacle too. Unfortunately, it is not always flattering (think of a stereotypical loud American tourist in Australia - fairly or not, most Australians would shudder at the thought). The locals in Kandy, Sri Lanka cannot understand why tourists allow themselves to be kept imprisoned in busses, let out occasionally to buy things before being herded back onto their mobile prison.

In Sri Lanka, coastal hotels made for the tourist have meant local fishermen have lost their livelihood. Guards to protect tourists patrol the now private beachfronts.

To get our tourist dollar, the native to a certain extent must be subservient to us. For poorer communities, sometimes the tourist dollar is all they have economically. Are we helping to trap them into that position? Can we really expect exotic traditions to go on forever? Our recent trip to Thailand also involved visiting a Karen tribe near Chiang Mai. We were assured that they were living the traditional village life -- although that probably had more to do with the fact that in Thailand they are marginalised and do not have the same opportunities as their Thai counterparts. When Australia promotes the Aboriginal culture, they often do not speak of their interaction with the European, but rather promote them in a timeless state as they were before 1788.

Not only are the locals expected to be the same, but also many tourists expect to be transformed with the new experience. The reality may well be that the tourist once returned home has changed little, while the culture they have just left is changed greatly from what it was before the advent of the tourist. For example, few of the tourists on our tour could speak Thai, yet most Thais that we met could speak English, German and French. The things easiest to sell to the tourist were the things that we had prejudged to be there. Therefore, local relying on us to survive give a view of their culture that we expected, not necessarily of their true culture.

Most of our time was spent with other tourists and not with the locals. For the second half of our visit we decided to ditch our tour and travel on our own. The experience without tour guides and hotels was much more educational and fun. Most of our enthralling encounters and fondest memories were from the second half of our holiday.

There is a theory that by traveling the world different cultures meet and learn to understand each other. The fact that dances and the selling of souvenirs for tourists are produced to make money means they often are only marginally authentic. For example, woodcarvings have to be small enough to fit in a suitcase, but not all customs only produce small works of art. These larger works of art often are not made anymore.

Although tourism has its place in world trade and for the enjoyment for those that can afford it, there are large questions surrounding where it leaves the locals, especially if those locals are in relatively poor countries. The power of cultural imperialism to take over the local traditional culture is a sad reality in many parts of the world. There needs to be some form of "alternative" tourism. For example, eco- tourism has done a lot for the tourists' awareness of the environment. Perhaps a true cultural tourism where the tourist yields rather than the local is needed.

When we see a documentary of another culture, often the documentary maker tries to avoid playing a part. That is, they are attempting to view objectively. Perhaps, the future tourist trade could be made for like-minded travelers rather than the 'tour bus' imposing culture. However, there is no need to feel guilty, or cancel your plans to travel overseas -- just do your bit for international relations by considering your hosts ... and perhaps by ditching the tourist trail and blazing your own.

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[Carl Spears is a Sydney, Australian writer. Readers are invited to send comments to SeeingRed or to Carl directly.]

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