Where are you from... really?

Saturday May 12, 2011

The people of the Middle East are the friendliest folks you'd ever hope to meet. Strangers will willingly help you, welcome you, and invite you to their homes. As a foreigner you could not travel to a more amiable region.

However there is an odd phenomenon that I have encountered on my journeys to Arabia, the Levant and Iran, which I never experience in Europe, Asia or North America. Ninety five percent of my conversations in the Middle East would begin like this:

local: Hello, welcome to (this country). Where are you from?
me: Australia.
local: [looks confused] No, where are you originally from?

How does one answer that? I'm very proud of my Korean heritage and have nothing to hide in that respect, but I'm also very proud to be Australian. And this question is a rejection of my first answer, a denial of my nationality.

Me and Eli, our driver in Lebanon

Don't get me wrong, this is a VERY minor inconvenience. I would much rather have this problem than be a person of South Asian appearance constantly being picked for "random" searches at airports (like Sharukh Khan), or, heaven forbid, be an Indigenous Australian traveller having to bear the heartbreak of being asked "No, where you originally from?"

Obviously the typical person in the Middle East does not know enough about Australia to understand that it is a multicultural nation, and follows an explicit policy of multiculturalism. The irony is, of course, that the countries in the Middle East are some of the most ethnically diverse in the world - an Israeli could be of Jewish, Arab, Armenian or Ethiopian ethnicity; an Iranian could be Persian, Kurdish, Arab, or any number of other ethnic backgrounds.

Of course, the local in this situation is being hospitable and does not mean to cause any offence. And while I would like to make the person realise that the question is inappropriate, I'm not in the habit of picking confrontations with locals while I'm a visitor to their country.

Me and Adam at Qadisha Valley, Lebanon

So while I would love to come back with "Excuse me, would you ask a black American which part of Africa they originally came from?" or "Why do you not ask my lilly white companion Adam which part of Europe he is originally from?", most of the time I would tell them what they expect to hear.

But many times, when I think it's not too blunt, I would educate by letting them know that Australia has peoples of many colours, just like Britain or the United States. I hope that piece of information would plant a seed in their mind about what multiculturalism means, and contribute in a small way to future peace in this region.

Two Kebabs in Old Istanbul

Friday April 27, 2012


Thanks to the terrific folks at the Istanbul Eats blog I visited some of the best eateries in the Old Town in Istanbul. These places were unknown by tourists and obscure to even many locals.

Read more at the KebabQuest blog...

Two Things I Didn't Know About Gallipoli

Tuesday April 17, 2012

ANZAC Cove, Turkey

In recent years there's been an explosion of Australian and Kiwi visitors to the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. As such I won't go over the usual ground of how solemn and sad the place is. But there were two major points I learnt on my excursion there:

1. TRENCHES ARE STILL THERE
Before the trip, in Gallipoli I expected to see memorials, cemeteries, and the coastline of the landing. But I had no idea that the trenches from that horrendous World War I campaign still remain in full view. After almost 100 years of erosion they're not as deep as they originally were, but are still surprisingly distinct - you can't miss it.

ANZAC communication tunnel, in the trenches

Seeing the Allied and Turkish trenches within just metres of each other sent a chill down my spine. Both sides would shoot at each other, then would throw each other cigarettes and snacks during the quiet times. For all the visitors it was a vivid visual aid in imagining what the terrible battle conditions were like.

ANZAC trenches

2. IMPACT ON TURKEY 

Hill 971 (Kocaçimentepe) - the highest point on the
peninsula which the Turks crucially held for the
entire campaign except for two days, when Kiwi
troops temporarily intruded.
In the background is an Ataturk statue.

As a kid growing up in Australia we're taught thoroughly about the contribution of the Gallipoli campaign to our national consciousness. However I didn't realise that the defence of the peninsula had an even more profound impact on the identity of modern Turkey.

As the Ottoman Empire declined the British and French thought it would be just a matter of time before they could swoop in and conquer, like they had for the rest of the Middle East. The under-resourced Turks were the massive underdog when the Allies started their advance into Turkey.

The incredible defence of their homeland against all odds in the bloody Gallipoli Campaign impacted on the Turkish national psyche in an immeasurable way. It was a boost to its self esteem that allowed it to take on the modern world with its head held high.

The Gallipoli campaign made the Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal Ataturk a national hero. He eventually became the first President of Turkey, and set its course as a modern secular democracy. Airports, bridges, and streets are named Ataturk; his statues are everywhere; every Turkish banknote bears his portrait.

We should be taught this in Australian schools. The Turkish people shed just as many tears for Gallipoli as we do.

Ataturk quotation commemorating lost lives on the Allied side.

Statue depicting Turkish soldier carrying wounded Allied soldier across No Man's Land