The world is flat. The world is small. The world is at our fingertips. We have real-time face to face Skype conversations across the oceans. We "chat" with friends in Europe, Asia and the Americas on a daily basis. We follow the news on the European debt crisis and the air quality in Beijing and we know that all of these things affect us personally.
In Saigon Gucci competes with Pho 24 for our attention. Christian Louboutin sells $700 shoes next door to a counter that sells Rolex knockoffs for under $100. Almost anywhere in the world we can find a more or less homogeneous urban scene. Countries retain their traditions and cultures and on the street the scene can look very indigenous but at the top of the economic ladder, in the center of the largest cities, things start to look very familiar. Brands are global. Half of the world is wearing Nike shoes and baseball caps. Coke and Pepsi are the beverages of choice. Kids in Saigon dream of having their birthday parties at KFC, and there are half a dozen glitzy Vietnamese magazines devoted to fashion and the high life with "golf" in their titles.
I understand the Vietnamese yearning to succeed. They're hard after it. They're out early and work late. They save. They invest in their children. They want the stuff that signifies they've made it but if they can't have it they're willing to sacrifice so that their children can. The grand bargain in Vietnam is that if the parents sacrifice for the children the children will take care of them later. There is no Social Security system in Vietnam. The family is their retirement plan.
The world is indeed small and flat and Vietnamese graduates are competing with Western graduates for jobs on both sides of the ocean. Vietnam is still a developing country and the education system is woefully inadequate. Still, many Western colleges and universities are building satellite branches in Saigon and Hanoi. They recognize the Vietnamese thirst for education and their drive to succeed and prosper.
Many of us regret the Vietnamese rush to emulate the West. Beautiful French colonial buildings are demolished to make way for steel and glass high rises. There is no great affection for the French or their buildings but the demolition is a bargain with the devil. What goes up in its place is a soulless 21st century architecture that has no respect for the past, the culture, or history of the place. When the Berlin Wall came down and the East was opened up, the city of Berlin was careful to maintain and restore many of the rundown old buildings while encouraging new architecture and a mixture of styles. In Saigon and Hanoi it's all about cost per square meter. It's all about money.
The world is flat, but a horizon without features isn't very interesting.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
America in Decline
I often describe myself a short term pessimist and long term optimist. I try to think positively about people and the world. I've been traveling almost constantly since 1965 and I've seen a lot of changes in the places I've lived and visited. I've come to think that airports are metaphors for their countries.
Last Wednesday I took the red-eye from Saigon to Seoul, had an 11 hour layover in the airport and then continued on to Seattle. It was midnight when we left Saigon but the Illy espresso bar was open. The cafe was stylishly modern and the clientele a mix of Asian, European, and American types. It could have been anywhere. It's that way in most international airports these days. I can remember when Tan Son Nhat airport was a couple of one story wooden buildings. Now it's all glass and marble high rise with luxury brand boutiques and world cuisine. It's 36 years since the Vietnam War ended and the victorious communist north has fallen in line with the rest of the capitalist consumer world. I wonder what Uncle Ho would think?
In the last year I have been in a dozen airports - Saigon, Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Pnom Penh, Johannesburg, Capetown, Doha, Seoul, San Francisco, and Seattle - maybe more. If airports are any indication America is a third world country. It is embarrassing. The buildings are rundown, the baggage systems are slow and inconvenient, signage is confusing, there are few moving walkways, distances to gates are long, escalators are narrow, elevators are hard to find, and information services nowhere to be found. On top of that baggage carts are small, poorly designed, cost $4, and can't be taken to most of the areas in the airport whereas carts in other countries are sturdy, free, and can actually be used to get your luggage to the taxi stand or curb. Foreigners arriving in America don't understand. The cart dispensers require dollars or a credit card, the instructions are all in English, and there is no place to get either money or change. It's embarrassing.
In the Seattle airport the baggage carousels are so poorly designed that the bags have to be lifted up and out of a revolving tray. I watched a half dozen women try to get their bags over the lip of the carousel last week only to lose their grip and watch their bags continue around again. Most modern baggage delivery systems are flat so that the bags can slide off the belt - but not in the US.
If you want to see the best in airports you should visit Seoul. It's beautiful, it's functional and it's designed to meet traveler's needs. In the transit area, if you're connecting to another flight, there is a hotel. There are free showers, lounge chairs that let you rest (sleep) comfortably, a massage service, airline lounges that only charge $20 bucks, plus all the usual luxury brand and world food choices. The boarding lounges are large and recognize that jumbo jets carry lots of passengers that need to be accommodated before and after the flight. The chairs in the lounges are cushioned and flat, so that passengers can stretch out if it's uncrowded. I've never understood it but US airports are designed as if there is a security concern if people want to sleep so the chairs are designed to be uncomfortable for more than a short rest and don't allow one to lie down comfortably.
There's a lot to be said for building from the ground up. It was easier to rebuild in Europe after the war because it was from the ground up. And, it is easier to build a new airport than to remodel an existing one, but when the light rail systems in Seattle and New York were built recently neither one connected conveniently to the center of the airport. In Seattle the light rail passengers disembark and have to walk with their luggage through the parking garage to get to the actual airport building. Now really.
As I watch the ridiculous Republican candidate debates and hear them all talk about how America is the greatest country in the world I wonder how many of them know the truth. America is actually in decline. Our airports are just a metaphor for the decline. Our roads and bridges are falling apart, our train system is bankrupt and in shambles, our cities are crime ridden, the NY subway system is 100 years old, and there are homeless people in parking lots and doorways all over the country. Let's stop fooling ourselves; America is in decline and if we want to reverse the trend we need to bite the bullet, acknowledge the cost, pay the taxes and start to fix things. Just do it.
Last Wednesday I took the red-eye from Saigon to Seoul, had an 11 hour layover in the airport and then continued on to Seattle. It was midnight when we left Saigon but the Illy espresso bar was open. The cafe was stylishly modern and the clientele a mix of Asian, European, and American types. It could have been anywhere. It's that way in most international airports these days. I can remember when Tan Son Nhat airport was a couple of one story wooden buildings. Now it's all glass and marble high rise with luxury brand boutiques and world cuisine. It's 36 years since the Vietnam War ended and the victorious communist north has fallen in line with the rest of the capitalist consumer world. I wonder what Uncle Ho would think?
In the last year I have been in a dozen airports - Saigon, Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Pnom Penh, Johannesburg, Capetown, Doha, Seoul, San Francisco, and Seattle - maybe more. If airports are any indication America is a third world country. It is embarrassing. The buildings are rundown, the baggage systems are slow and inconvenient, signage is confusing, there are few moving walkways, distances to gates are long, escalators are narrow, elevators are hard to find, and information services nowhere to be found. On top of that baggage carts are small, poorly designed, cost $4, and can't be taken to most of the areas in the airport whereas carts in other countries are sturdy, free, and can actually be used to get your luggage to the taxi stand or curb. Foreigners arriving in America don't understand. The cart dispensers require dollars or a credit card, the instructions are all in English, and there is no place to get either money or change. It's embarrassing.
In the Seattle airport the baggage carousels are so poorly designed that the bags have to be lifted up and out of a revolving tray. I watched a half dozen women try to get their bags over the lip of the carousel last week only to lose their grip and watch their bags continue around again. Most modern baggage delivery systems are flat so that the bags can slide off the belt - but not in the US.
If you want to see the best in airports you should visit Seoul. It's beautiful, it's functional and it's designed to meet traveler's needs. In the transit area, if you're connecting to another flight, there is a hotel. There are free showers, lounge chairs that let you rest (sleep) comfortably, a massage service, airline lounges that only charge $20 bucks, plus all the usual luxury brand and world food choices. The boarding lounges are large and recognize that jumbo jets carry lots of passengers that need to be accommodated before and after the flight. The chairs in the lounges are cushioned and flat, so that passengers can stretch out if it's uncrowded. I've never understood it but US airports are designed as if there is a security concern if people want to sleep so the chairs are designed to be uncomfortable for more than a short rest and don't allow one to lie down comfortably.
There's a lot to be said for building from the ground up. It was easier to rebuild in Europe after the war because it was from the ground up. And, it is easier to build a new airport than to remodel an existing one, but when the light rail systems in Seattle and New York were built recently neither one connected conveniently to the center of the airport. In Seattle the light rail passengers disembark and have to walk with their luggage through the parking garage to get to the actual airport building. Now really.
As I watch the ridiculous Republican candidate debates and hear them all talk about how America is the greatest country in the world I wonder how many of them know the truth. America is actually in decline. Our airports are just a metaphor for the decline. Our roads and bridges are falling apart, our train system is bankrupt and in shambles, our cities are crime ridden, the NY subway system is 100 years old, and there are homeless people in parking lots and doorways all over the country. Let's stop fooling ourselves; America is in decline and if we want to reverse the trend we need to bite the bullet, acknowledge the cost, pay the taxes and start to fix things. Just do it.
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