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Lonely Planet releases list of the world's unsung places. Is this a good thing?
As someone who strives to open windows into distant corners of the world by way of being a travel blogger, I feel just a twinge of guilt whenever I write about a place.It's the oldest crux in travel. Find a little-visited, exotic corner of the world, have an immensely good time, word gets out, the spot eventually gains notoriety and with its newfound popularity the charm that it once held is lost in a sea of growth and exploitation. Granted, tourism is a massive economic stimulator and a boon for local economies, but that's an entirely different discussion.
Two examples:
- Koh Chang, Thailand, in 2009 and Koh Chang, Thailand, in 2011 may as well be two completely different islands. In the span of only two years this once-sleepy island went from having a few options to grab a beer at night to being a full-blown version of Pattaya or Phuket. There are now so many beach bars on Koh Chang -- their interiors flush with hedonistic red lights and "girls" with ulterior motives -- that the supply far outweighs the demand. In 2009 I sung the praises of Koh Chang. Many of my friends then visited. I feel like an accomplice to murder.
- Machu Picchu, Peru. It's unarguably a wonder of ancient humanity and for years sat forgotten in the mists of the Andes. Now it's understandably on many a traveler's "bucket list," which is probably why after rising at 3 a.m. to climb a grueling, switchbacking mountainside in the dark I was met at dawn by a tour bus, which literally belched black smoke in my face the second I conquered the top of the trail.
It's with this trepidation I mention that Lonely Planet has released a new list of 10 of the world's unsung places. I've visited a few of them, and while all good choices, the underlying theme is that you want to visit these spots because they don't have as many people as that spot over there (see: Utrecht vs. Amsterdam, Meknès vs. Marrakesh).
Nonetheless, it's an inspiring list, which, for better or for worse, makes me want to travel there right now, before anyone else does.
Filed under: Budget Travel
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Trans-Amercias Journey Mar 16th 2012 10:35AM
A good part of our Trans-Americas Journey 200,000 mile working road trip through North, Central and South America (and our previous years-long travels through South Asia) involves stumbling upon "unsung places." We tell our readers about many of them. But some destinations strike us as too ill-equipped, too fragile to make the transition from "unsung" to "sung." And then there are those destinations we selfishly keep to ourselves, guarding the secret like travel nirvana.
Our approach may not be perfect, but we believe it strikes a balance between our desire to inspire and inform curious travel and the interests of the destinations we publicize. Sung vs. unsung is a sticky issue that has to be navigated on a case by case basis, even a traveler by traveler basis...
This LP list begs a more basis question, however: when you put a destination on a list of unsung places, doesn't that make it a sung destination?
dave stamboulis Mar 19th 2012 5:51AM
actually, Koh Chang has been destroyed due to the ex PM's wish to turn it into another Phuket or Samui but "done right" cash cow for him and his cronies. While the done right part never happened, K Chang went from being a quieter backpacker's isle to a 5 star resort island with 24 hour construction and sold its entire soul in the process.
Then again, this seems to be the process on all the Thai islands, nearby Koh Mak seemed spared the Koh Chang style destruction, but in the past few years has seen the Sheraton buy up a peninsula, prices go through the roof, and a massive construction boom, along with the arrival of ATM's and a 7-11. Koh Lipe in the deep south, while nowhere near K Chang's development level, has also gone from a pristine unsung spot to a very overcrowded spot, albeit still somewhat pristine.