Episode 18 The Travel Show

Rumah panjai, or longhouses, have been home to the Iban tribe for centuries.

But how does my family feel about them becoming a tourist attraction?

Coming up on the programme this week...

I take a trip down memory lane in Borneo to ask my family

about how they feel about sharing their lifestyles with tourists,

Christa reports on the growing bar wars between Melbourne

and Sydney finding out where the hippest drinkers hang out...

..we hear the tale of the tourist

who uncovered a shrewd scam in Barcelona...

..and we head to Estonia to join a folk song face-off Baltic style.

Hello and welcome to The Travel Show with me, Henry Golding.

This week, I'm in the island of Borneo in Malaysia.

It's renowned for its rainforest, wildlife and stunning coastal lines,

and it's also a home to many indigenous tribes

and for tourists visiting,

sometimes those tribes are just a photo opportunity.

But, really, is your holiday helping preserve their way of life,

or are you threatening it?

I've come back

to my roots to find out.

There are more than 370 million indigenous peoples

currently living in about 90 countries around the world.

And a growing number of tourists want to visit them.

But is indigenous tourism a one-sided deal

or can it be of mutual benefit?

I myself am from the Iban tribe here in the state of Sarawak.

It's the largest of all the ethnic groups,

making up 30% of the population here.

We have our own language as well as a unique way of life.

My family are often visited by tourists, who come here to

experience a piece of authentic tribal living,

and although I grew up in London, this still feels like home to me.

-Hello.

-Hello. Hello, hello.

This is my uncle - a real true jungle man.

He's going to be teaching me a thing or two about the Iban way of living.

What are we going to do today?

'Spending time in the jungle with my family feels very special,

'and it's a sad fact

'that most of the world's estimated 5,000 indigenous cultures

'face challenges.

'Denial of land rights, racism,

'are issues that many of them struggle with

'and although they make up 5% of the world's population,

'they constitute 15% of the world's poor.'

Try. Oh, no teeth!

'Here in Sarawak, deforestation rates

'are some of the highest in Asia,

'And as the jungle habitat changes,

'so does the Iban people's way of life.

'But one thing that keeps the community together is food.

Wow! That one's huge!

'A lot of the traditional Iban diet is either foraged

'or grown right at the back yard -

'everything from young shoots to sweet potatoes and fruit.'

Another one as well. Endless!

So this is the bamboo itself.

And we're looking for the young supple bamboo,

so something that's still very fresh

and we don't want the old stuff because that will burn on the fire.

We want it just to simmer and withstand that heat

so it can cook the insides.

It should be fine.

'After preparing all the food and loading it into the bamboo,

'it's time to get cooking.'

This is my dearest mum.

-I want to teach Henry how to cook.

-I know. Is this good?

-This is the rice inside here...with the coconut.

-OK, perfect.

-So is this the way you that used to cook as a child?

-Yes.

My dad used to teach me, and my grandad as well.

-So do you think that tourism's actually good for the Iban?

-Yes.

Because if no tourists, the generation would be dying

to know how to cook.

-And we need tourists to share the Iban experience of years ago.

-Mm.

'For the Iban, and many other cultures around the world,

'indigenous tourism can be a real incentive

'for preserving and passing on their traditions.'

Try that.

Wow! That's nice! I smell bamboo as well.

'But this kind of tourism can only work

'if it's done respectfully, with the local community in mind.

'And an integral part of any community is its local market.

'People come here from all over the area to buy and sell

'everything from the ordinary to the not so ordinary.'

A-ha! Now, these are sago worms. Look how many there are.

Usually you'll find some poor contestant on a reality show

trying to wolf one of these down

but here in Sarawak, for the Iban, they're a bit of a delicacy.

They're found in rotting wood and they're packed full of protein.

And they're not too bad. Very juicy.

But I don't think a lot of people back home would enjoy these. But I love 'em.

Hi, Anna. How are you?

'I leave the market to visit my cousin Anna.

'She lives with her family in an old traditional longhouse,

'which is a row of houses connected by one large roof

'and a communal veranda running through the entire front.

'Not so long ago, extended families of up to 30 people

'would live in each of these longhouses.'

Hello...

'Now only Anna and her immediate family are left.'

-This is all just broken, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-All rotted away.

-Yeah.

There's holes in the roof...

Last time there are seven family members here.

-Seven family members?

-Mm. Five children and a mum.

-Yeah. But now they've moved away?

-Yeah.

I can see people, they're more into modernisation

so those old teachings and cultures, they're dying away.

But I don't feel them bothering me and my family.

I always welcome them. To me it's quite OK.

At least they're interested in what the Iban is.

'For me, tourism is a fantastic way to bring much-needed money

'and attention to the Iban.

'I know how hard life can be for many of my relatives here,

'but we're also a fiercely proud and independent lot who won't react

'kindly to this way of life being turned into a sideshow for tourists.

'I hope that the Iban and other indigenous tribes

'around the world get the balance right, and learn to

'live alongside tourists, rather than surviving because of them.'

And if you're thinking of visiting indigenous cultures, here's

a few suggestions about where to go

and how to make the best of your visit.

Always ask before taking photos,

wherever you're visiting.

People may feel exploited or even offended if you start

snapping away with your camera without asking permission first.

Remember to take the time to show the locals the photos

once you've taken them.

If you want a souvenir, try and buy

from local markets and vendors.

This will help maintain jobs,

and means your money will go directly to the community.

And some indigenous communities offer homestays to tourists -

the chance to stay with a local family and experience their culture.

This is also a good way of ensuring your money goes to the community,

but check the local customs before you arrive.

In some places, tipping is expected,

whereas other hosts may find that rude.

Next up, our animated adventure.

This week's true story comes from David Allen in New York,

who found himself uncovering a tourist scam in Barcelona.

There's a great museum in Barcelona devoted to Pablo Picasso,

a Museo Picasso,

and Kate, my wife, although she was my girlfriend

at the time, and I had just walked out of that museum and noticed

a crowd of people standing around watching a street vendor.

We moved closer, as if pulled in by some kind of tourist tractor beam.

What the guy was selling were these dancing cardboard cut-outs.

They were in the image of Disney characters

and other cartoons, and each cut-out had two legs made of coloured yarn

and little black magnets for feet.

They were dancing to the tune of the beat

coming out of his cassette boombox.

They were cute, these little cardboard Bart Simpsons

and Pokemons, bopping back and forth and he demonstrated them -

when he stopped the music, they stopped dancing.

When he started the music, they started again.

It was right before Christmas.

He was making a killing with these magical copyright-flaunting

stocking-stuffers.

The people in the semicircle around him were thrusting money at the guy.

"Homer Simpson, por favor!"

"Yo quiero SpongeBob SquarePants!"

But when Kate reached for her wallet to get a couple of them

for her brother, I told her to hold on.

I squatted down and squinted at the cardboard cartoons

as they jerked on their little string legs to the beat of the music.

Suddenly, I was staring at the guy's legs, so I looked up.

"No, no, no, no!", he shouted at me.

He waved his finger in my face.

That's when I knew something was rotten in Denmark.

I might have given up if he hadn't done that,

but it was the glove slap across the cheek,

the gauntlet thrown down -

I now had to prove it was a scam.

He walked off to go help an eager buyer throwing cash at him,

and I gingerly stepped to the edge of the semicircle of people.

I put my head so close to the wall

that I could see behind the dancing Disneys -

AND behind his boombox.

Behind the boombox, a little plastic stick moved back and forth.

From the end of the stick I followed a nearly invisible line

of fishing wire to where it attached to the wall.

Lisa Simpson and SpongeBob were hanging on the wire,

the stick moved to the beat of the music.

It was as ingenious as it was fraudulent.

I stood up and shouted above the music and the tourists

and announced, "It's a scam!

"They're dancing on fishing wire, it's a scam!"

The crowd froze in place,

except for the motion of reinserting euros back into their wallets,

and the scammer angrily stopped the music

and threw his tiny dancers to the ground in a huff.

He angrily stared at me as I walked across his little stage area,

smugly smiling back at him and into the crowd.

No-one thanked me, but that didn't hurt.

What hurt was that when I looked around for Kate

and that look of admiration I expected on her face, she had gone.

She ran off.

When I later caught up to her, she told me that the

scam artist was so angry that she thought he was going to hit me

or attack me or something, so instinct told her to run.

"Let the Wookiee win," that's her philosophy.

In travel news this week, we begin in France

where a national strike by railway workers

is entering its second week with little sign of any compromise.

The strike over a bill to reform the country's state-run rail network

has caused some of the worst disruptions to railway transport

in years, with many trains cancelled.

The national train operator SNCF says it has already had to pay out

80 million euros in compensation to passengers.

On your next visit to Tenerife,

you might notice something a bit different with the locals.

That's because the tourism board there

has launched a campaign telling residents

to be extra polite to tourists,

even offering tips on how to be a nicer person.

It's all part of a campaign to promote

the friendliness of Tenerife's inhabitants

in the hope it will boost repeat visitor numbers.

More than five million tourists head to the islands every year.

In Abu Dhabi, tourist authorities are celebrating

a rise in visitor numbers

as the city's hotels welcomed over 300,000 guests during April.

This marks a 29% rise and it might have something to do with

Star Wars Episode 7, which was recently filmed

in a secret location in Abu Dhabi's Western Region.

So if you're going, may the force be with you!

Next up, we head to Estonia to visit one of Europe's biggest

and longest-running folk festivals, where every five years

20,000 people come together and sing.

We sent Damien McGuinness to meet some of them.

MASSED VOICES SING

Estonia is a country steeped in natural beauty,

colourful history and strong cultural traditions.

And maybe the most important of these traditions is

the Estonian Song Festival.

Organised only once every five years,

tens of thousands of singers

and choirs formed from children to pensioners

gather in the capital city of Tallinn

to join in this 140-year-old celebration.

But the song festival is so popular,

that each choir has to audition and beat off stiff competition.

So today I've come to Narva in eastern Estonia, to see some

children's choirs audition.

It's a really big day for these children

because they've been performing for a year, some of them

an hour a day, to see if they can qualify,

so they're really nervous.

And it's on this stage that they're about to perform to see if they can

qualify to take part in Estonia's most important cultural event.

For Nastia and her friends,

getting to perform at the festival means a lot.

TRANSLATION: We'll be really happy if we get selected -

so incredibly happy.

And our teacher too would be overjoyed.

THEY SING IN HARMONY

MALE VOICES SING

But why are the stakes so high?

Well, these ancient folk songs have deep political significance.

They are a reminder of Estonia's fight for freedom

against the Soviet occupation.

When Estonia was part of the former Soviet Union,

anti-government protests were not allowed,

so instead, people sang for their freedom.

The Independence Movement became known as the Singing Revolution,

and it was here, on this stage, that in 1988,

the Independence Movement began.

We were not permitted to sing certain songs,

we were not allowed to say "fatherland" or something like that.

And so, in the beginning of Singing Revolution

the first thing people did, they just sang these prohibited songs.

There was like, Soviet police

standing around the Song Celebration Ground

and people knew that the songs were prohibited,

but they still kept singing.

Estonians call themselves "The Singing Nation",

and if you'd like to be here for yourself

to see what the Song Festival means for this country,

it's on in July, at the historic Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.

'As for me getting through the auditions, I think

'I need to keep practising!'

SHE SINGS THE LINES

AND HE FOLLOWS

Sadly, Nastia's choir didn't make it through the auditions,

but they will definitely be in the audience to cheer on the others.

Now finally, in this week's show,

we head to Australia for the latest chapter in an ongoing rivalry

between the country's two largest cities.

This time, the drinks are on the winner, as Christa reports.

Sydney and Melbourne -

they're Australia's two largest cities, and for over 150 years

have been locked in a fierce battle for supremacy.

Locals will endlessly debate which city is greater -

Sydney claims to be the more beautiful with its sparkling harbour

and Opera House, whereas Melbourne considers itself

the cooler, more cultural city, with its street art and top cafes.

But when it comes to who has the best bar scene,

there has really been no doubt which is the forerunner.

For tourists coming in search of an intimate,

unique bar experience, Melbourne has been the place to come.

The city's many narrow laneways provide a perfect venue

for creative small bars to pop up -

this can be anything from a hole-in-the-wall bar

where all profits are donated to charity, to a tea shop

where perfectly-crafted cups of brew

are spun into steaming hot cocktails.

These bars can appear anywhere - for instance,

in the walk-in freezer of a sandwich shop!

For years, Melbourne held the boutique bar title uncontested,

but now, there's some serious competition cropping up

to the north, from that old rival, Sydney.

In times past, one of the only options for a night out was

a place like this, a classic Aussie pub with some sport on the TV.

This all began to change in 2008

when the city's complex liquor licensing laws were reformed,

allowing for small boutique bars to open their doors for the first time.

In the years since, Sydney has seen the debut of over 70 small bars

in the City precinct alone.

Simon McGoram runs tours introducing visitors

to the city's new drinking hot spots.

Sydney's bar scene is really special

because it's quite a youthful scene,

it's very new, very dynamic, and they've been opening up very quickly.

There's some nice, young new operators with some really good ideas.

The city is now home to a host of speakeasy-style drinking holes,

some with hidden entrance ways,

and others playing on the less salubrious elements of Sydney's past.

Darlinghurst's Love Tilly Devine, for instance, takes

its inspiration from the city's most notorious 1930s brothel madam.

This fast-moving scene has caught the attention of Broadsheet,

a Melbourne-based culture website which in late 2011 extended

its bar and restaurant reviews to include Sydney.

I think Sydney's got a lot of enthusiasm right now

because they're developing their bar culture,

it's really something that they're

experimenting a lot, trying new things,

whereas Melbourne's been doing it for ten, 15 years.

So there is an element that Sydney is doing some super-interesting

stuff, whereas Melbourne does run the risk of opening the same old bar

and they think they know what they're doing.

So, the bar wars continue,

and regardless of which city ends up on top,

it looks like this old rivalry isn't going to die down any time soon.

That's it for The Travel Show this week,

but join us if you can next week, for this.

As tourists continue to flock to London, Ade visits England's

often-overlooked north to find out how sport

and the Tour de France could be its saviour.

For most British people, this area is known because it's wild

and beautiful,

so why is it only 3% of international travellers

bother coming here?

That looks like a good one, so catch that if you can.

But in the meantime, do keep up to date with us

and all of our travels by jumping onto our website or social

media feeds - all of those details should be on your screens now.

But from me, Henry Golding and the rest of my family,

here in the beautiful jungles of Sarawak,

it's goodbye, or "selamat jalan".