Foreign Travel Souvenirs

Foreign Travel's Souvenirs

Table of Contents

I. My Guardrails
    A. No shipping back home!
    B. Not REALLY appreciated!
    C. Too Expensive to ship!
    D. Ego driven. 

II. My Guidleines & Practices:
    A. Small enough for my condo wall
    B. Some relevance to my Travel
    C. Cultural Symbols
    D. Directly from villagers
    E. Historical significance
    F. Old Traditional Technology
    G. Traditional art forms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foreign Travel Souvenirs

Initially, I bought the obligatory little country or site pins that you might attached to a hat or a jacket to prove to everyone that you had been somewhere. RVers often put stickers on their back windows.

After my pins et c. had gathered enough dust because I felt no need to advertise my travels, I realized  souvenirs could serve a personal 'memory' value to me.

Eventually, I evolved guardrails & practices that guided my purchase of souvenirs that I would display on my condo's living room wall for my own satisfaction. 

I. Guardrails:
  A. No shipping back home!:  Souvenirs for folks back home sounds nice, but , IMO, it is analogous to charitable giving — it REALLY makes the sender feel good about themselves. IOW, just a subtle way of saying, "I was foreign traveling ... and you were not.", or on a positve note : "... I was thinking of you."      

Anecdote: My estate's donations: My estate will give substantial donations to many charitable organizations.

Anecdote: Indonesian 'ladies' trip: On my Indonesia trip with 9 women they bought enough stuff - bulky & smal - l that they were fighting with it daily.  

Anecdote: My 1 exception: My RV mechanic once advisied that his young daughter loved National Geographic magazine so I bought her a multi-year subscription. When I traveled I was always on the look put for a 'cute', small & very authentic, locally made souvenirs to further fuel her curiosity.

   B. Not appreciated! Your friends may be genuinely flattered that you 'remembered them', thank you profusely, but have no empathy for the souvenir itself. 

Anecdote: My friend's wife’s sister’s Xmas gift: The Christmas gift was so ugly that they stored it in the basement until displaying it again just before the sister would arrive.

Anecdote: Guataemala 'saches' for my friends: On my 3 month road trip through Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, before I began my foreign travels off the North American continent, I purchased several Guatemalan sashes easily stored in my van and at home, gave a couple to my friends.

They displayed them for a year or two on their furniture because I was in their home every other week, but later they just quietly disappeared. To be honest, I suspect that I had pushed my 'decorating aesthetics' on them, which they tolerated only so long😳. 

 

   C. Too Expensive to ship: On my Bali trip hosted by my high school friend with her eight other girlfriends (I prudently kept my mouth shut … and they actually liked me.) many of them spent $300 to $400 each to send a pile of souvenirs that may have cost a fraction back to US.   individually they often spent between $350 -$400 JUST in shipping fees while the 'stuff'.

   D. Bragging rights:  Some buy stuff so they can show their friends that they traveled.

Anecdote: Over priced Irish sweater:  In London before cruise, friends bought Irish wool sweaters at a high premium price over Amazon, I suspect, so they could wear it & brag their cruise.  I never saw the sweaters again. 

II. My Guidelines & Practices:

IMO, my souvenirs are like photos, ... static symbols of important or memorable Tourist Bud sites or experiences in my traveler's life. They often recall the villager, shop keeper or craftsman who made the souvenir that I bought from them .... giving it even more special meaning.

My personal policy has been to buy souvenirs that were:
  1. Small enough to fit amongst other souvenirson on my condo's "Souvenir Wall"

   2. Some relevance to my ACTUAL Travel:

Anecdote:  Puno, Peru's Floating Island villagers  

 

 

 

 

3) Cultural Reflections:

Anecdote: Argentina's flute music & llama's
are iconic.   Don't remember where I bought . 

 

 

Anecdote: Chinese dragons: Don't know where I bought, but in my mind, they epitomizedChina's colorful traditional buildings & folk culture. I bought 3, gave one away.

    Anecdote: Indonesian villager's everyday devices: Hair combs may hold the hair high so it can be refreshed with the country scene decorated fan.  

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Directly from local hill tribes.

Anecdote: Bac Ha town, north of Sapa, N Vietnam villager's ear rings: Even now I can still picture that Saturday morning buying these handmade & engraved earings from the 2 old, gnarled hill tribe women squatting on their haunches on the road side dressed in their very colorful finery. I suspect we bargained a bit, but I always cautioned myself that they must feed their family & village.

When I picture this anecdote my mind instantly springs to several other memorable experiences in that little town & its surrounding rice terraces I hiked.

Anecdote: North Panama coastal countryside: On a solo guided day trip  we stopped to look at some villager's craft work which I (predictable tourist) bought cuz pretty, looked authentic subject matter AND easily rolled into my bag. 

   

 

    4) Historical significance:
Anecdote: US Navy's 1973 plane: ... crash at Sólheimasandur, Iceland on southern beach. Navy stripped all its value. This weathered aluminum scrap was lying half buried in the sand several yards away

           

 

Anecdote: Shell is the historical symbol of Camino de Santiago: this shell has been a symbol of the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) since the Middle Ages begnning in 11th C. We pilgrims normally had this shell hanging visibly on the back of our day packs.

The yellow arrow was introduced in 1980s, by Don Elías Valiña Sampedro (aka "priest of O Cebreiro"), who was most instrumental in installing consistent Camino de Snatiago signage. I still got lost occassionally. 

The "batman-like' symbol is ACTUALLY the basket from my bottom of my  trekking pole after 35 days of trekking. (Note: lower right corner worn totally away.) A basket keeps the pole's point from going too deep into sand, wet soil or snow.

 

 

4) Old Traditional Technologies:

 Anecdote: Inle Lake, Myanmar, metalsmith's tiny clay crucible: In the chaotic back street on the canal where villagers parked their long slim 'rooster tail' Inle Lake boats, several men worked in a tiny shop making jewelry probably for sale in tourist shops on the main drag several streets away.

I watched & videoed then for a while and asked if I could have a tiny ½" broken crucible that lay on the floor. I explained I wanted as a souvenir. They understood, laughed and handed me a perfect little crucible. I was visiblly pleased. We all chuckled.   

Anecdote: Bangkok's tiny 'beggar's bowl' workshop: It took me 2 tuk tuk trips to finally locate this shop when it was open,  so I could buy a bowl and watch the tradesmen working with hammers and anvils to create these elegant 'begging' bowls.

I had seen many monks begging individually & in small somewhat 'entitled, demanding' context and I wanted a real reminder.

Anecdote: Kyauk Taw Gyi Pagoda (aka Kyauktawgyi Pagoda): near Shwenandaw Temple, it is covered with tiny hand cumirrors. I spent several minutes engaged with a man who patiently cut these tiny mirror pieces to replace damaged or missing ones.

Notice the small narrow arc'd piece he had cut and graciously gave to me as a souvenir. 

5) Traditional art forms & skills: 

    Anecdote: New Bagan, Myanmar 'yun' style lacquerware work shop: In workshop I watched as several men and a separate group of women sat cross legged on the floor incising these intricate pictorial story graphics through multiple layers of lacquer to reveal contrasting colors underneath at each different colored layer of lacquer.

 

Anecdote: Intricately carved tiny gourds: "Mate burilado", a primarily Peruvia art form found in neighboring Andean & coastal regions, & parts of Ecuador is a technique/style involving hand-carving detailed scenes, figures, landscapes, geometric patterns, or narrative motifs into the hardened surface of dried gourds, creating shallow incisions that form pictures or stories. It's especially common for smaller gourds used as decorative objects, containers, or folk art pieces.

  I found these in Otavalo, Ecuador a few blocks from the large open animal market I visited early in the morning.

6) Butterflies:  I love butterflies & humming birds

Anecdote: In Antigua, Guatemala at a large open market I bought this gorgeous large ceramic butterfly and a set butterflies of large & small which I gave to a teacher friend/travel (2nd Guardrail exception)