Exotic is the most overused travel jargon these days.
Trust me, I know; I work in the travel industry and have included the word in almost all tour proposals. And don’t get me started on reading the word everywhere. If only I could get a penny each time I stumbled upon it; well, I still have to work to pay my rent here, but you get my point, don’t you?
The Culture of Exotic
I have misheard the word used since I found out what the meaning of the word is, thanks to Link, the digital translator my parents bought to help their Sidney Sheldon novels reading daughter understand complicated words in English.
Exotic People
Since I have heard the word has been quoted to describe my country, both the actual places and the women. These kinds of quotes were freely mentioned in English magazines and by foreigners; the latter used to make the young me smirk because if you are a foreigner visiting Indonesia, by the correct definition, you are the exotic one among the two hundred million of us. You, my friend, are the rare bird in our country.
Hidden Places
As for the places, the line gets a bit blurry for me because Indonesia is a multicultural multi geographical country. Even though I was born and brought up in Indonesia, Bali was still amazing. That’s maybe because I was only in Bali for the first time last year, and it was an eye-opening cultural experience. I don’t know whether Bali will still be exotic for me when I visit it for the third or ninth time. My point is a place is exotic until you discover it; then, the exo-value will slowly diminish.
It would be incorrect to claim a place as exotic if you live there — tropical, magical, cultural or even spiritually charged, but not exotic.
Exotic Food
What is exotic food again? I have had plenty of unusual world delicacies out of curiosity. Does it mean I have eaten exotic food? I don’t think the goat testicle soup I ate with my family almost weekly during my childhood would be considered strange by any Indonesian.
Either way, out of the three people, places and food, I am much more forgiving about the food part. I shall ponder on this.
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