The Decline of The Backpacking Culture?

By the time I realised she was there in the top bunker, I have already put on my pants.

I for one cannot say if the backpackers culture had change, since this is the first time I am doing it and I have nothing to compare it to.

However, based on what I have been reading on the Internet forums and hostel reviews, it does appear that the people that one meets on a backpacking trail seem to be less and less friendlier. Maybe it could be the race thing, or the perceived language gap, or even the Anglophile tendencies of our Asian brothers and sisters, but so far into my maiden journey as a backpacking traveller sleeping in hostels, I have felt less than welcomed by my fellow travellers and the hostel staff.

Case in point, my eight bed mixed room dormitory. The air was so still and cold, and silence seems to be the order of the day, even though I had two other dorm "mates" who managed nary a nod in recognition of each other's existence.

I didn't bother with either of them when I left the dormitory in the evening for dinner and an exploration of the Silom area of Bangkok. After a few good hours of satisfying my wanderlust, I headed back to my hostel, early by any Bangkok-holiday-goers' standards. Even so, my two dorm mates beat me to it, and when I stepped into the dorm, they were so engrossed with whatever was playing on their electronic devices that no one even noticed a 6 feet, 210 pound man walking in.

Ignoring the two of them, I proceeded to get ready my toiletries for my shower.

Once I was done cleaning up, I walked back barefooted to the dorm, wrapped only in my towel. It was obvious that both of them had not moved an inch, and yes, there was still an unsettling silence that filled the air.

I put on my boxers (real man wear boxers...but that's another post entirely) and idly took my time to search for my long pants.

By the time I realised there was a lady at the top bunker I had already zipped up. She must have been there the whole time since I came back from my evening solo outing, and I just failed to notice her.

I am not too sure if she got an eyeful of whatever I had to offer (she did rush out to the toilet after that..presumably to puke or to wash her eyes) but in my defence, she was completely silent when I walked in, and was similarly buried within her laptop.

Which brings me back to my initial point; Are backpackers growing increasingly isolated when they travel? What happened to the Jack Kerouac's beautifully described era of hitchhiking across continents aided only by friendly strangers and the occasional grunting truck drivers?

The night did end a little better as I introduced myself to a Chinese backpacker, who recommended some further activities to be explored tomorrow morning.

A slow start to meeting new people, definitely, but a start nonetheless.