JDHS grad goes to Hell and back
Travel writer visits four uniquely different places for new book
Acclaimed travel writer Chuck Thompson wanted to find the biggest hellholes in the world for his latest book so he chose four places - the Congo, India, Mexico City and Disney World.
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"They all were places that I personally had harbored negative feelings about and did not want to go to," he said. "But ... together they also represented a really good spread of traveler paranoias, everything from violence and crime and war to aggressive salesmen, sketchy neighborhoods ... and long lines in the hot, baking Florida sun."
Thompson's latest book, "To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies and the Art of Extreme Tourism," is being released today.
"I had a definite preconceived notion to all of this stuff, you know, from Miley Cyrus to Congolese rebels," he said. "I just sort of assumed they were all bad or I wouldn't have included them in the book. But once I kind of encountered them, I really tried to keep an open mind about it."
Thompson, a 1981 graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School who now lives in Oregon, had a few attitude shifts along the way.
"The real amazing, pleasant surprise to me was Mexico City," he said. "That is now one of my favorite places in the world. Beautiful city, people are so friendly. All this hype you hear about the kidnappings and drug wars and pollution and every other God-awful thing that people love to say about that city, I didn't find any of it to be the case."
Thompson was also surprised to find that his negative feelings about the Disney universe that he has held since childhood were swayed. He said he found Disney World to be well put together and organized and even decided to subject himself to the Miley Cyrus phenomenon.
"Prior to that I'd never seen one single minute of her show," Thompson said. "I'd known about her, of course, just through the cultural osmosis. And through that cultural osmosis I decided I didn't like her one bit. But I kind of forced myself into her show and into her world, and I have to say I thought it was actually pretty good. I was kind of entertained by it."
Of the four different locations visited, the Congo was the closest thing to a hellhole that he found. Thompson said the region had been ravaged by civil war, feeble infrastructure and crooked public servants.
"I didn't get locked up abroad or that sort of drama, but just kind of the ubiquitous presence of guys with AK-47s walking around and a willingness to stick them in your face and ask you for money," he said. "You know, that sounds a lot more dangerous than it felt at the time."
Thompson, who has traveled to more than 50 countries and worked for magazines such as Maxim and Men's Journal, had fears about going to India, mainly worried that he would come down with some horrific gastro-intestinal problem. Turns out it was the aggressive salesmen that left a bad impression on him.
"Probably the most aggravating of all the spots was India," Thompson said. "India was definitely the most dramatic mix of highs and lows."
Traveling to these four uniquely different spots made Thompson take a closer look at the United States and it's role globally. People love to talk about America's corruptive influence on the rest of the world, he said, but personally feels that might not be the case.
"I think the United States is not so much influencing the rest of the world any longer as the rest of the world is really influencing the United States, and not always in a good way either," he said.
Things that Americans tend to be afraid of in Third World countries are becoming more and more commonplace in the states. The U.S. is facing more and more problems with crumbling infrastructure, religious intolerance, epidemic poverty, substandard schools, municipal bankruptcy, overwhelming national debt, vendetta politics and a toothless media, he said.
Thompson, who has been working for a startup CNN Web site in Hong Kong since the summer, said he is considering writing a couple other books and plans to continue freelance writing for magazines. He also plans to continue traveling, including visiting Juneau a couple of times each year.
"The spots that seem like real big holes in my travel resume are Greece, which I can't believe I haven't been to, and Ireland," Thompson said. "I'm actually quite interested in going to Istanbul. I've been wanting to go to Turkey for going on two decades."
The problem is that no matter how much someone travels there are always many more places to see.
"It's kind of like reading," he said. "You can be the most well read literature professor of all time and there's still going to be 50 or 100 classics that you've never cracked the cover of, which is one of the great things about being a travel writer. There is just no end to subjects."
Thompson writes in a blunt, somewhat in-your-face style that may offend some people. He said he's not trying to make any profound statements in his books, just trying to provide a fun, quick read.
"My hope is that it just makes people laugh and keeps them entertained," he said. "That's really what I'm going after."
• Contact reporter Eric Morrison at 523-2269 or eric.morrison@juneauempire.com.