I wrote some time ago that it always pays to do your research before arriving and plonking yourself in a new travel environment, websites like TripAdvisor and Travelerspoint will give advice on accommodation and restaurants. With a bit of nimble cyber negotiation you can get reliable feedback, contact the places of your choice ahead of time and book your room, airport collection.
Then all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the flight.
The good old bad old days of arriving in a place, bedraggled and jetlagged then being hassled by hordes of shouting touts, taxi drivers and tuktuk wallahs can be (if you choose) a thing of the past.
So when I flew to Sri Lanka amid the hurricane of confusion that reigns over the changes to the Indian Visa, I planned my trip like a true professional. With memories of the Hotel Hell experience still fresh on my blog, I checked and checked and checked again then booked myself into a guesthouse at a beach near to Colombo.
The trip was only to be a few days so I packed for the beach, left washing at the dhobi wallah and some on the line, promised the Girlfriend Gang of Choti that Rosie Miss would be back with goodies from Sri Lanka, kissed my lover goodbye and flew off on my broomstick.
Perfect, a few days chilling out in the sun!
Things are rarely as you expect them to be.
What I didn’t think the research was whether or not Negombo was a destination for sex tourists. It is. And it is not a safe place for women alone at all.
Forget chilling out on the beach, if you walk alone you will be followed, approached and otherwise bothered by the local beach boys. If you go to a restaurant the waiter will be far too familiar and touchy, if you walk on the street you will also be bothered by the remarks of local men.
Negombo is not just a sex tourist destination for men but also for women who are old enough to know better and desperate enough not to care.
I renamed the place NO GO Negombo and spoke to the manager of the guesthouse where I stayed, which was the perfect sanctuary for me. The place is clean and wel run and has the very best shower in the whole of SE Asia, they also do greta local food so you don’t have to venture out onto the streets at night. He told me that the situation used to be a lot worse but now the sex tourists have their own resorts within Negombo!
That got me thinking. I have written on the impact of child sex tourism in places like Cambodia, Nepal and now I am writing about it in Sri Lanka. One million children ANNUALY disappear into this hideous trade within SE Asia alone.
Now I know that people who work hard all year look forward to and deserve their little slice of paradise on a tropical beach in Thailand or Sri Lanka or Goa. They don’t want to even read a newspaper or think too hard about anything and if they are lucky they won’t even notice that perverts and pedophiles surround them. But while we go and support these places, the hideous crimes continue. In a way we are the one providing a legitimate cover for this type of crime. So if we all withdrew like a massive tide then they (the sex tourists and pedophiles) would be exposed for what they are. The economy of that country would suffer and only then maybe would things improve for these children.
An International Tourist Boycott of Sex Tourism Destinations!