[wallflower]

> Be respectful of the place, and try to go beyond the role of a self-satisfied expat

I'd like to hear you expand on this or is it something that you just learn from experience and actual long-term traveling and not from arm-chair reading articles on a site like http://BraveNewTraveler.com? Thanks

[jhancock]

I can relate to this comment. I've bootstrapped in Shanghai (last 9 years) and in Cape Town (6 months, mid-90s). Both were great. I ran into other Americans and Europeans from time to time that were not respectful of the locals and I felt they set a bad example and muddied the waters for the lot of us.