hi guys, how are you all ?

was hoping that you could help me out with something that has been bugging me ever since i came across some of the articles on this website, and of course tidakmasalah's infamous 'help a clueless bule' post.

to wit;

am i a 'bule' ?

whilst i was born and raised in the UK, my family are originally from Kashmir, so we're muslim, and of course naturally tanned.  how would i be viewed if i was to visit indonesia ?

thanks in advance peeps

well.. bule in my concept is caucasian people (men or women). That wont affect anything here tho.. people only see you as foreigner.

embryofields said:

hmm, i'm a little disappointed about that now.  it would have been nice to treated as one of the locals, rather than being labelled as a foreigner.

so is there any kind of particular way that asian people are viewed, as different to white/westerners who visit ?  my own experience of this was when i was in oman last year, where i was always mistaken as an overseas worker from the sub-continent, instead of being from britain

well.. your outlook would be different than locals for sure... some of us will treat you no different, but most people will..

Oh my word no, it is nothing like that dear boy. All done on a merit basis.

"In Indonesia, those who bobble their head while talking"

Aja ngono, Mas. Embryofields might want to visit Indonesia. If you speak so high about Javanese culture why not try to be more polite?

Embryofields, I don't understand your wish to be treated as a local. Just because of your brown skin and religion? You're a Brit of Kashmiri descent. That means you have to tell your background story more often. Accept it.

If you are a blackie, then you must be popular.  We expect Blackie to be good in break dancing and play basketball.

Or at drumming - yeah, I've heard them all.  Although I really was good at basketball (up to state level).  I come from a mixed race family, so often confuse people.  In Indonesia, people seem genuinely interested in trying to work out where I'm from.  NB: although I believe there's no such thing as race anyway, as I've said here on other threads.

The positive thing for embryofields is that no matter what he looks like, the bemo drivers in Kuta will still treat him exactly the same as they would all foreigners. "Transporrrrrt?" I like Bali for that, and a host of other reasons.

Patung said:

Oh gawd now we can see you up close….I strongly doubt embroyofields acts like an Indian, bobbing head and all, funny accent, I bet he acts like a lad from the UK….

And what might that mean?

There's still racism, it's just that race is a cultural construct.  It's not genetic - our human DNA is so mixed up it's hard to tell where anyone comes from by looking at their chromosomes.  The furtherest relative on Earth from you would only be a 32nd cousin.  Mitochondrial DNA shows that we have all descended from about 6 to 8 original females ('Eves').

What 'race' is Tiger Woods, for example, or my kids for that matter?  Racism is something invented and used by people to define the 'other', the 'stranger' or the 'outsider'.