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The golden triangle is a bit much. We started out on that route, but pulling up to the first marked site and seeing 50 coaches and throngs of old Chinese ladies all taking photographs in the same direction was offputting. But, we then left the triangle route and explored on our own, and barely saw anybody. Makes a lot of sense for tourist focused countries to keep tourists focused on a particular area or route.

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Agreed. Better to keep them corralled.

Now that I think about it we did hike for 25min out to the plane crash. When we arrived it was full of instagram models taking selfies and wearing Supreme gear.. not really the kind of wilderness I was looking for.

On the flip side, we did see the Northern lights at a camp site up North. There were only a handful of people since it was still in the Winter months. It felt very pure and intimate. Like it was our secret no one else knew about. One of the greatest experiences of my life. I think that’s what all tourists are searching for.

Often when you get people taking pictures of seemingly mundane things by tourists it’s because they’ve watched a “drama” that has a protagonist go places and then that place becomes an item. Somewhat akin to random people photographing mansions of Hollywood stars. It means nothing to locals but to fans it has some sort of meaning —and there are lots of these dramas where one of the key tropes is they go abroad for whatever reason.

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