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Controversial novelist Emily
Barr believes that the idyllic world of the backpacker has
gone forever as Gareth Jones reports.
' It
used to be the ultimate experience for those in search of
a perfect beach with a sunset and an aura cleansing culture.
But in the last few years backpacking has become less about
solitary treks in the wilderness and finding your hidden Zen
and more about cheap booze, looking good in tie-dye and following
the herd. According to the novelist Emily Barr, the whole
concept has lost its sense of adventure.
"The clichéd backpacker
has this smug view that they're better than anyone else and
there's nothing that justifies that", says Barr. "Everyone
knows the stereotype of the typical middle class backpacker,
a gap year kid who's wearing scruffy loose cotton clothes
and sandals, carrying their backpack and shouting at the locals
who don't understand English. There's also tie-dye clothing
all around and I just don't understand why you suddenly have
to wear it. It's almost like a little uniform."
 Emily
Barr's new novel, 'Backpack' describes the gruesome murder
of a group of British backpackers. It's the product of the
novelist's own 12 month journey around the world in which
she rubbed shoulders with fellow travellers. The metaphor
of Barr's novel is clear - the death of backpacking itself.
In one particular attack, the novel's main character, Tansy,
turns on the backpackers.
"I hate them," she
screamed, "I hate the way they all swan around as if
it's perfectly all right for them to be here. I hate the way
they give me sidelong glances, checking whether I'm cooler
than them. Why do these bloody backpackers have to spoil my
happiness?"
 According
to Emily Barr, restaurants only have to put 'Banana Pancakes'
on their menus to attract the backpackers. "It's the
same whatever country you're in," she says. "In
some ways I feel that backpacking is just a different form
of colonisation."
These days, thousands follow
where Leonardo DiCaprio went, and it's not always as idyllic
as it might seem. "It's a budget thing," explains
Michael Newel. "When you're working to a budget, there's
obviously going to be a lot of backpackers in the cheapest
places because they've all got the same idea." On a recent
trip to Thailand, he met plenty of other travellers. "They
all moan about tourism, but after a while you realise that
you are just a travelling tourist".
 From
Britain alone an estimated half a million student or gap year
travellers set off every year. Nowadays, the reality is that
a quick trip round Asia is something for the CV rather than
the inner self and the local culture is the only loser.
"Laos in South East Asia
is a small and lovely country that I was particularly concerned
about", says Barr. "I don't think that it can support
the amount of tourists it gets even now". Seasoned traveller,
Jon Lyons agrees, "When I went there, there was litter
everywhere and endless strips of huts, bars and restaurants.
Backpackers just came and went without giving a damn. It was
a big shock because I'd just come from a quiet island where
there was no rubbish, just crystal clear waters".
In Emily Barr's novel, an obsessive
traveller stalks Tansy. He finally catches up with her in
Tibet and threatens to kill her.
 "I'm
scared now," said Tansy. It was getting dark and he took
a clump of my hair in his gloved hand and pulled it. "There
are a lot of fucking stupid annoying travellers just crying
out to be put out of their misery," he said. "Some
of them are nearly as annoying and deserving of death as you."
A psychotic killer chasing young
travellers around Asia isn't exactly ideal reading for gap
year wannabes, and may well put some of those travelling hordes
off the whole idea. We shouldn't write off the backpacking
genre just yet though, because according to hardened traveller
Kathryn O'Mahony, you can still get your kicks with a pack
on your back.
"It's like everything, there's
an upside and a downside," she says. "The downside
is that there are loads of people surrounding you who are
not from the culture that you're visiting. But the upside
is that you meet people who you can share your experiences
with and that's great. It's easy to say that backpacking is
dead because everyone's doing it, but if you're doing it then
it's fantastic."
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