Tijuana: Expectations and Reality

No doubt I am so mystified by Tijuana because it is one of those places that defies expectations. I did absolutely no research before I walked across the border. I knew someone who lived there and I trusted him completely. The “expectations” came when I began talking to my Lyft drivers in San Diego, telling them I was heading across the border in a few days. Some of the responses:

“Oh I never go there anymore. It’s way too dangerous.”
“I hope you know someone there. That’s no place for a girl to go alone.”
“Just stay out of trouble. Don’t try to buy any drugs. And don’t start any fights. Everyone is carrying a gun.”

The warnings were not encouraging.

The other comments came from my friend himself. An ardent Tijuana enthusiast, he finds himself either constantly explaining or defending the city from it’s critics:

“Unfortunately, I often feel I have to explain to people why I love Tijuana. I have a good friend who I told about the city and she came to visit San Diego and popped down for a day visit only to complain that the city was so dirty and that the folks were so abjectly poor that she couldn't relax and enjoy herself. Another friend told me after I'd mentioned going to Mexico that he'd just returned from a Europe tour and that he wouldn't need to see Mexico because he's seen the original...”

Hearing this, I was worried Tijuana would be a slum of San Diego. Just a place where the poorest residents live and commute daily over the border for work.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, given the town proximity to the border, I was worried Tijuana would feel no different than San Diego. That crossing the border would be a mere formality, and that the two cities would feel utterly the same, that there would be no foreignness to the Mexican side.

Needless to say, both of these ideas were wrong. Tijuana is distinctly different from San Diego in every imaginable way. But it is not a slum. Not merely a place to sleep for the tens of thousands of workers for migrate to the US side for jobs every day. It hasn’t its own culture and vices, it’s own unique atmosphere and identity.

It is also not a vapid and soulless entertainment destination, like Las Vegas or Macau. Though it is often exploited by Americans as a place to party, drink, and find cheap sex and drugs, it is not merely a wasteland catering to these desires.

Here are a few things that surprised me about Tijuana. Some are good, other disappointing, and some without any judgement.

Not much English
Most of the Mexicans I encountered, including ones working at major restaurants and shops, did not speak English. I am not an entitled traveler and I do not expect people to accommodate my language, but having been to remote corners of the world I am surprised by the people I find who speak English when I expect them not to. Tijuana was different. I expected English to be a lingua franca and it was nowhere to be found. This surprised me because it is a border town, English is so close, and also because many Americans come over to dine and shop and usually those in the tourist industry will be bilingual to accommodate them. The only people in Tijuana who seemed to speak English were the hawkers at the souvenir shops on Revolucion, who would beckon me to their stores. Everyone else in cafes, restaurants, stores, and clubs was friendly and patient, but struggled to understand.


Fluid Queer culture
I knew there would be gay bars in Tijuana. There are gay bars all over the world even in countries where being gay is illegal. Of course Tijuana would have gay bars, but I didn’t expect so many, and with such an open and welcoming array of identities in their patrons. I went to a lot of gay bars in TJ and met a lot of amazing people who were living all kinds of lives. I cannot say any one definitive thing about the lives of queer people in Tijuana and that is what surprised me, that unlike Japan and other countries there are no prescriptive identities for queer people.


The streets and roads are so bad
This shouldn’t be surprising, given Tijuana’s other infrastructure woes, but it has not occurred to me that I would find so many pothole and scary high curbs in Tijuana as I did. Maybe I thought the roads would be well-maintained since it is the gateway to Baja Mexico, where many many people pass through. But potholes were so deep that when you see drivers swerve it is probably to avoid a pothole and not because they are intoxicated or wild.

typical sidewalk

gaps int he pavement

urban hiking on steep curbs

walking through a construction site

a makeshift bridge on a busy pedestrian street

Cars stop for pedestrians
This was truly shocking. Given the bad roads and unruly driving, I expected to get run over any minute. But drivers in Tijuana are actually quite considerate of pedestrians. I never felt unsafe crossing a street and cars always stopped for me the moment I put my foot out. So different from Thailand, Vietnam, or even Boston.



Uber English app
Almost most people did not speak English, I was pleasantly surprised to find an Uber English option on the Uber app in Tijuana. I’ve used Uber in many other countries and not seen this option appear. Basically, if you select Uber English instead of just UberX, your driver will speak English. I used this a few times and found all the drivers to be quite friendly and fluent.



The danger is hidden
Most everyone associates Tijauan with drug violence and kidnapping, but there are few traces of that in everyday life in the Zona Centro. This tiny pocket of the larger city is very well policed and protected. That doesn’t mean anyone is completely safe – the first weekend I was there one American was shot at a café, with a bullet that was intended for someone else, and three people were killed in a club on Revolucion when a gunman open fired into the crowd. I was naïve during the first trip, but afterward I learned that for people in some parts of the city, shooting are a part of daily life. Over 1,744 people were murdered in Tijuana 2017. In July of 2018, the most violent month in the city’s history, there were 251 murders. That’s 8 murders a day. Given this bloody statistic, one would think you would see more violence on the streets but in the central area, it’s business as usual.


Gourmet food culture
I knew I would be in for some amazing street food in Tijuana, but had no idea such a gastronomic revolution was taking place. In addition to the tacos and huevos rancheros I had night after night, I also dined at 5-star gourmet restaurants like Mision 19 and had great fusions takes on Mexican food at Oryx Capital and Telefonica Gastro Park. There is so much delicious food to be found on the street and in upscale restaurants.

eating sea urchin at Mision 19

Hipster culture 
There are actually a lot of hipsters in Tijauna. What can you expect? Where there are young middle class people, there are hipsters. The fashion trends were most noticeable to me at night, where they were also most difficult to photograph. The hipsters like to hang out at bars like LaMezcalera and Moustache and drink beers from Teorema Tasting Room.

hipsters love Instagram-able neon signs

Halloween is actually kind of a thing here

No, I don’t mean Day of the Dead / Dia de los Muertos, I mean American Halloween. I am surprised to find how this American tradition has taken off in other countries like Japan. With Mexico’s own important holiday happening at the same time, I wouldn’t have thought Mexican’s would be interested in Halloween. Evidence of the new tradition can be found in shop décor and bakeries.  

Halloween decor on a shop

Halloween decor in a bakery

Reminds me so much of Athens
This is a person observation that would occur to no one but me. Tijuana, as a city, gave me such a nostalgia for Athens, Greece. It might be the heat, the sun, the crumbling roads and buildings, the graffiti and trash, the food smells or the plants that grow in people gardens, but every time I walk through the Colonia Cacho of Tijuana, I feel like I'm in Athens again.

Colonia Cacho - not as hilly as Athens but still nostalgic

Why Japanese travel guidebooks are better

The Seoul Guidebook I purchased in a Kobe bookstore

When you live in Japan, you travel like a Japanese person. And Japanese people travel in a very special way. First, most of them don't have or use vacation days, so they only travel on public holidays when offices are closed.  This means that they anticipate crowds and congestion and prepare for it. It also means that their trips are really short and jam-packed with things. Japan has several precious three-day weekend a year, and most people with the travel bug take advantage of that break to visit a nearby (or not so nearby country) for exactly three days.

I will never forget the first time I flew to Japan from Dallas, Texas. I met two Japanese woman in the airport who were having a layover form Orlando, Florida. Where they visited Disneyworld. I asked them about their trip and was shocked to find out it was only three days. By that I mean they left Tokyo and flew to Orlando on Day 1, spent an entire afternoon and evening in Disneyworld on Day 2, and were flying back to Tokyo on Day 3. I met them on Day 3. They literally undertook a 20-hour flight in a three day weekend.

A 2-day 1-Night Itinerary in Seoul from a Japanese guidebook

A decade later, a foreigner living in Japan, I had vacation days and I goddam used them. I didn’t have to follow the same rules, so I could avoid the crowds during those three-day-weekends, but I knew this was not reflective of the experience of my Japanese people. The Japanese people have learned to adapt to their strict work and break schedule and make the most out of their three day weekends, and the travel  industry caters to this kind of traveler. When my friend said “let’s go to Seoul for the three-day-weekend” I thought it was a good chance to see how Japanese people really travel. So I took the all-day journey from my village in rural Japan to Seoul, and I prepared for a tiring, jam-packed schedule or sights and shopping.

Before my trip, I had the great fortune of find this book, Seoul Jaunt. This book was pretty much made for people like my friend and I, and is structured to accommodate the Japanese three-day-weekend. This book was my gateway to Japanese travel guidebooks, which are a millions times better than American ones.

Japanese travel guidebooks have way more photos, show a variety of food and meal options, and are catered to specific interests. American travel guides are text heavy, have few photos, and usually they are black and white. They spend a lot of time on history and architecture and maps, whereas Japanese guides are more about your experience in a place. American guidebooks focus on tourist sights, and provide all the history and detail of museums, temples, etc. But Japanese guidebooks understand that everything you do in a place is part of your experience, so they over things, like a comprehensive list  street food. American guidebooks may only talk about the traditional cuisine in a place, but Japanese guidebooks will cover anything unique and interesting, even if it is not traditional or typical.

Here are a few side by side examples:

The hotel list in the Japanese book has compelling images of the rooms in each of the hotels they feature. In an American Guidebook, there is only a list with minimal information. How am I supposed to select something from that list without further research?

In the Japanese guidebook, a map with a simple itinerty is featured The map shows street names, intersections, and locations of key destinations. In the American version, there is a ton of text on the background and history of a few places in a particular region, then a massively over-detailed map which no one could realistically use to find anything. 

In the Japanese guidebook, different restaurant options are show with delicious images of food. On the right, observe how text-heavy the American guide is  (who has time to read all that?) - and with only one uncoupling image. In fact, most of the images in the American guidebook were everyday shots of people on the streets, city parks, and buildings, but nothing about food, shopping, or the things I am likely to personally encounter on my trip. 

Even the boring "how to buy bus tickets" and "how to fill out the immigration form" are on colorful well-designed pages, compared to the boring graphic-deficient American book. 

Lastly, here is a page you won't often find in American books. This is a "gift catalog" which shows ideas for things to buy as gifts for family, friends, and colleagues when you return from your trip. Japan has a big gift-giving culture, and if you travel anywhere, you are expected to bring presents for practically everyone once you return. 

Seoul Diaries 2

I had no time to write in Seoul. Traveling with my best friend meant that I had no time alone in cafes. It meant that I constantly had to keep up with her. And she likes to travel, and to shop, so I had little reflection time. I did however manage to scribble some notes in a journal while laying on the bed in our hostel moments before we slept.

The following in an excerpt from that day, Saturday March 22, Seoul, South Korea

The alarm went off at 10:00am but it felt like dawn. Even though we went to bed at 1:00am, not terribly late by the standard of young people traveling, but I was exhausted from the long journey from my rural village to the airport, and the stressful trip from Incheon to our hostel. We allowed ourselves one more hour of sleep and woke up at 11:00am.

The day began with coffee and a cheap lunch around Erwa Women’s University. We walked into a popular restuarnt. Nothing was in English or Japanese. We ordered three dishes by pointed to pictures on the menu, but got four back, and none were the ones we ordered. We laughed about it.

In the afternoon we shopped at Hondae, super crowded form the weekend, but I felt animated moving through the large masses of people. In my rural village, I was using to having a stadium of open air around me at all times. I missed the giant body hug from a swelling urban crowd. I missed touching shoulders and shopping bag. I missing standing so close to someone I could small the perfume on their hair.

Eventually, even we got wiped out from the congestions, and retired to the May Flower café, where we were watch the sun set over the Seoul skyline. We sat at that café for two hours. That may have been the longest time we spent in any one place in Seoul.

Back at the hostel and going to bed just before midnight again, I made a few more observations:

•   Finally saw some gay couples. I'm pretty sure that what they are, because I’ve learned the Korean friends of the same sex are more affectionate, and I believe I can discern when they are more than friends…

•   There seems to be only one kind of beauty for women. It is repeated on all the ads. Double eyelids, pointy jaw with a small chin, high cheek bones.

•   Men are really tall here. Really tall. My Japanese best friend who I'm traveling with is 5’10 and she is easily shorter than most of the men here.

•   Things are just as expensive as Japan. Why did I think they would be cheaper? Who misled me?

•   Different parts of Seoul remind us of different parts of Tokyo: Harajuku’s Takeshita dori, Shibuya 109, Roppongi hills

•   I have not seen nearly as many white-guy-Asian-girl couples as in Japan.

•   This country is obsessed with coffee and cafes, they are on every street corner and they are crowded and loud.

Seoul Diaries 1

I had no time to write in Seoul. Traveling with my best friend meant that I had no time alone in cafes. It meant that I constantly had to keep up with her. And she likes to travel, and to shop, so I had little reflection time. I did however manage to scribble some notes in a journal while laying on the bed in our hostel moments before we slept.

The following in an excerpt from that day, Friday March 21, Seoul, South Korea

Arrived in Seoul at noon. Through the entire train ride people were talking on cell phones  - a big contrast to the tomb-silence of trains in Japan. People also chatted with each on the trains, even total strangers, in a loud tone that I sometimes mistook for aggression. The train ceilings also feel very low and the train door will close on you. On the train from the airport to the mains station we saw an old man get stuck in the door  - I'm not sure what happened, maybe his foot or cane went through the crevice between the train and platform. Then in slow motions he fall face forward on the platform and the entire train car gasped. I felt sick watching it happened.  Passengers immediately rushed to help him get unstuck, and when they moved him onto the platform, the train  doors closed and we sped away.

We got off at Meyongdon at 2:45 to find our hostel and put our luggage down. The place looked like a goddam wholesale alley and was really run-down. We found the hostel, walked up a long flight of narrow steps carrying our heavy luggage only to be told that this was not our hostel. The staff gave some direction but offered no other help. We heaved the luggage down the steps.

We got back on the train to Dongminmum and arrived at 3:30. Still, we could find the hostel so we walked into a Pizza Hut and asked for direction. One of the staff members left their post behind the counter and walked us right to the front door of the hostel. That place could not have been more different from the first hostel. It was modern and clean, and the staff took our luggage right away and carried it to our rooms. The man at the counter was so friendly and chatty, and recommended a good local restaurant nearby. It was 5:00pm when we ate “lunch.”

We spent the rest of the day shopping in Galasoo-gil and I was able to make some interesting observations about the people I saw in Seoul:

•   Korean girls mostly wear flat shoes, sneakers, and loafers, not like the Japanese girls in high heels and platforms.

•   Couples are more affectionate in public  than in Japan. They hold and hands and even sneak kisses.

•   Friends of the same gender are also more affectionate in public. They hold hands and put their arms around each other.

•    Advertisements show only Koreans, not foreigners, mixed-race people, or even other Asians. In Tokyo, most of the ads for international brands still show only white models.

•   People seem aggressive and rude in public, but they nice when you talk to them

•   People say helpful things, like giving us directions and or wishing us a good trip, but with a tone that I interpret as aggressive or rude, so its confused me