We caught a bus that took as 1.5 hours out of the city. We all fell asleep on the bus - and we all felt a bit seedy after having our first big night out. But as were sat on our little canoe boat, engined by a 60 year old auntie and her paddle stick, we all realised why we decided to get out of bed. All of the aunties and uncles where selling all of their bits and pieces. The tourist where buying their little souvenirs - and where getting completely ripped off. You would see them smile as they rolled up their money and put it in their pockets. We decided to miss the snake show and sat down by the river, eating our home made spring rolls and noodles. It was nice to watch the world go buy. You could tell who had been their, paddling the oars the longest, from the very beginning and those who were there to make money from the tourists. The houses sat on top of bamboo sticks, on top of the water. And the local families would just sit there, eating food or completed their chores.
It reminded me off the Philippines.
Nice pics.
ReplyDeleteRipped off?
So a tourist pays equal to 1/2 a life time of aunty's income to fly to Thailand, more than a month's income on a single night out, a weeks income on a massage and a soda... and then feels ripped off if they give aunty more than she's "worth".
I'd think giving aunty a lot of money is paying for more than the item we buy. Its cutting out the middle man. Its compensating her for what our class does to her class. It gives her more options.
Here in NZ, Queenstown businesses charge lots more for their wears than Dunedin businesses. There's a market for it, that's capitalism.
Aunty loves uncle Sam.
Leigh you always have to make things really complicated. :)
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