Written by Dave Perkes
Thursday, 18 June 2009
The cute kids selling stuff around the temples, asking where you come from, rattling out country facts like "England, capital London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown", and even attempts at Cockney rhyming slang can amuse. A Hungarian tourist said to a seller recently that if she could tell him the capital of Hungary, he would buy the book. The child confidently answered "Budapest", so a deal was done. Sometimes vendors rush up to people and interrupt their conversation with "You wanna buy flute, postcard, scarf, tablecloth". This irritating habit does them no favours, and I'd certainly not buy from them. Also beware of fake guidebooks. Tourists are sometimes offered shrink-wrapped guidebooks after being shown a pristine colour copy only to find that when they open the wrapping on the tour bus that they have a crude photocopy that falls apart within days. Of course, the children are not working in isolation, and they always have adults in the background. Their income supplements their family's income. These families are suffering badly with the lack of tourists, so if the kids are polite and say please and thank you, then do buy if you can. A little goes a long way here.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
The cute kids selling stuff around the temples, asking where you come from, rattling out country facts like "England, capital London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown", and even attempts at Cockney rhyming slang can amuse. A Hungarian tourist said to a seller recently that if she could tell him the capital of Hungary, he would buy the book. The child confidently answered "Budapest", so a deal was done. Sometimes vendors rush up to people and interrupt their conversation with "You wanna buy flute, postcard, scarf, tablecloth". This irritating habit does them no favours, and I'd certainly not buy from them. Also beware of fake guidebooks. Tourists are sometimes offered shrink-wrapped guidebooks after being shown a pristine colour copy only to find that when they open the wrapping on the tour bus that they have a crude photocopy that falls apart within days. Of course, the children are not working in isolation, and they always have adults in the background. Their income supplements their family's income. These families are suffering badly with the lack of tourists, so if the kids are polite and say please and thank you, then do buy if you can. A little goes a long way here.
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