Magic Dance
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- May 25, 2010
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Walking down Bangla Road Sunday night around 1am. Street is mostly deserted, nothing like what it's like in high season, or even last year in low season. The only crowd is a group of people coming down to the east end of the street, away from the beach. There's one of the kids in the middle of the crowd who has a pile of hats that he sells, several European looking ladies around 20 years old or so, a policeman holding one of the hats, and several others, plus a crowd following and talking to each other. They come to a stop right where I'm standing, with the ladies seemingly trying to take a tuk-tuk someplace, and the police not allowing them to leave. The crowd grows, and more police start showing up, some in uniform, others not.
Some people I know eventually come over to tell me what's going on. Apparently one of the girls decided to take one of the kid's hats when he wasn't looking, and slip it under her shirt, after which the group tried to walk away without paying. Someone did notice though, and things started to escalate. By this time, the girls seemed to want to pay something like $30 (Australian?) for the hat and go home, but the police weren't having any of it โ they brought over one of the police pickups, put the kid with his pile of hats in the back, and drove off to the police station. One or two of the officers then left to take the girls there as well, still holding the stolen hat as evidence. If the story I was given was correct, the girls are both going to have to pay for the hat they stole (shoplifted) and get punished for trying to steal it.
Anyway, the only reason for posting this is that a lot of people who haven't traveled much are afraid of being ripped off by the locals. However, it's a two way street, and the dishonest behavior isn't limited only to the "foreigners". Maybe to the girls it all seemed like a big joke at the time, but by now they've realized it wasn't. There's that Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Ten minutes later, the street was back to the semi-deserted condition it had been in earlier. Bangla at 1am used to be far more crowded, even in low season.
Some people I know eventually come over to tell me what's going on. Apparently one of the girls decided to take one of the kid's hats when he wasn't looking, and slip it under her shirt, after which the group tried to walk away without paying. Someone did notice though, and things started to escalate. By this time, the girls seemed to want to pay something like $30 (Australian?) for the hat and go home, but the police weren't having any of it โ they brought over one of the police pickups, put the kid with his pile of hats in the back, and drove off to the police station. One or two of the officers then left to take the girls there as well, still holding the stolen hat as evidence. If the story I was given was correct, the girls are both going to have to pay for the hat they stole (shoplifted) and get punished for trying to steal it.
Anyway, the only reason for posting this is that a lot of people who haven't traveled much are afraid of being ripped off by the locals. However, it's a two way street, and the dishonest behavior isn't limited only to the "foreigners". Maybe to the girls it all seemed like a big joke at the time, but by now they've realized it wasn't. There's that Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Ten minutes later, the street was back to the semi-deserted condition it had been in earlier. Bangla at 1am used to be far more crowded, even in low season.