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Friday, January 06, 2006

Near sunset, horsecarts run tourists to the most popular temples to view the end of the day from. I found a smaller place, one where there were no hawkers, and where you were still allowed to climb up to the top. About a half hour after I got there, two hawkers saw me and climbed up to chat and try to sell me paintings. I said no. Then one of the most poignant moments of the trip. One of them asked me "Why doesn't anyone buy our things? I sold nothing today." "Because at every single temple there are at least twenty people selling pretty much the same thing," I said. "And people don't like to be bothered too much when they just want to see sights." I pretty much felt ashamed of my life when they left...at my luck and at my relative prosperity. And now when I say, I realize how horribly condescending and faux-concernced it sounds. Being faced with poverty is enough to make you want to curl up in your house and pretend the rest of the world does not exist.  Posted by Picasa

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