You know what a tuk tuk is? A little trailer like thing with seats pulled along by a motorbike. They can be very handy for taking you to a temple a few kms away. And they are very handy for employing lots of local people. I counted 6,000 drivers in Siem Reap. And every single one asked me, "You want tuk tuk lady?"
Times when you can be asked if you need a tuk tuk include, but are not limited to:
every time you leave your guest house
every time you cross the road
when you are just stepping out of another tuk tuk
when you are eating dinner in a restaurant
when you are cycling down the road
when you are buying post cards
you get the idea. At least the only thing I was offered was transportation. James, the lucky thing, was offered may other delights like weed and sex. And the touts couldn't understand why he kept refusing them. They were all at very reasonable prices, with special discounts of course :)
Oh, and I just thought I'd mention the time when a wee girl, maybe 2 years old, left her mother and came running up to James to hug his leg as he was walking by. She didn't let go. Just swang along sitting on his foot. Her mother just laughed and waved goodbye.
We didn't keep her though. She would have been pretty heavy hand luggage.
PS A couple of days ago we found out that we got the English teaching jobs in Nice! So we're very excited and will be based somewhere in the Nice region from October to May 2008. Come and visit us!
