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We Are the Tourist Attraction

INDIA | Wednesday, 28 March 2007 | Views [1055]

We have had the wonderful opportunity to visit areas that not many westerners visit. That said, we are getting used to the stares, gawks, and requests to be photographed, that we seem to be confronted with everywhere we go. There’s a point with which it gets exhausting, though, and we really just want to blend in. That said, we can’t make them stop staring or curtail their curiosity, so we thought we’d have some fun with it. At the botanical gardens in Ooty, we staged our game. The botanical gardens are an attraction in Ooty. Some tropical plants with funny non-descript labels attached… like tree planted by a young couple. Or palm tree from California. Many of the tourist areas are filled with trash and are not well kept. This one wasn’t as bad as some of the other attractions we’ve paid to enter. So after an hour of cruising the grounds and snapping pictures (we had to pay to bring in the cameras, so might as well take some shots) and fending off people that were surrounding us wanting to ask us questions, we had a thought. We prominently positioned ourselves on a park bench, next to the walking path. Looking due north, a group of teenage Indian males with cameras and cell phones is eyeing us. They all come over as a group, and the one chosen speaker with good English approaches us and asks permission to take our picture. Darrin quickly turns on our hidden video. Over the next 10 minutes, we must have had our pictures taken 50 times, with all types of Indian tourists and Ooty locals. Darrin even attempted at a joke that it would cost 2 rupees per photo. We shook all of their hands, learned their good names, and found out what part of India they were from. Too bad we don’t have enough bandwidth to stick the video clip up on this site- it’s hilarious, but you can see it when we’re back home.

Tags: Laughter