trust? or trust you not?

Day 81


He was very tall, thin, and dark-skinned with an odd haircut. Short curls in the front and shaved in the back, something like a chelsea without the lengthy bangs. His fly was undone. Or maybe his boardshorts just weren't fastened at the top. Either way, since that area was more eye level to me than his face, I couldn't help but notice. I almost wanted to tell him to do up his fly, in the way a mother would scold her child. I stopped myself and tried to focus on what he was saying...

"Spare a dollar for a poor hitchhiking backpacker?" He asked us.

He looked a little rough, which made his story believable. But I still got a bad vibe from him. I felt like responding with, "Sorry man, but we're poor backpackers too". I didn't say anything. He was mostly fixed on Chris anyway.
Chris hesitated and then reached into his pocket for his wad of bills. "I guess..." he said, unsure of himself. Then he handed the guy a 10,000 LAK bill (which is worth just over a dollar).


Two hours later, at around 7:30pm, we were sitting in the back of a crammed transfer bus on our way to the Vientiane bus station to catch the 'sleeper' bus to Pakse. The truck had stopped outside another guesthouse to shove some additional travelers in the back, and then I spotted him. His tall silhouette emerged from around the street corner.
A Lao man jumped out of his tuk-tuk and followed the guy a few steps until they were standing right outside our bus. I could see the entire interaction take place. Or more acurately, the entire TRANSaction. I knew right away what was happening. The two of them quickly engaged in obvious bartering, then the guy reached into a small pocket on the side of his board shorts and took out some money from a black pouch. He discreetly palmed the folded bills into the tuk-tuk driver's hand while the driver simultaneously deposited a fist-sized package into the guy's money pouch. They parted ways, walking quickly in opposite directions. The tuk-tuk driver\drug dealer glanced my way and we made eye contact for a split second. I quickly looked toward the guy to yell at him "Hey you poor backpacker! Our money went toward those drugs!" But he was gone.



--
Travel tip of the day:

Don't give charity to drug users.

Really though, I know it can be hard not to give money to people who appear to need it, but doing so just encourages begging. I think it's better to give food because then at least you're helping the person directly. Often beggers are controlled by a 'beggarmaster' who takes a large cut of the person's earnings...