Friday Mystery Photo

There were narrow and cobbled streets in this part of town with a lot of little shops, selling all kind of souvenirs, clothes, shoes and some antique looking things. Not sure how most of it antique, probably not at all, just made to look like it. This place (the photo) is definitively old, no faking here. I can’t remember how old though, you my fellow readers after pointing out where it is might also provide the age of this structure.

I had to wait at least five minutes before I could get close to the center opening and setup my camera for a quick shot. I think that over past decade there is a huge transformation in the tourist industry, with majority of tourists around the world are coming from somewhere Asia. It could be Chinese, Indian, Japanese or Korean. It seems like Indians are usually travel as a whole family, grandparents, their adult kids and their little ones. With older generation pretty much always wearing their traditional flip flops, no socks, no matter what the weather. The younger are more westernized in their clothing choices. I wonder if 40-50 years from now they will switch back to their traditional styles or this is the generation that will slowly move away from it. It seems to me that Koreans are the most organized to travel in large groups. There usually would be a boat load of buses with them, all walking in nice concentrated groups behind their guides, diligently listen to whatever story they tell them. In this case I had to wait for a huge group of Koreans to finish listening the story about this place and then take obligatory picture with their POS or Video camera. I think Chinese are somewhere in between Koreans and Indians, some solo, family or group travelers.

Couple blocks away from this spot there is a place that sells some paintings and art work. They put it on display on the outside wall for folks to see. They also have a “No Photo” sign, not super visible but there. I was walking by and saw colorful paintings and decided to take a shot or two – so later on I could show it on the blog. The folks there were not pleased, screaming at me “No Photo”, and pointing at the sign. Well, that kind of pissed me off, which I expressed by letting them know that it is their stupid loss. This would be free advertisement, no matter how small, for these idiots. What do they think I would do with the photo? Sell it to somebody or reproduce their precious paintings? I can understand if I would walk into the store and they didn’t want me to take photos, but they put them all out on the street for everyone to see, and no photos? Just even thinking about it reminds how mad it made me at that moment.

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