←→How to Deal with Hawkers

Posted Saturday, February 24th, 2007 · Permalink

Since starting this site I have become more involved in the travesphere. It’s a really nice community of people out there. One place that everyone can contribute is the BootsnAll Travel Community Forum. I really love following the discussions there.

Today I was visiting a thread started by someone wondering how to deal with beggars and hawkers. I have some personal opinions on this matter that are largely based on my visit to Southeast Asia to which the thread author specifically refers (edited slightly for clarity):

We are planing a trip to Southeast Asia and I’ve read a lot of reports on the high number of beggars, touts, street kids, etc. I was just wondering how other people deal with it.

This was indeed a problem for me when I visited Bangkok for the first time. I wasn’t used to people who didn’t take ‘no thanks’ for an answer. But one thing I learned quickly was that the difference between ‘no thanks’ and ‘no’ is large. Although you might feel rude, try just saying ‘no.’ You might be surprised how much it helps.

The next step comes automatically. After traveling for a while, you might start to develop a hand gesture that works quite tell. It’s a little bit like a Jedi mind trick kind of gesture along with a passing eye-contact and a shake of the head. It takes a while to master this, but once you’ve got it, you’ll find that getting rid of hawkers and the like becomes much easier.

There is also an emotional/moral side to this issue. Some find it difficult to deal with seeing people much poorer hawking for money. It would be fantastic if we could help these people, but the problem of poverty is a big one. The best thing is to do what you do at home: buy only if you want what they’re selling and don’t give away money.

The economic problems of such countries are so vast that long-term international attention is needed for lasting solutions. If you feel you need to help, send a letter to your government expressing your opinions on the matter. Giving unplanned, non-binding financial donations to the poor will unlikely bode well for them in the long-run.

Filed under Travel Tips.