We often travel to Thailand and it never stops amazing us; the shopping is great, the food is superb and the people are very polite and respectful! However it’s the first time that I really think about this country, as behind the disorganized roads, the traffic jams and chaotic markets there seems to be an organized country. Early morning you will see the food sellers for breakfast and then the shops and malls open to the public with some sellers in the roads beside the malls; around 7 PM the malls start to close down but at the same time the street market starts to assemble. The road side restaurants appear and many queue up to eat there and choose from the variety of rice, noodles, insects, seafood or meats. All is done in a very organized manner that you don’t even think about. The themes are orchestrated so well that you would think that it’s another set of street malls.
I was wondering about that and comparing to our countries. What is happening in Thailand is entrepreneurship by the core. The night street malls are owned by the students who want to get the extra income to pay off their loans. So instead of allowing the malls to make extra money beyond 7 pm the country decided to forfeit that profit to help the little entrepreneurs on the streets. I asked them if they have to pay for their spot! And as usual they smiled and said no. So when I saw the police I visualized what is going to happen: The stampede! As the police is going to raid the market to stop these sellers. To my surprise though none of that happened. Why was I imagining this? Because I have seen it with my eyes in the Arab world that when the police appear the sellers take whatever they can from their products and run for their lives!
I cannot just go to a place and forget all about it once we leave, I start to analyse and compare. I feel this trend should be done everywhere. The malls should close early and the street shops should be a trend for kids to start an early income. I want to eat papaya salad from a street seller and pay a dollar for it instead of the exorbitant prices that we pay in main stream restaurants. I want to buy a teeshirt for 5 dollars instead of 50. And I want the sellers to tell me that it’s 5 dollars because it’s made in Dubai or Bahrain and not China. I want us to be proud of who we are and lovers of our own countries.
Hooray for the entrepreneurship and Sawadiqa everyone.
