Friday Feature- Why I can't be a tourist

Asalam Alaikum,

I don’t usually take too many pictures when we are outside shopping or just around town. This is mostly because Tariq has safety concerns. The area we live in is not one of the “high class” areas with lots of foreigners, so he worries about us sticking out more than we already do. He says that if I were to walk around the local market snapping pics, that it would encourage thieves because I “look like a tourist”.

Sometimes I use a cell phone camera, or Tariq will use it for me to take an interesting picture. They don’t usually come out well, but I am thinking about posting some just to give an idea of some of the interesting things we have seen.

This is probably one of the biggest reasons that I love to read other gori/desi blogs. Many times while visiting Southeast Asia, they have taken the types of pictures that I want to. It is pretty cool to see the things that I think are interesting/cool/weird pop up on somebody’s blog. Sometimes I’ll have moments when I’ll say something like “Ooh that happens here too!” or “Oh I felt that way too when I first saw the toilets here”.

I think it would probably be different is we actually were just visiting. For now, while we are living here full time, I’ll just have to stick to my bloglists and enjoy everyone else’s interest pictures!