During our boat trip, where a woman rowed while the man "steered" (and by "steered" we mean hung out in the sun holding a long stick), our tour guide shared some amazing information: To start, ~500 farming families live in Tam Coc. The lucky families make ~$40 USD/month... barely enough to get by and put food on the table each month. Just to "make it" each month, the 500 families each wait over 2 weeks to get their turn at taking the tourists on boat trips. The family members who will row/steer the boats must arrive at the "boat station" 2-3 days in advance, because if they aren't there when the government officials announce that it's their turn, they lose their turn and have to wait another 2 weeks.
Each ticket costs 20,000 Dong (~$1.25 USD). Of this amount, 20% goes to the "boat station", 10% goes to the government officials, and the rest is "take home" for these farmers. These 2 hr. trips, of which they can only make 2-4 trips a day, are a huge source of income for them. They take their visitors on the rowboat through waterways and a cave, emerging on the other side of the cave near a temple honoring the god of the mountain. Since our trip was on the first day of the lunar calendar month, there was a small woman sitting at the temple waiting to greet everyone who came to say their prayers. As we approached her, she handed each of us a stick of incense and asked that we also pray for good health.
On our way back, our tour guide informed us that when the families are not working the "tour" route, they still have to make this boat trip every morning and then walk another hour on foot over the mountain to get to the valley where they farm their piece of land. That is some commute. It's amazing to see the lives of the people in this village... such a simple life, but still a struggle to survive.
4 comments:
Maybe one day I will be brave enough to do the same thing as you two are doing.
Struglling life indeed but is not quite the same as you had.
last night i showed gong/puo your travel blogs, they had a great time :-0, then puo asked if you guys went and watched the infamous transvestite show while in thailand..hahaha..puo is awesome!
wow! sounds like an amazing time... it's cool reading about all the stuff you guys are learning about how different these people's lives are.
does the person in the deer picture have a mask on?
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