I think there is a training school for tuk-tuk drivers in Asia. I think it goes like this, probably in this order :
Can you load this thing up to the max?
Can you almost drive this thing?
– no? It’s ok, they don’t go that fast.
Can you barter hard when challenged?
After an induction period they get advanced training so they can offer inroads to other lines of business, all with no shop fronts required?
‘You smoke?’
‘You want lady?
I’m sure there must be a cut off though as the second and third options are quite common, they’re not offered by them all, but usually when the tuk tuk ride is refused. Maybe they think it’s not a tuk tuk ride you’re after. Purely in the pursuit of market forces training, I was almost tempted to see the price of the third, then ask the lady calling me from the other side of the street in Vientiene directly. I’m curious to see what cut they get….
Oh I left all the oranges I acquired from the Orange truck in Vieng Xai in Vang Vieng, happy they didn’t have to be carted round Laos any more without being eaten. I also left a bag of crisps that survived the circuit from Luang Prabang where I bought them, back to there and down to Vang Vieng. And I wonder why I carry so much…