Accessories

< December 2013 >

I was walking through a market in the highlands of Chiang Rai, the northernmost city of the land of smiles. Most of the vendors were women from some tribe I could not identify, wearing thick colourful garments, selling accessories to tourists. This was what a lot of the poor in the touristy areas do – they set up stalls and sold handicrafts or mass-produced key chains. Every stall would be more or less the same, so competition among the vendors were high. It was hard to make a living but it was their only means.

At first glance, nothing caught my eye. I tried not to keep eye contact with the vendors so that they wouldn’t keep calling me to buy their items. They were desperate and needed the business, but I couldn’t afford getting anything I wouldn’t use either. However, there was this stall that sold some turquoise pendants, so I lingered there a little longer. Sensing my attention, the vendor – who was also the oldest vendor there, took some more necklaces and gestured to me.

She had deep-set wrinkles and very little teeth, mostly reddened from eating betel nuts, and her voice was especially pleading. I could not understand a word she was saying, but she kept trying in the only language she knew. I tend to sympathize with old people more, so I looked harder among her stock to see if I could buy anything useful. In the end, with the help of the vendor next to her to translate what I wanted, along with slight haggling of the price, I bought two turquoise necklaces. They were made with dull turquoise beads and metal that looked like they would rust quickly, but it had a nice bohemian vibe to it that would match with some of my clothes.

I supposed she thanked me profusely, because she kept smiling and nodding while talking quickly. I had this sudden urge to capture the moment. I took out my camera and instinctively, she knew. She paused for a moment, then said something to the vendor next to her who translated.

What happened next was just a simple request but a heart-warming and memorable one on my part (hence this post 1 1/2 year later).

She wanted the picture to not just be about her, it had to contain the accessories too.

She stood next to her stall and beamed at the camera.

She was proud of her stall.