Indonesia / Malaysia

Coming down the hill from Bajawa to Borong, a vehicle slowed to a stop while I'd been gathering myself on the side of the road for a few minutes.

From the vehicle, three fellas approached me asking if they could take some photos with me. I agreed (this being nothing new to me) where we took a dozen photos between us.

It was in our conversation following that I'd learnt the motivation for their approach. One of them mentioned it was his dream to take a photo with a European! This struck me as quite a shock, as I'd never thought the satisfaction of a selfie would run so deep.

A conclusion that I'd come to earlier in the trip was that the interest of Indonesians to have photographs with a 'bule' (often me!) is simply for their own entertainment. Us Europeans (considering I am Pakeha at home) tend to represent wealth much larger than their own.

For a relative perspective, the local minimum wage is often a monthly salary somewhere above a few million rupees, which would equal a few hundred dollars from home. Our symbolism of wealth associates as a symbol of status which they are then able to put on their social media or send to their friends and family.

We'd continue to exchange a few more words. In return, they taught me a few more words of Bahasa which I'd been meaning to learn. It's funny the things which one might encounter on the road.En savoir plus