Something I forgot to mention previously. The day before I left for my trek there was a Hindu festival, I have no idea of its name. It seemed to involve children holding a silver tray on which was placed red rice and pictures of deities singing in shop doorways and demanding money, there were also children pulling ropes across roads and asking for a toll.
As I was leaving one shop a group of kids started singing at the door tray in hand. As I walked past a young girl of no more than ten turns to me and says in an abrubt voice "You! Give me money!" She did this with so much gusto I very nearly did.
There are not as many people directly begging on the streets as I thought there might be. I had only one previous encounter when a small boy with a bag of rubbish slung over his shoulder grabbed my elbow and kept asking for money for food. It is not good practice to give directly to beggars and I plan on donating some money to charities that help street kids before I leave. I ended loosing the boy in the crowd, I felt awful.
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