Alf-o-rama

In 2008 an unknown teenager from Canada was discovered for his musical talent (debatable) after his mum posted videos of him on YouTube. His name is Justin Bieber. As his popularity grew amongst teenagers all over the world lil’ Justin couldn’t go anywhere without being mobbed. This was the start of Bieber Fever!

OK, so the popularity of Western babies in Asia isn’t quite on the scale of Bieber Fever, but day-by-day ‘the boy’ is realising that he’s a bit special, particularly with the ladies. At home, other than the odd grandma who would peer into his buggy, he was ‘normal’. Nobody took a second glance.

In Asia, he can no longer move through the streets unnoticed. He’s poked, pinched, tickled and picked up by random passers by on a daily basis. His face must now adorn thousands of photo albums across Asia, but weirdly (or luckily for us) he loves the attention.

Sometimes the excitement he generates (high pitched screams, giggling and general mayhem) is so over the top it’s hard not to laugh. We’ve found that at major tourist attractions ‘the boy’ can draw more camera lenses than the paid for temple / volcano / animal sanctuary / monument (delete as appropriate). So much so that we’ve started photographing everyone else photographing ‘the boy’.

Now he’s become accustomed to the attention he’s started playing along with it. On one particular day, on a visit to the Pura Tanh Lot and whilst trying to feed him on a raised platform, a crowd gathered. The boy suddenly started sliding around in front of the ladies, crawling just within reach and then moving swiftly away from their outstretched arms. He put on a great little show, pulling moves out of the bag synonymous with Lou Spence. (Time to get worried?) The ladies loved it and the cameras came out in force (see below).

Forget Bieber Fever, this is Alf-o-rama!

Top tip of the day:
If meal times co-incide with a visit to a busy tourist attraction try and find a quiet corner away from the main areas to feed your baby. We’ve found that there is little respect for personal space or for the fact that you are mid-feeding and therefore the attention can be very distracting for your baby.