The truth behind this iconic Instagram photo trend
The truth behind an iconic Instagram trend at a tourist hotspot has been revealed.
Tourists have been taking photos at Chiang Mai's Tha Pae Gate in Thailand’s north with pigeons flying past them.
It’s common among Chinese tourists to the wall, which has stood in the city for thousands of years.
Shots are taken with sometimes dozens of birds, mid-flight surrounding the person.
“Some birds are not meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright,” one woman wrote on Instagram with video of her visit.
But it turns out, the pigeons aren’t doing it naturally.
Twitter user Sira shared video which is circulating on Chinese social media app TikTok.
"Because people want beautiful pictures, a new job has emerged at Tha Phae Gate,” he tweeted.
It turns out the birds don’t fly without a bit of a prod.
The video shows a woman armed with a large, white flag waving it on queue to get the birds to fly.
Sira also claims the birds are fed to encourage them to all come to one area before the flag is waved.
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According to Thai news site Khaosod, the woman in the video is a 30-year-old named Noon.
Tourists can pay Noon just under $1 to scare the birds as they stand ready for a snap.
555555555555555555 😂😂😂
เมื่ออยากได้ภาพสวยๆ
เลยเกิดอาชีพใหม่ที่ประตูท่าแพ pic.twitter.com/oP955eCRDu— Siravariety (@siravariety) August 20, 2019
Noon told the publication she earns about $15 a day.
While that might not seem like a lot of money in Australia, Noon claims in Chiang Mai it’s enough to put her daughter through school.
It also recently emerged Instagrammers in Bali have been faking an iconic image using a trick which has been called “ridiculous”.
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