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Published: October 20th 2010
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This is the second chapter of blogs about the resistance to travel.
I have now traversed 14 independent nations not including autonomous regions. Out of each region comes a people, all with different traditions, cultures and ways. As a traveller it is one of the greatest joys to see and experience these from cups of tea to shots of vodka.
Man can be divided into two categories; The good and The bad. As you travel, one makes a classification for every encounter based on very little. However unfair such judgements seem they are essential to complete even the simplest of tasks. For example, do I pay with exact change or not? Do I get in this car or the next? Do I stay here? Can I leave my luggage here? Is this a fair price? Is this man’s intention to maim me?
Of course, misconception by you or them, or the sound of their voice or mannerism one may incorrectly identify the good from the bad. These errors can also be classified in two ways. Thinking that they are bad when they are good, which makes you feel a little bad if you realise, or possibly stupid. One
finds oneself a little red faced or apologetic. The other error can have some far worse consequences though, to believe they are good when actually they are bad. Here are three such scenarios that I have heard from first hand sources.
In Istanbul, Turkey (ignoring the extortion that every trader or restaurant owner tries to screw out of you) there is ruse known as
The Sneaky Shoe Shine Switch. A jolly shoe shine man walks the streets looking for suitable clients to service. He accidently drops his brush in front of a tourist. The tourist notices, picks it up and hails the shoe shiner. A grateful shoe shiner offers to polish the tourist´s shoes for free. The tourist thinks what a wonderful chap to be so gracious and generous and accepts the good will. After polishing the tourist´s shoes he claims that each shoe will cost $30! What makes this scheme so sneaky is that on the shoe shiners box of brushes is a switch which he uses to dislodge the brush initially!
In Almaty, Kazakhstan the locals know a trick called the
Fickle Finder´s Fee Fraud. A local guys looks down at the floor to see a
wallet lying in the street in your path. He goes and picks it up at the same time he sees that you have seen him. He not wanting to seem criminal engages you in conversation asking “
Is the wallet is yours”. To which you honestly say “
No”. Together you look in the wallet and find no ID, only two, hundred dollar bills. He suggests “
Why don’t we take one each and go our separate ways”. You think
Why not, nobody is ever going to find it anyway. You each take one note and just as you start to walk off another guy appears with a policeman saying “
Hey, have you seen my wallet”, the one currently in your hand! They notice that you have the wallet they are describing and demand it back politely. You realise that you must and give the wallet back. The man inspects the wallet and then complains “
What about the money?” Then you present the hundred dollar bill possibly after a bit of stern looks from the policeman. The wallet owner demands “
There was six hundred dollars!” The first guy then says “
Sorry” and hands over his three hundred dollar contribution informing that “
He(that’s you) have the rest”. To which you can either cough up or face arrest by the policeman. Of course all three are in on it, three on one it is impossible to run, and with such a corrupt police force, it wouldn’t be surprising if the policeman is actually legitimate even if his actions are not!
My friend avoided this only by knowing the scam before it started. He instantly handed the wallet back to the first man informing him “
I’m sorry old chap, I’m not in the mood for your shananagans!”
In Shanghai, China there is the famed
Artful Arrangement for Aromatic Amusement. Two friendly looking early 20s girls ask you to take their photo outside the Shanghai Museum, you oblige happily. They then ask you
how you are? What you are doing in Shanghai? You cheerily make conversation, a nice addition to travelling by yourself is the attention and conversations with complete strangers. They tell you
they are art students and that they want to practice their English, would you like to come to tea with us? To let us practice and to see the famous Shanghai tea ceremony. You reply,
Of course, I have wanted to see one, it would be delightful to see one with some locals.
Now at the tea house they choose some lovely flower teas to try and are everyone is excited and enjoys the tea ceremony, including the blossoming flowers in the glass. At this point maybe it is worth noting that when you try teas, it is usually free with the concept that you may buy some afterwards. So then much to your shock the bill comes.
Okay, you think,
it was good I don’t mind paying a few yuan. Then flabbergasted you find that the bill is hundreds of dollars, the girls remind you that it is Chinese custom that
girls should be paid for by the boys(that’s you!). If you appeal then the girls may agree to pay their share, and happily pull out hundreds of dollars to pay their share, still leaving you to stump up to $200 of the bill. Of course refusal will result in an irate owner. So a mix of embarrassment, shock and pride result in most victims paying.
The students, of course, get their dollars back afterwards plus a healthy commission. They can be easily identified by the fact that
Shaolin GungFu
Might be Wushu, in fact who am I trying to kid! the same students will be back at the Shanghai museum the next day to pick up some more unsuspecting tourists. Feel free to take the tea with only 15 yuan in your pocket, the cost of expensive tea in China. Or as one great man did take them to the tea house but before starting gave them a huge lecture on morality and leave.
This is a wicked world and one that is not something one gets exposed to often, it is the criminality of the city and this is often greatly contrasted by the generosity and hospitality one usually finds in the countryside.
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Joan
non-member comment
exactly what I meant by be wary of people ;) I'm upset there isn't a specific post just for China!! by the by the sign DOES say 'be careful of your head' in Chinese, but I think someone tried to make a fool of Westerners by putting 'Bathroom' in English...;P