Friday, November 19, 2004
Tips in going India / 11:30 pm
TIPS For India-Travellers
>>Since this is meant to be a traveller blog, let me post some tips for those travelling or interested in going to India from what i've learnt from my past experience....These are facts not fiction. Believe it or not, the type of scams are inexhaustive....
Do not be too naive or get too emotional if you want to help beggars or the poor, they are most likely to be scammers!
The unpleasant itchy-powder-down-your-back scam and the curry-sauce-smeared-on-the-back-of-your-shirt scam is likely to make you lose your valuables. Often preyed on visitors in Delhi & Mumbai(Bombay), the person will scatter itchy powder or inform u abt the curry sauce on your shirt back. Your first instinct is to put down your bag and look/ try to clean it. the next moment: Missing stuff.
Another trick is to throw a bunch of rupee notes on the ground and alert the unsuspecting westerner that he had dropped them, and very distractive scam. The victim bends down to retreive what he/she thinks is their money and leaves their bags in their blindspot.
There are lotsa 'impressive blind beggars' in India. Example: On a public bus, a sad shabby beggar will hop on and slowly tapped his way down the bus asking for alms to the locals (in Hindi, Tamil whatever). He will then tapped his way down the back with his hideous vein covered eyes to the back.Miraculously if there are any Caucasians, he will approach them, just touched their arm and asked in clear English "I'M BLIND! GIVE ME MONEY!" Wow, isnt that impressive! Through touch alone could this person tell the colour of their skin.
In Mahabalipuram (India, Tamil Nadu) for the orphanage "Little Home". Its best to warn the tourist that a lot of orphanages are fake. They set up an orphanage in the tourist season and put everyone out when the season is over. Also in the main street there is a very "agressive" one. He puts children on the street to give tourist brochures and is pushing for you to enter and give money. Children are also out till very late in the streets....And there are more of these.....
Beware bogus ear cleaners on the beach in Goa! The 'qualified' ear cleaners on the beach in Goa were somewhat over keen. It seems amazing that they can remove an impossible quantity of wax from your ear. Then he will tapped his cleaning prod inside one of your ear and tell you that the clicking sound meant that you had a 'stone' in there which he would removed for Rs 250. However, the trick is that - he actually was about to try to surreptitiously dump a pile of wax plus a stone into your ear. Where did the wax come from...ugh! Some of them may be for real, but don't be fooled by the stone business - this is a very gross con-trick.
Warning to women in Varanasi - the Festival of Light - one month after Diwali is spectacular but is seriously marred by gangs of men out to grope women in the crowds. Particularly awful were people who came up offering to shake hands and saying hello where are you from and then grabbing your breasts with the other hand before running off.
In the beach-resort Goa, you may be approached and asked to spend a few minutes completing a survey for the India Tourist Office. This is just a ploy to get your details to then phone you and invite you to a hotel to collect the free holiday prize you have won, with a meal and free drinks of course! This in actual fact is just a timeshare sales pitch, but can be confusing and time wasting etc. So don't be fooled.
There seems to be a scam in Khajuraho whereby the children try to get tourists to visit the village school to make donations. It all seemed rather suspicious - the teachers seemed to be giving a pitch to try to get money out of you. The trick - the teacher pockets half the money and gives the other half to the kid who gets you there.
Once you leave the train station in Bangalore, rickshaw drivers will shout out enormous amounts for a ride, making you happy with an amount that is still two times as high. Use the Meter! Never listen to their nonsense rubbish! (even though it may seem cheap)
A lot of tourists get cheated in a very emotional way. There are a lot of beggers on the street behond The Taj Mahal known as N.F. Road. The children do not ask for money, instead ask for a tin of powder milk for their siblings. Most of these infants are taken on hire, for a sum of Rs20 to Rs30 a day and returned to their mothers at dusk. These milk tins are taken back to the shop from where it was bought and resold for Rs20 less than the price paid for.
In Mumbai(Bombay), watch out for the porters. They all wear a maroon uniform and come onto the train looking for tourists, they'll grab your bag and offer to carry it onto the platform for you. The porter will charge you Rs 50. Of course, you will try to bargain, thats when another official looking guy will arrive and tell you that this was the going rate, so most likely you will pay. Never believe such scams! There is a large sign detailing porter costs. Should have been Rs 10. Not Rs.50!
A very clever con man often preyed tourists at Bombay Victoria Train Station. The man will create an affray by nabbing another con man (small player) and dragging him off, kicking and screaming, to the nearest police station. After much histrionic behaviour, the con man made an official complaint to the police and then will offer to be your 'guide' and protect us from 'cheats'. He will say he would get you cheap flight tickets. In fact he will run away, through the Income Tax Office at Churchgate Station in Mumbai, with your money. The Mumbai police know about him but nevertheless he is a professional and dangerous. My advice is never accept help from anyone, no matter how charming they might appear.
Mumbai - It's really important to stress using pre-paid taxi booth at International Airport. Takes a while to find outside the terminal, especially at night. Avoid touts who will offer you taxi and rip you off - they often don't know their way round either and circle around endlessly or try and get you to pay astronomical sum in advance. Also the security is much more tight and they want you to check in three hours earlier. Real searches especially just before you get on the plane itself when they grab you at random! Everything gets blamed on Pakistan when it comes to terrorism/security.
A major warning about shopping in India. Never take anything at the first price offered. ALWAYS halve the price first and bargain from there.
Make sure your water bottle is properly sealed when you buy it anywhere in India - seal replacing is a real growth industry in some areas! Some bottles may just have been refilled.
Coconut juice (fresh out of the coconut) is an excellent form of fluid replacement if you have severe diarrhoea or an upset stomach.
Safety Chains: It is common practice by the Indians travelling on trains to chain their luggage to the seats, and for good reason. These chains are sold at most major stations. For this purpose, it is better to carry a 'cycle security steel cable' approximately one metre long, which wraps up neatly into a small coil. Not only will you sleep better knowing that your luggage is secure, but you can go to the toilet or get out at stations to buy food etc, with peace of mind.
If you are getting a flight from Delhi airport, you will not be allowed into the Departures building more than 3 hours before your flight departure. If you arrive earlier, there is a Visitors Lounge available in the building adjacent to the Departures building. There is a charge of 25 rupees for waiting in the Visitors Lounge. Do not be taken in by seemingly official porters (many touts wear convincing uniforms) who try to convince you of any other airline-affiliated waiting lounges (these do not exist), or offer to drive you to guesthouses where you can wait.
Varanasi...Be warned there are many many blackouts. When the fan stopped working in the hotel it got unbearably hot. Worse, not a light to guide you as you make your way back home through the short, narrow, winding alleys of Varanasi. BRING A TORCH. If for anything else, it helps prevent stumbling upon a sacred cow!
Believe in yourself, not the others no matter how charming & convincing they seem...
>> Jay's e-Travel Diary 2003 to India Day 03 is partially completed. ^_^*!
[The adventure begins>>>]
~~ e-Travel Diary
2004A- Dubai - Tehran* (early-mid dec),
2004B- Beijing - Chengdu - ???? (China)* (mid dec - late dec)
*Destinations may change subject to availibility/ cancellation/ replacement of tours/flights.
>> Exact details yet to be finalised.
P.S. Good luck to those OCIP (China/India) pple!!! Happy Holidays! To NYCO...happy practising! =p
Do check my blog updates regularly. Thanx for support!!!
>>Since this is meant to be a traveller blog, let me post some tips for those travelling or interested in going to India from what i've learnt from my past experience....These are facts not fiction. Believe it or not, the type of scams are inexhaustive....
Do not be too naive or get too emotional if you want to help beggars or the poor, they are most likely to be scammers!
The unpleasant itchy-powder-down-your-back scam and the curry-sauce-smeared-on-the-back-of-your-shirt scam is likely to make you lose your valuables. Often preyed on visitors in Delhi & Mumbai(Bombay), the person will scatter itchy powder or inform u abt the curry sauce on your shirt back. Your first instinct is to put down your bag and look/ try to clean it. the next moment: Missing stuff.
Another trick is to throw a bunch of rupee notes on the ground and alert the unsuspecting westerner that he had dropped them, and very distractive scam. The victim bends down to retreive what he/she thinks is their money and leaves their bags in their blindspot.
There are lotsa 'impressive blind beggars' in India. Example: On a public bus, a sad shabby beggar will hop on and slowly tapped his way down the bus asking for alms to the locals (in Hindi, Tamil whatever). He will then tapped his way down the back with his hideous vein covered eyes to the back.Miraculously if there are any Caucasians, he will approach them, just touched their arm and asked in clear English "I'M BLIND! GIVE ME MONEY!" Wow, isnt that impressive! Through touch alone could this person tell the colour of their skin.
In Mahabalipuram (India, Tamil Nadu) for the orphanage "Little Home". Its best to warn the tourist that a lot of orphanages are fake. They set up an orphanage in the tourist season and put everyone out when the season is over. Also in the main street there is a very "agressive" one. He puts children on the street to give tourist brochures and is pushing for you to enter and give money. Children are also out till very late in the streets....And there are more of these.....
Beware bogus ear cleaners on the beach in Goa! The 'qualified' ear cleaners on the beach in Goa were somewhat over keen. It seems amazing that they can remove an impossible quantity of wax from your ear. Then he will tapped his cleaning prod inside one of your ear and tell you that the clicking sound meant that you had a 'stone' in there which he would removed for Rs 250. However, the trick is that - he actually was about to try to surreptitiously dump a pile of wax plus a stone into your ear. Where did the wax come from...ugh! Some of them may be for real, but don't be fooled by the stone business - this is a very gross con-trick.
Warning to women in Varanasi - the Festival of Light - one month after Diwali is spectacular but is seriously marred by gangs of men out to grope women in the crowds. Particularly awful were people who came up offering to shake hands and saying hello where are you from and then grabbing your breasts with the other hand before running off.
In the beach-resort Goa, you may be approached and asked to spend a few minutes completing a survey for the India Tourist Office. This is just a ploy to get your details to then phone you and invite you to a hotel to collect the free holiday prize you have won, with a meal and free drinks of course! This in actual fact is just a timeshare sales pitch, but can be confusing and time wasting etc. So don't be fooled.
There seems to be a scam in Khajuraho whereby the children try to get tourists to visit the village school to make donations. It all seemed rather suspicious - the teachers seemed to be giving a pitch to try to get money out of you. The trick - the teacher pockets half the money and gives the other half to the kid who gets you there.
Once you leave the train station in Bangalore, rickshaw drivers will shout out enormous amounts for a ride, making you happy with an amount that is still two times as high. Use the Meter! Never listen to their nonsense rubbish! (even though it may seem cheap)
A lot of tourists get cheated in a very emotional way. There are a lot of beggers on the street behond The Taj Mahal known as N.F. Road. The children do not ask for money, instead ask for a tin of powder milk for their siblings. Most of these infants are taken on hire, for a sum of Rs20 to Rs30 a day and returned to their mothers at dusk. These milk tins are taken back to the shop from where it was bought and resold for Rs20 less than the price paid for.
In Mumbai(Bombay), watch out for the porters. They all wear a maroon uniform and come onto the train looking for tourists, they'll grab your bag and offer to carry it onto the platform for you. The porter will charge you Rs 50. Of course, you will try to bargain, thats when another official looking guy will arrive and tell you that this was the going rate, so most likely you will pay. Never believe such scams! There is a large sign detailing porter costs. Should have been Rs 10. Not Rs.50!
A very clever con man often preyed tourists at Bombay Victoria Train Station. The man will create an affray by nabbing another con man (small player) and dragging him off, kicking and screaming, to the nearest police station. After much histrionic behaviour, the con man made an official complaint to the police and then will offer to be your 'guide' and protect us from 'cheats'. He will say he would get you cheap flight tickets. In fact he will run away, through the Income Tax Office at Churchgate Station in Mumbai, with your money. The Mumbai police know about him but nevertheless he is a professional and dangerous. My advice is never accept help from anyone, no matter how charming they might appear.
Mumbai - It's really important to stress using pre-paid taxi booth at International Airport. Takes a while to find outside the terminal, especially at night. Avoid touts who will offer you taxi and rip you off - they often don't know their way round either and circle around endlessly or try and get you to pay astronomical sum in advance. Also the security is much more tight and they want you to check in three hours earlier. Real searches especially just before you get on the plane itself when they grab you at random! Everything gets blamed on Pakistan when it comes to terrorism/security.
A major warning about shopping in India. Never take anything at the first price offered. ALWAYS halve the price first and bargain from there.
Make sure your water bottle is properly sealed when you buy it anywhere in India - seal replacing is a real growth industry in some areas! Some bottles may just have been refilled.
Coconut juice (fresh out of the coconut) is an excellent form of fluid replacement if you have severe diarrhoea or an upset stomach.
Safety Chains: It is common practice by the Indians travelling on trains to chain their luggage to the seats, and for good reason. These chains are sold at most major stations. For this purpose, it is better to carry a 'cycle security steel cable' approximately one metre long, which wraps up neatly into a small coil. Not only will you sleep better knowing that your luggage is secure, but you can go to the toilet or get out at stations to buy food etc, with peace of mind.
If you are getting a flight from Delhi airport, you will not be allowed into the Departures building more than 3 hours before your flight departure. If you arrive earlier, there is a Visitors Lounge available in the building adjacent to the Departures building. There is a charge of 25 rupees for waiting in the Visitors Lounge. Do not be taken in by seemingly official porters (many touts wear convincing uniforms) who try to convince you of any other airline-affiliated waiting lounges (these do not exist), or offer to drive you to guesthouses where you can wait.
Varanasi...Be warned there are many many blackouts. When the fan stopped working in the hotel it got unbearably hot. Worse, not a light to guide you as you make your way back home through the short, narrow, winding alleys of Varanasi. BRING A TORCH. If for anything else, it helps prevent stumbling upon a sacred cow!
Believe in yourself, not the others no matter how charming & convincing they seem...
>> Jay's e-Travel Diary 2003 to India Day 03 is partially completed. ^_^*!
[The adventure begins>>>]
~~ e-Travel Diary
2004A- Dubai - Tehran* (early-mid dec),
2004B- Beijing - Chengdu - ???? (China)* (mid dec - late dec)
*Destinations may change subject to availibility/ cancellation/ replacement of tours/flights.
>> Exact details yet to be finalised.
P.S. Good luck to those OCIP (China/India) pple!!! Happy Holidays! To NYCO...happy practising! =p
Do check my blog updates regularly. Thanx for support!!!
We know life's hard, truth is hard, lies are hard, they are all hard to accept when they have been
found out, and i'm rushing history homework on the Abyissian Crisis about Italy and Abyssia going into war and that the League Of Nations cannot stop this from happening, and beacuse they are formed by means to stop war and
peace-keep the countries together, they have thus failed to achieve that. I think i tend to hold a class for history instead of telling you about me, i'm basically a what subject-realted lover (humanities) and thus
I am more analytical and critical about things, and likes to study about dead people, haha. lol. it's history what can you expect and also geography, it amazes me. I really like it alot, so what have you? Again to find this answer
you need to enter into your own reality and reflect
it's amazing. amzing how people change the way of things, like how I used to hate outdoors in Band
felt it was a complete waste of time, i've acquired to like it more, i guess people change, their thereotical means and applications in life just goes on into a new direction, and see things in another perspective, i guess- it's
all in the mind. It really amazes me how these comes into action, from someone so pessimistic has changed his own view of things, and thus my friend is scoring much better, being more optimisitc and not think of his old way of suicidal
thoughts, which are pretty daunting. and thus we need to see things, in another light, another perspective and another new way, to enable us to open up our minds, and make more new things, the new way it is.