Two locals friends recently pushed past a yelling hotel manager after he told them I wasn't there, banging on my door with a message. 'Don't go with them, they want to end your life' they warned me as we talked in my room with the hotel manager angrily pressed against my closed door.
The last two days in Jaipur have been interesting to say the least. With Jaipur being one of the major tourist cities in India there is a large high pressure tout/rickshaw walla population that rush towards tourists hoping for an easy rupee. I met two guys yesterday morning, at a McDonalds, and they offered to show me a new hotel as I had payed far to much the previous night (when you arrive at 1am 700rs for the night is something you just have to deal with). They showed me a new hotel at 400rs per night for an amazing room (sure they got a little commission but I couldn't find anything even close to this cheap & good on my own after hours of searching). After getting settled in they refused to take any payment and wanted to show me around Jaipur.. for free.. Of course I knew something was up but I thought I'd play it out as long as I could. We went up to Tiger Fort, they paid for all the entrance fees and teas, to watch the sunset over Jaipur. Around 7pm we went for supper as his brother and boss had 'just flow in and would like to meet me', okay so isn't as abnormal in India as it would sound in another country. Westerners are after all a hot commodity here. The conversation was good, plus the free beer and meal helped out. Once the 'boss' arrived and started talking I was able to put all doubts aside and knew exactly what scam they were trying to pass over, good news for me there was no risk and I could expect a lot of free things as they tried to gain my trust.
The boss left as he of course had urgent business matters, but said he would like to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. The two others and myself talked for another hour before they dropped me off at my hostel, refusing any payment once again.
This morning they picked me up at 10am and took me out for coffee at a Cafe Coffee Day branch for some espressos and breakfast. I offered to pay but they declined, the boss had to remain in character and pick up the tab. Then the business offer came, it was a simple idea but was well presented, you could tell this was a regular act for them. All I had to do was have some precious jewelry mailed to myself back home (they would never actually be sent in the mail) and deliver them to their agents in Canada (who would pay you and reimburse you for any taxes you had to pay), allowing them to bypass the high tariffs on exporting. How the scam works is they will either get a small payment from you up front or a credit card so they can fake some receipts and undervalue the jewelery. After the pitch I politely declined and left, they gave surprisingly little effort (for India) to try and convince me to stay.
So with that I come to the end of my second day in India. Its been a fun, and free, ride but I knew it had to end at some point. For those of you wondering about my friends warning me that they 'want to end my life' its just a common lost in translation thing. They were actually just wanting to warn me that these other people were trying to scam me for $1,000-5,000 and it had nothing to do with my safety, just the end of my financial life.
For those planning to travel to India: I hope you venture outside of the famous golden triangle route (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) as the rest of India is completely different, more friendly, and less stressful to travel. From what I've seen so far South India is without a doubt better for backpackers than Northern India.
1 comments:
Oh boy, I can't wait to hear more stories when you get back hahahaha
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