Tourist Prices and Special Treatment

Being a tourist you always  know that you will be taken advantage of one way or another. Living in China we have to haggle hard and every shop and stall holder is desperate to garner your attention. In India we experienced the hardest haggling and tourist prices of our lives.

1. Taking photos. People and especially children will say "One photo. One photo please". If you take a photo the next moment they will be thrusting their hands in your face demanding money. We knew that this would happen and so we went armed with our sniper zoom and only took the photos we actually wanted. We did see a tourist take a photo of an enormous group of children at the Mosque and that pretty much emptied his entire wallet. Considering the amount of photos we pose for in China and the number I was asked to pose for in India I probably should start charging too!

2. Tuk-tuk and trishaw drivers will try to charge you at least double. Thankfully our host Ajay at Eleven Delhi helped with our itinerary every day and told us exactly how much we should be paying for our transport. We did have one trishaw driver who decided when we got to our destination that we had agreed on a price per person not just a price for the trip so we paid double. Walking away was our best tactic for getting the price we wanted. It's important no matter what the exchange rate is for you to pay the fair price as otherwise things will become unaffordable for the locals and drivers will only wish to pick up tourists because that is where they can get the price they want.

3. The Mosque was another great place to be ripped off. As a tourist you have to leave your shoes outside and pay a fee to get your own shoes back when you leave. The local worshippers take their shoes inside and keep them with them. We had to pay a fee to go in and then an extra fee for having a camera and on leaving the guy didn't believe we'd paid for the camera and was trying to get us to pay again. I had been wearing highly appropriate clothes and even had a scarf ready to cover my head. Despite having no skin other than my hands on show I had to pay more money to wear a floral dressing gown that was shorter than my own clothes in both overall length and in the sleeves and it was open at the front. The point of it I don't actually know.

4. Tour Guides. We went to Agra and had a driver arranged to take us there and back. On our way the driver pulled over and picked up a man who we were told was our tour guide. The only problem was that we hadn't booked a tour guide and had been given no option and had no idea of the cost or what to do. We called Ajay and he sorted it all out for us and then the company that had provided the car gave us a discount as this was obviously not what they expected to happen.

5. Pre-paid taxis. The police run a pre-paid taxi service from the airport. We decided this was our safest bet. We organised the taxi at the airport and paid. We were told by the people we paid that we were not to give the driver any money at all and they gave us one of their phone numbers in case we had any problems in India. As we approached our taxi a man grabbed my husband's bag and then mine and put them in the back of the taxi and would you believe it demanded money for lifting our suitcases when he hadn't even given us an option. The taxi driver was a lunatic. He was racing another taxi from a different company and it was the worst, most frightening car ride we have ever experienced. Next thing the driver couldn't find our accommodation and drove round and round. When we did get there because he had got lost and had to drive further he decided that he needed more money. The logic is priceless. He got lost. He drove like a maniac. He wouldn't look at the map or call the number I gave him so we needed to pay him more!

6. Shopping Malls. All drivers get a commission for taking tourists to the mall. Every driver when working out a price with you will try and say that for an extra amount of ruppees they can take you to a shopping mall too or will ask if you wish to go to a mall. You have to be incredibly firm and say that you don't want to go.

7. Metered Taxis. Generally the metered taxis are safe. You do run the risk that they will call a friend and pretend they are from the place you have said you have a reservation and claim no knowledge of it. We didn't experience this as we used one of the two companies recommended to us. The only issue we had with a metered taxi was on one occasion when we reached a destination and the driver turned the metre off, and claimed the price was more than we believed we should have been paying.

As I have said in a previous post there is a huge amount of poverty in India but you have to be careful how you help as a tourist. Paying more doesn't necessarily mean that your money will be used for good or that it will actually help.

The Women of India

Over the last week or so one thing that has really struck me is just how hard the women of India really work. As I currently lie by the pool in the sun recovering from a serious bout of food poisoning, thanks to a salad from one of the cleanest restaurants in Goa, a woman has been meticulously sweeping all around the premises using a bundle of twigs for hours wearing a beautifully ornate and pristine red and gold sari. Ironically 4 men are staffing the bar which as usual is empty so they stand or sit, talk and do very little. Behind the front desk another man sits in the cool aircon answering the phone which on the rare occasion has been known to ring.

When I left to get fruit juice and plain crackers for our recovery diet there she was out the front bent over sweeping the driveway. Her bundle of twigs is so short that she is literally bent in two and there is no doubt in my mind that her back will ache severely later as it has been some 4 hours and still she sweeps. This hotel isn't even that big. Why is this a woman's job?

Other women I've come across in Goa are either fortunate enough to sit out front of a beach side shack selling clothing, towels and sarongs. They really do have quite marvellous sales patter however I am one of those people that runs a mile that moment someone wishes me to enter their shop "looking is free". Looking may be free but the pressure of them following your every step, trying to engage you in a conversation that ultimately leads to the 3 children they have at home and, if I like it "why don't I want to buy it?" is a little more than I can bare. If I bought everything I liked I would have wound up in debtors prison with Pip Pirrip a long time ago. These women are there around 8am and well past sunset trying to make what money they can. I even heard the line "I'm cheaper than Primark" on the beach one day. You really can't fault them for knowing their market.

While reclining on the beach more sari clad women will move between the sun beds to sell you jewellery, sarongs, beach blankets, manicures, massages and fruit. One woman was trying to persuade my husband he was in need of a pedicure. I happen to agree with her, but saying his feet looked like those of a monkey possibly wasn't her best sales pitch of the day. We happened to hear these women along the beach speak at least 3 languages with ease; Hindi, English and I believe Polish. There is a large number of the European community here in Goa. It would appear the Costa Del Sol has been replaced by the cheap exchange rate, the glorious sunshine and the fact that for a mere 500 rupees you can easily feed 2 people well and have a cocktail. It is a little sad for some of us for whom the Costa Del Sol is our idea of hell on earth and Goa may yet lose it's rustic charm and unspoilt beauty.

From what I have seen I firmly believe that the women of India work just as hard as the men if not, in my personal opinion, harder. Women walk at least 30 minutes in blistering heat and relentless sun with baskets atop their heads laden with coconuts, pineapples, mangoes, papayas and all other sorts of fruit. Once arriving at their beach of choice they then spend the day wandering up and down the sand selling their wares for around 50 rupees a piece cut and ready to eat. It really is amazing what they can carry. Women are also employed to carry crates of cola and beer bottles both full and empty to beach side shacks that cannot be reached by road. They don't even carry just one crate at a time. They carry two.

North Indian women can also be seen in Goa on the road side in the dirt, digging, shovelling and carry heavy loads of rubble atop their heads to widen the road. The work is all done with primitive tools and very few men are seen in their midsts. There are no road work signs, barriers to keeps them safe, hi-vi's or other safety measures surrounding them. There is no shaded area to rest and escape the heat. Are these women the untouchables I have read about? Perhaps they are.

From the top of a tomb in New Delhi my husband and I saw a woman with her husband digging a ditch by the road and without doubt she was doing the majority of the work. She was clad in a black sari covering her head which was not too dissimilar to a Burka. Again their tools were quite ancient and what they were aiming to achieve I don't know.

All of these women mentioned are in stark contrast to the high powered women that I have seen in the fancy boutiques at Khan Market or even at the airport in their western clothes with designer handbags and stilettos on their feet. How did the women of India grow so far apart? Is it a man's world?

Northern India and Adult Diapers?

This week I am writing from India. We are currently in Anjuna in Goa enjoying some sunshine. We started our journey in New Delhi and took a quick trip to Agra before reaching the relative tranquility that is the Southern coast of India.

When asked what we were doing for Chinese New Year and our response was India we met with a multitude of opinions, advice and mild to moderate shock in some cases. One classic piece of advice from a colleague was to purchase some adult diapers and take them with us as we would inevitably need them. Another reassuring piece of advice was that everyone sees us as an easy target and that it is scam central. Sounds like the perfect holiday for a twenty-something; adult diapers and being taken advantage of.

In all honesty I have been the driving force behind this trip and not my husband. I am very lucky that he agreed to come with me despite his reservations and lack of desire to go. Most people who know us know that it is unlikely my husband would refuse as he has accompanied me on my crazy country hopping for sometime now. I certainly have at least one relative who finds my behaviour quite shocking and the phrase “your poor parents” has been spoken more than once. To qualify this I should explain that there is no real history of wanderlust in my family and only an average amount of movement within the confines of the homeland. The only parallel I can draw with a relative is my Great Auntie Delphina. A truly amazing woman who it would appear never did as was expected by society and lived until a few days short of her 99th birthday. I have always admired Auntie Del and enjoyed spending time listening to her stories of how she grew up at the beginning of the 20th century and the places she visited. On her mantle were two small marble coaster-like ornaments with inlaid marble patterns that she had purchased when she visited the Taj Mahal in India. I loved looking at them and always thought about going there.

India is a hard place to describe. My husband and I are both still trying to make sense of everything we have seen and experienced so far. The biggest thing that has struck has been the divide between rich and poor. We have of course experienced this before in Borneo and at our current home in China. Driving in a taxi in New Delhi; men, women, children with babies in their arms, the wounded, the crippled and the elderly wait at junctions and then surround the car banging on the windows to get your attention and beg you for money. The only problem with this is that there is sadly a baby rental service throughout many regions of India where people can rent a baby to improve their chances when begging. Then, we have actually seen a few people catch buses to get to the better begging spots. Are they poor? Is it an easy way to make some money?

An image that will stick with me for a long time are the small communities of people camped by the main road, lighting fires on the pavement to keep warm and cook what they have a few steps from the most affluent area of Delhi and some of the busiest roads. With no social security or benefit system people literally have no option but to support themselves. In Agra we were approached by a girl who was clearly blind in one eye due to cataracts, such a simple thing to cure, she was shabbily dressed and quite filthy and literally less than a metre away were 3 girls the same age immaculately dressed in crisp blue and white school uniforms. How can you make sense of that? 

We visited Ghandi Smriti the day following the anniversary of his martyrdom. The whole place was strewn with flower petals and floral garlands. It had been closed on 30 January for a ceremony for the “select” and this was quite ironic as this surely would have gone against the grain with Ghandi. Having spent some time in Old Delhi and seeing the poverty first hand in the dusty streets surrounding Agra you begin to understand Ghandi’s reason for being in Delhi and his push to erase the Caste system that has sadly existed for decades in India. What would Ghandi think of India now?

Our experience in Northern India took us to a variety of temples, tombs, markets, forts and gardens. It is dusty and dirty and full of history, noise and curious sights. There is elegance in even the most garishly ornate building and I suppose this can be compared to the women in their brightly patterned Saris with gold stitching and elaborate jewellery and shoes. However there was a lack of colour in Northern India during our visit, even the spice market didn’t hold the vibrancy we were looking for and perhaps this was due to the season. Is the Taj Mahal impressive? Simply, yes. Are we glad that we have been to Northern India, experienced the chaos, been charged crazy prices because of our white faces and seen what life is really like for people here? I don’t know if glad is the right word, but we have learnt from this experience and it has raised many questions for us to consider.

No adult diapers required so far.