Let's unveil you the most common scams in the southeastAsian: from the gemstone shop to the Buddha's day ... then don't say we don't let you know!
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Southeast Asia for me is the earthly paradise: dream beaches where you can drink a freshly fallen coconut from the palm tree (if you know how to open it clear!), Happy people who come from all angles of the planet, food, good beautiful and cheap to every hour and every corner and extraordinary adventures to the order of the day. And the best? It is a low cost paradise!
But, there is always a but: this low cost paradise can be expensive! As in all the tourist places of the world there will always be the typical hunting-tourist hustler to lighten your wallet! But he will not steal the Lupine-style, the funniest thing is that you yourself will pay him, yes, because he will scam you almost without you noticing! And it will happen, as sure as Colon was Italian (I take this space to underline the fact that Cristoforo Colombo = Cristobal Colon was Genova's Italian and not Catalan as our old landlady held. Pilar is as Italian as Margherita pizza. Point and end).
As we love you very much we have prepared this small list of the most typical scams of Asia: Warning man half saved! (If anyone knows more scams, say so!)
1. THE TIMO OF BUDDHA DAY
You are in Bangkok and you want to visit the Royal Palace, you ride a tuk tuk but the friendly driver warns you that you cannot go to visit the palace just today because it is closed: of course it is the Buddha Day (or national holiday, or it meets the king, or anniversary of the queen or day of the golden elephant ...). His intention is to take you to another temple, business, palace, etc. where he will have commissions on what you buy. Needless to say, Buddha's day does not exist, right?
2. THE TIMO OF THE PRECIOUS STONES BUSINESS
You don't know how but you ended up in a jewelry store. The owner, suspiciously majete, proposes you the business of the century:
Are you from Rome ?! How loud! I have a business right there, but sending the precious stones costs me a kidney! Why don't you transport them? They are worth $ 3,000! Leave me $ 500 as a precaution, you never know if you're going to keep my precious stones and scam me ...
Nor is it necessary to explain that the store does not exist and that precious stones are colored rocks, right?
3. THE TIMO OF THE AGENCY
For any activity you want to do there will be one, two, come, one hundred agencies ready to sell you the best tours, and of course, the most convenient (like this one of the Bromo) Lie! There is nothing more convenient than organizing the tour yourself: you will save a lot of money in commissions. In Angkor for example an organized tour can leave for $ 100 or more! If you do it on your own you will spend about $ 20! The same goes for bus, train, plane tickets: buy them directly at company offices, your savings will be happy.
4. THE TIMO OF THE MOTORCYCLE
This perlite is typical of Vietnam, and yes, we know it well! You rent a motorcycle to run happily here and there, but the joy ends when there is no shadow of your motorcycle back to the parking lot: it has been stolen, and most likely the thief is the same owner of the motorcycle! It seems that they follow you and with the spare keys they take the motorcycle and bruuuum disappear. In this case to avoid bad times there is only one solution: do not lose sight of your two wheels!
One of the latest photos with our Vietnamese motillo dohh!
5. THE TIMO OF THE BORDER
What stress is going on at the borders: it seems that 24 scammers per square centimeter live there: he wants to sell you the visa at a gold price (find out about the real price before), the one that tells you that the only official place is his shop already that the border is closed (it is always open!), the one that tells you that to get to the border you have to take a taxi (and you discover that it has transport and the border was 100 meters away) ... And the worst? The same border officials who ask for $ 1 (or more!) For medical control (useless), $ 3 for planting the seal (it has happened to us in Cambodia) or as a Sunday tip (it has happened to us in Laos.
6. THE TIME OF MONEY EXCHANGE
Rule number one: find out about the exchange rate. You cannot arrive in a country without knowing how much the local currency is worth! As a general rule, it is not convenient to change money at airports, so avoid changing a considerable sum there, just enough to survive for one or two days until you find a exchange house with better rates in the city.
But above all, never change on the street, street money changers are scam professionals: they will always find a way to give you fake tickets or to make your money disappear as if by magic! As it happened in the streets of Myanmar ...
7. THE HOOD OF THE BAR
Of this scam the machotes are usually victims. Two girls, beautiful, gorgeous, available, approach with the excuse of practicing English and propose to go for a drink at a specific bar (work there or have commissions, take it for granted!). After ordering a couple of cocktails or beers or wine they go to the bathroom. And they never come back. Instead the bill arrives, able to make Bil Gates blush! You pay depressed, not so much for money, but for accepting reality: Asian air has not made you an irresistible Latino male!
8. THE TIMO OF 2X1
You are two and after strenuous bargains and negotiations that would make even the most crack NY broker proud, the tuk tuk driver comes to take you to the hotel for € 1. You arrive and ask for € 2. What happens? You had said 1 !!! Yes sir, 1 you and 1 your friend... doh! Never close a price until you make things clear from the beginning. We also had to negotiate for 15 baths and in the end they asked us for 50 baths! (phonetically they sound very similar, so make it clear!)
9. THE HOTEL TIMO
Just arrived in a city you take a taxi or tuk tuk and ask to go to the hotel Taldecual which according to the travel guide is the best in the area. Oops! The taxi driver says, the guide is not updated! The hotel Taldecual is closed. But by chance it can take you to a much more handsome and economical hotel. What you don't know is that the taxi driver will earn commissions thanks to you! And take for granted that the hotel Taldecual will be open!
10. THE “GOLD DIGGER” TIMO
This is more than a scam, it is an ugly ugly ugly hoax, so watch out for male readers. A girl approaches with a face of sorrow, crying, dusty ... Try to start a conversation to ask her the reason for her sadness, it is none other than her boyfriend has left her, has thrown her out of the house and has nowhere to stay. Don't be stupid, she is a “gold digger”, she will want to take advantage of your empathy and understanding to know what things…
Do you know more scams? Surely there are thousands! Because it is clear that scammers are soooo bad, but you have to recognize that they have fantasy!
