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Bodhgaya is a beautiful, peaceful place that’s of great importance to Buddhists as it’s where Buddha was enlightened under a tree in 6 BC.
However, I thought I’d better warn readers of a probable scam I experienced during my visit.
A man approached me and introduced himself as Mikku. He said he worked for a charity called Sidharath Welfare Trust School that provided schooling to orphaned children found on the streets. He said it was set up by a Scottish Buddhist, and that he, too, was a Nepalese Buddhist – although frankly he looked pretty Indian to me.
He asked if I wanted to visit the school and donate money or rice, and was rather persistent – giving me 14 missed calls the following day. This made me suspicious, so I checked the internet and couldn’t find any reference to the charity he mentioned. Then I asked another local about it. He informed me that it was probably a scam whereby the men take you to an orphanage, ask to give rice or lentils to the charity and then take the rice back to the shop and pocket the money.
I’ll never know whether Mikku was for real or not, but I wanted to let other people know they should stay on their guard against this sort of scam, the suspicion of which, unfortunately, made my trip to Bodhgaya much less pleasant than it should have been.
Be aware of the Beijing teahouse scam, - especially around the Tiananmen Square and Wang Fujing Street areas - which young Chinese people posing as students of English will try to lure foreigners into a tea-house for a demonstration of tea ceremony, leaving the foreigner with a bill running to hundreds of US dollars. Be sure to ask for prices for the tea and facilities up front before agreeing to any kind of tea ceremony.
The hasslers at the airport don't look at the notes you give them (to get rid of them). In Egypt you can get notes that are as little as 5p in the UK (though hard to find). Particularly satisfying to give to the real bothersome hasslers.
This is probably the biggest tourist trap here into which many have fallen. Many of the shops on Nathan Road in Kowloon selling electronic products don't display the prices on the items. Many tourists have been scammed or cheated. One ploy is to give you an unbelievably good price, then after they have your money, they say they are out of stock, offering you another item but at an outrageous price. Some tourists have said that even calling the police did not help.
Buenos Aires is one of the most remarkable places I have ever been. It's clean, classy, safe, and dirt cheap. The leather bags are at least 400 pounds cheaper than what you would buy on the high street.
Also they have miles and miles of shops on Florida and Avenida Santa Fe where you can buy anything for one third of the price in the US or UK.
We stayed at the art hotel in Recoleta which was a boutique hotel with contemporary art in the foyer, free internet access, great rooms and wet room bathrooms.
Beware the fake taxis in Buenos Aires. Because we'd been there for four days we realised that if they don't have a proper meter in the right hand corner and photographic id on the back of the driver's seat then don't get in. We used a taxi which charged us three times the price of a journey from the airport. We refused to pay and threatened to call the Policia!
If this happens to you get to your hotel and ask the concierge to translate... avoid at all costs.
Otherwise, BA is one of the safest cities in the world and the people are very nice. Palermo is great and so is Recoleta. Avoid San Telmo if you have to. Use taxis rather than buses as they are very cheap and the metro is great for getting around centrally. In taxis from the Newbery internal airport it should cost you no more than $14 and to the international around $50.
Try and go to the best steak restaurant in the Palermo area called La Cabrera, it's economical but BOOK AHEAD as it gets very busy.
Various.. please email me if you want any tips neillhenderson@hotmail.com(no spam)
Beware some of the tango shows in Buenos Aires that are recommended by your hotel. Bar Sur in San Telmo and Mandera Tango in the port area of BA are a rip off and are tourist traps.
For example, they will try and give you a poor seat with a bad view for you to upgrade to the 'VIP' area. They include a poor dinner with horrible house wine then con you to have a photo taken with two of the tango dancers who they say appear in the show then you never see them again.
They'll also offer you a cocktail for 40 pesos which is three times the price of any cocktail anywhere else. Bar Sur charges 210 pesos per person for the dinner and show in one of the tightest floor spaces in BA. Then the drinks are double the price of anywhere else in BA. If you want to see tango choose very carefully.
They'll try to sell you real Cuban cigars at a price that is slightly cheaper than the shops to indicate that they should be genuine at the price, but not too cheap to give you the feeling that they're fake. In fact all they are made of is old dried banana skins and they crumble apart once you light them. Steer clear of these sales people and spend a little extra on the real items.
Anywhere in Havana
Please beware of people trying to overcharge you for taxi fares from the airport. I booked an apartment through the website www.feelhomeinrome.com and they booked me a taxi for 65 Euros. I only found out later, when the taxi didn't turn up for the return journey and I had to hail a cab from one of the main streets, that the official charge is 30 Euros to the inner city. You can also get a bus for eight Euros to termini.
By the way, even though the apartment was good, I wouldn't recommend feelhomeinrome.com as they apply hidden charges for cleaning the apartment and work with a dodgy taxi company that is charging more than double the official fare.
First time I arrived in Bangkok, a friend who arrived with me went to the shop in the airport and bought 20 Krong Tip cigarettes (these are very cheap). He then threw away the cigarettes but kept the packet. He then filled the packet with his British cigarettes. He explained to me, that when we visited the bars that night, the girls would see him smoking Thai cigarettes and assume he had no money and leave us alone. If they see you with British cigarettes, they assume you`ve just arrived in Thailand and have plenty of money with you.
Sure enough, that night in Pat Pong, all the girls stayed away from him.
Is this your business?