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At Manikarnika Ghat, visitors can watch Hindus burn their dead by the Ganges - an interesting and memorable experience.
However, today I nearly fell victim to a potential scammer. Since non-relatives are, understandably, not allowed near the burning pyres, they can view the process from a building nearby, which I was led to by some locals. When I entered a man said he was running a hospice and that the old people within had come there to die. He then told me quite a lot about the cremation ceremonies being carried out below.
As I left he asked for a donation for the “hospice”, gesturing to the old women sitting on the floor. When I didn’t give money, he got angry and told me I was a bad person and that I shouldn’t come back. However, after checking with two other locals I learnt that this man was not in fact running a hospice, and that he intended to pocket most of the money. Be warned!
Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
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.
Beware the hustlers and beggars in Sudder Street. They are persistent with a capital P - once they latch on to you, they just will not take no for an answer.
A place to remember for the wrong reasons! A lesson learned... don't always trust your guide! This is the sole reason I decided to add a profile to the Been there travel site.
Where to start? Imagine, it's the final night of your holiday and you have an early flight the following morning...
What you want is preferably quiet accommodation with easy access to your chosen airport transport (in this case the shuttle bus). Something simple and clean is fine as it's only an overnighter.
We booked on the phone the night before from Cordoba based on the above needs following the review in the usually trustworthy TimeOut guide.
True, as most of these things are indeed facts, but in my mind this place should never have been recommended.
This is what they wrote...
"A friendly hostel with cheap, cheerful rooms. The best is number 15, with windows giving fine views over the port. There's also a communal balcony."
It should read...
"A friendly-ish hostel (on the 4th floor of an office block, with nighttime skinhead bouncer for the night shift who locks everyone in the hotel over night... eek), very cheap, cheerless rooms with paper-thin walls. The worst would be number 15, with windows giving fine views over the noisy/busy road. There's also a communal balcony (and lounge which stinks of fag smoke)."
What you get...
Communal toilets (communal showers if you're on a stupidly tight budget and really can't afford one in your room) - all complete with 80s plastic concertina doors. Super thin walls - chatty neighbours optional. McDonalds - on the corner full of local teens until the early hours with obligatory noisy Vespa.
Don't waste your cash... it should be turned into a museum; it's exactly what I imagine early 90s Malaga was like (which is perhaps when the review was written).
Frustratingly it's probably always fully booked in high season due to the volume of holidaymakers in the city, and therefore will never clean up its act.
Hostal Derby - "Don't forget your ear plugs, nose plugs..."
Mugged by three men in 4x4 in broad daylight on the AP7. Forced on to hard shoulder. Lost £3k, passports, driving licences, Euro health cards, cheque books, credit cards - the lot. Had 93-year-old woman in the car at the time. Left totally stranded.
Beware - motorway mugging is very common around Barcelona, Alicante etc. Do not stop your car for any reason.
Everyone says: go to Charlie's Bar. Don't. For a start, the place is a dump. Secondly, and this is the main reason not to go, the door staff are crooked thugs.
We were in there, minding our own business and our friend went to the toilet. He was followed in by 3 doormen who closed the door behind them and demanded money and cocaine off him. Upon finding that he had no cocaine and was not eager to hand over cash, they beat him up, leaving him needing a trip to the hospital and several stitches in his top lip which had been completely split open.
We called the police who seemed to be in on it because they arrived, and the same doorman that had been involved in the beating told them that there was no problem. They left, despite us protesting otherwise, with a guy standing there bleeding profusely from the mouth.
Just don't go there. I can't say strongly enough that there are so many good bars and clubs in Bratislava - enough for that place to be avoided. Vote with your feet. Any place that employs thugs on the door who try to fleece tourists needs to be given a wide berth. Go to the Slovak Pub. It's ace.
Don't find it. Avoid it.
Prague is generally a safe city, and violent crime is low. But pickpockets are a problem. Watch out in particular for groups who operate on the 'yellow line' (line B) at Mustek and Narodni trida stations.
However tempted you may be, don't buy a Peregrine falcon from a Pakistani in Kashgar. Even though he sounds convincing when he tells you how you can easily bribe your way past the border guards on your way to Pakistan. Even though he tells you that for the $5,000 you pay for the tied-up, hooded bird - captured in the foothills of the Tian Shen range nearby - you'll make $15,000 when you arrive in Peshawar on the Afghanistan border. It's basically a stupid idea. You're only trafficking illegally and the end result is rich Arabs in the Gulf states get a new toy to show off.
Is this your business?