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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..."
I went to Marrakech for a girls' holiday last weekend, for four days and it was terrible. I had been before with my husband and really enjoyed it, but this time the annoying experiences outweighed the good ones. We were harassed to the point of being sworn at in Djemaa el Fna’s souks, especially the shops near to the square. We had a good idea of how to bargain; they quote a price, you quarter it, and the haggling begins. This was possible in the souks further inside, but the shopkeepers nearer the square were so hot tempered and arrogant that we couldn't be bothered to explore half the time.
Also, at the weekends, medicine is impossible to find. I fell ill and every pharmacy I walked past was closed. When I asked the hotel where I could find one that was open, they directed me to a pharmacist (a short walk away) and told me to read the sign showing which pharmacies were open. But not knowing French made it impossible to decipher this list. I walked 20 minutes in one direction with a hotel bellboy (who I requested to come with), only to find the pharmacy had closed down. And shops and supermarkets sell everything from TVs to nappies, but no aspirin or paracetamol! Our hotel was useless in this situation and showed no sympathy or support.
On our last night one of my friends was robbed as we were waiting for a taxi. Two young boys came up to her and with a knife while she was holding her camera, she gave it immediately. We tried to call for help but we didn't know who to trust. After making our way back to the hotel, the receptionist couldn't even call the police and ask them to come to the hotel to take a report (for insurance). Instead we were advised to get a taxi to the police station (bear in mind we didn't want to go back out because we all felt angry and upset). Having spent an hour in the police station we couldn’t wait to get back to London. We know robberies take place everywhere but the lack of support, care and sympathy in Marrakech was outrageous!
This a warning for all of those intrepid travellers venturing to Sarajevo. Be wary of a 40-50 year old woman who loiters around the bus and train stations hoping to entice naive backpackers into staying at her house for the night. She claims all of the hostels are full and that she's been sent to the station to offer people a bed for the night. In reality, this is a lie.
The Hostel Ljubicica (highly recommended) has enough rooms dotted around the city to cater to Sarajevo's visitors, even in the peak season. Her ruse is to take you back to her flat (supposedly 20-30 minutes from the centre) and show you to a bed - separated from her bed by a curtain! Suffice to say, it's a very uncomfortable stay and an hour or so later she'll ask you if you are ok and would you like me to try and find out if any hostels have had a cancellation? She then leads you back into the city, dumping you at a hotel/hostel and does one with your money.
This is a real danger; I was in Sarajevo for three nights and met two groups of lads (one from Wales, the other from Japan) who'd fallen for it. The tale gets stranger. She has a thing for Asian males and makes her best effort to keep them around, hoping for something extra. The two Japanese lads had to unlock a window and drop themselves down to get away! Once again, this is no joke so be warned.
On a happier note, Sarajevo is a brilliant city. For those into their beer, try the Sarajevsko Pivo brewery for a fun day out. The market place is also always worth a walk around (try some burek, a pastry full of meat, which is delicious). The more adventurous types might like to walk into the hills surrounding Sarajevo and check out the little villages up there. I did and it was a great experience. Friendly locals (unlike some of their inner city counterparts!), beautiful views and a peek into real Bosnian life, shouldn't be missed.
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.
A Disnified souless plastic ski resort. Stay away at all costs!
Crossing the road in Prague requires great caution. Czech drivers do not seem to have the same respect and care for pedestrians, even on pedestrian crossings and at crossings with lights for pedestrians. Expect no one to stop to give way unless you take the risk and launch yourself into the traffic. Even if you have a "green man" don't expect the traffic to give way easily, and for cars to drive through. The police appear to ignore and suffer as other pedestrians do, so it is obvious that it is just one of those things that you should expect while in the Czech Republic. Do take care.
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.
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