I'm a mark
The first few days of being on my own in a big city has made one thing abundantly clear: because I'm alone, I'm going to be a mark for tricks and scams wherever I go, way more so than when I traveled with friends.
It started as soon as I got here with the cab ride from the airport to the hostel. I had read about that one in advance so it was easy to dodge. Since then, I've been approached several times a day by people on the street, using mostly the same tactics: coming up and shaking my hand, asking me where I'm from, saying anything to get me into a conversation with them. I smile and oblige if I'm not in a hurry, even though I know what they're doing. It's hard to shake the habits of a polite Canadian. They try to find some way to connect with me: "Canada? My aunt's girlfriend's foster son has a dog who was born in Canada!" We chat for a minute, and then they start their sales pitch: my clothes are wearing out - wouldn't I look great in a nice new suit? "It's so cheap to buy here because everything is made here! You can ship it back home!" I come to asking them whether it will disintegrate off my body the first time I put it on, or the second, but instead I just assertively say no a few times, thank them for the chat, and move on. These ones are easy to spot, but they're so prevalent that they must work. I had a refreshing instance of this scam yesterday, where an Indian kid of about 14 tried this on me, and his partner, who was much older, recognized that I wasn't falling for it and actually struck up a nice conversation with me for about 5 minutes. He told me about his business in Bangalore and how it's taken him all around the GTA, and named enough places that I thought there might actually be some truth to what he was saying. Maybe 5%. He let me go on my way at a break in the conversation without trying anything else to get me to buy something.
There are also the ones who put in way less effort: the endless tuktuk drivers who just say "Tuktuk?" as I'm walking by, or make driving motions with their hands. These guys are usually quick to move on if I say no, but I saw one being particularly persistent with a girl who was alone yesterday afternoon. I didn't get the sense that there was anything malicious going on, but I still watched for a minute as I ate some spring rolls to make sure she didn't need a hand. She handled it like a pro and we shared a knowing grin as she walked away. Then there was the guy who asked me if I wanted to see a ping pong show when I was walking down Khao San road the other night. I knew to say no, but my naive, innocent ass had to Google what the hell those were. Hint: they take place in the red light district and the ping pong balls don't get propelled by ping pong paddles.
And then there was Tom. Tom made me a little bit sad. I was waiting to cross the street yesterday afternoon on my way back to my hostel, and he started chatting with me. He said he was a history teacher at the college and didn't want to sell me anything - he just wanted to practice his English. I obliged because I actually thought he was telling the truth - he was an unassuming older jovial man. He asked me what I'd been doing in Bangkok, where I was planning to go next, and gave me some advice about some of the islands and nearby cities. We talked for a good 5 minutes. He advised me to walk to the north end of the neighbourhood and take a boat ride because it was the last day of some festival. I told him I'd check it out this afternoon, but that I was going to head back to my hotel to take a break, as I'd been out for the past 4 hours. My alarm bells started to go off when he got persistent, first telling me to go right now or I'd miss it, then saying that the tuktuk ride would be cheap, and finally offering to hail me a tuktuk to go. I quickly realized I was a mark the whole time, but that I was either too naive to spot it as first or he disguised it better than most - probably a bit of both. This was a more elaborate scam than most. I thanked him for the chat and was on my way, a bit disappointed.
One of the best parts about traveling solo is allegedly meeting and interacting with local people. This was something that has always been really appealing to me, as I love learning about people's stories and cultures. It's obviously early days, and I'm in a big, touristy city, so it's harder to do that here. I'm sure my warning/bullshit alarms will get a lot more sensitive as I go as well, so it'll be easier to avoid those kinds of conversations after a while. But I'm excited at the prospect of not being just a mark.
It started as soon as I got here with the cab ride from the airport to the hostel. I had read about that one in advance so it was easy to dodge. Since then, I've been approached several times a day by people on the street, using mostly the same tactics: coming up and shaking my hand, asking me where I'm from, saying anything to get me into a conversation with them. I smile and oblige if I'm not in a hurry, even though I know what they're doing. It's hard to shake the habits of a polite Canadian. They try to find some way to connect with me: "Canada? My aunt's girlfriend's foster son has a dog who was born in Canada!" We chat for a minute, and then they start their sales pitch: my clothes are wearing out - wouldn't I look great in a nice new suit? "It's so cheap to buy here because everything is made here! You can ship it back home!" I come to asking them whether it will disintegrate off my body the first time I put it on, or the second, but instead I just assertively say no a few times, thank them for the chat, and move on. These ones are easy to spot, but they're so prevalent that they must work. I had a refreshing instance of this scam yesterday, where an Indian kid of about 14 tried this on me, and his partner, who was much older, recognized that I wasn't falling for it and actually struck up a nice conversation with me for about 5 minutes. He told me about his business in Bangalore and how it's taken him all around the GTA, and named enough places that I thought there might actually be some truth to what he was saying. Maybe 5%. He let me go on my way at a break in the conversation without trying anything else to get me to buy something.
There are also the ones who put in way less effort: the endless tuktuk drivers who just say "Tuktuk?" as I'm walking by, or make driving motions with their hands. These guys are usually quick to move on if I say no, but I saw one being particularly persistent with a girl who was alone yesterday afternoon. I didn't get the sense that there was anything malicious going on, but I still watched for a minute as I ate some spring rolls to make sure she didn't need a hand. She handled it like a pro and we shared a knowing grin as she walked away. Then there was the guy who asked me if I wanted to see a ping pong show when I was walking down Khao San road the other night. I knew to say no, but my naive, innocent ass had to Google what the hell those were. Hint: they take place in the red light district and the ping pong balls don't get propelled by ping pong paddles.
And then there was Tom. Tom made me a little bit sad. I was waiting to cross the street yesterday afternoon on my way back to my hostel, and he started chatting with me. He said he was a history teacher at the college and didn't want to sell me anything - he just wanted to practice his English. I obliged because I actually thought he was telling the truth - he was an unassuming older jovial man. He asked me what I'd been doing in Bangkok, where I was planning to go next, and gave me some advice about some of the islands and nearby cities. We talked for a good 5 minutes. He advised me to walk to the north end of the neighbourhood and take a boat ride because it was the last day of some festival. I told him I'd check it out this afternoon, but that I was going to head back to my hotel to take a break, as I'd been out for the past 4 hours. My alarm bells started to go off when he got persistent, first telling me to go right now or I'd miss it, then saying that the tuktuk ride would be cheap, and finally offering to hail me a tuktuk to go. I quickly realized I was a mark the whole time, but that I was either too naive to spot it as first or he disguised it better than most - probably a bit of both. This was a more elaborate scam than most. I thanked him for the chat and was on my way, a bit disappointed.
One of the best parts about traveling solo is allegedly meeting and interacting with local people. This was something that has always been really appealing to me, as I love learning about people's stories and cultures. It's obviously early days, and I'm in a big, touristy city, so it's harder to do that here. I'm sure my warning/bullshit alarms will get a lot more sensitive as I go as well, so it'll be easier to avoid those kinds of conversations after a while. But I'm excited at the prospect of not being just a mark.
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