Caution: New Delhi IGI Airport Scam (extortion by Customs officials)

Originally Posted by cyberhippie

Hotel pickups are a little more expensive but what you get back in peace of mind more than covers the difference!

Originally Posted by amogasiddhi

As the owner of Ranjeet hotel in Raipur found out, ripping some tourists off doesn't make economic sense as while he was arguing his ridiculous point, I was ensuring that anyone who climbed the shit covered stairs up to reception heard every word and left immediately.
After I had left for good with the key to my room because he wouldn't return my 300Rs because the lights, Air-cooler, hot water, TV didn't work and the bed had things jumping around on it, he had to force open the Mosquito door and the kick the main door to the room they had tried to convince me was a presidential suite in. I had of course followed their advice and had used the Yale lock and the padlock provided. The repair would have cost more than the amoount they owed me and I have a nice brass key fob to remind me of my experience; the key is now part of India's remarkable open sewer network which you willl find almost anywhere you go.

Originally Posted by ddevadatta

Dam I am embarassed at this post because it reminds so much of how we Indians are the reason for our own downfall in India. Sorry that you had to go through this experience.

Originally Posted by 04274108

I think the important thing for us to remember is that 99.99% of Indians are fantastic people. Salt of the earth. Unfortunately, it's the other 0.01% of Indians who constantly harass us tourists. These bastards view us as geese and their goal is to pluck our feathers with a minimum amount of sqwuak.

Originally Posted by cyberhippie

Since this hit the headlines the Airport authorities have started an anti bribe campaign. All the arrival and departure screens show a message asking you not to pay bribes and give an airport tel number to phone, in case anyone does try to extract a bribe!!
So action had been taken to avoid these kind of problems!

Originally Posted by amogasiddhi

PS: If you have a lengthy wait at the train station try this.
Go to the waiting room on the ground floor and try to sit in it. An old woman will approach you and insist that you fill in a register of your presence, ticket number, passport numbber, visa number, date of arrival, date of departure, berth number on train, last hotel you stayed in etc etc etc. The thing is, that's the handicapped waiting room where no handicapped people go. She will then insist that you go 'Upar' upstairs, where you will find the 1st class waiting room. Don't be put off it's a crowded, uncomfortable place with a loudspeaker through which you will hear a distorted announcement every five seconds or so. mind you they did say that it was a waiting room and not a rest room after all.
If you want to use it you'll have to fill in a book with the same details as before.







Who reads it?
Where does the information go?
Why is it needed?

Enjoy the delights of Delhi's traffic jams and fight off the rickshaw wallah's in the same way you do everywhere else. It's every man for himself out there guys. In the words of Queen 'no! no! no! no! no! no! NO! oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go...'

Or you could try this. As you feel the frenzied crowd of bullshitters who are trying to send you out of the train station to some place you really don't want to go (turn around and follow the big blue arrow on the building which says 'Tourist ticket office'. Once you have made it through the other frenzied crowd of Rickshaw wallahs, make an anouncement to the liars and cheats that you do not need a rickshaw, repeat it idiotically a few times and every time one of them tries to say a word, cut them off with exactly the same thing. Do not get drawn into conversation or find yourself off the point, just say no a few dozen times until their desire to extract money from you finds another target. I once threw a 5Rs coin into the car park and while they fought for it ( the pile of sweaty bodies was amazing) I made my escape. talk about bun-fight. Oh and if you're feeling all 'ethical', don't bother, nobody else will be.

Originally Posted by claurianta

I've found the best way to deal with bastards in India is to raise your voice so everyone can hear.
Once, at Mysore station some rickshaw-wallahs were offering me a ride which I didn't need. One was being very persistent and in my face. So when his face was about 30cm from mine, I just shouted "NO" as loud as I could. The other rickshaw-wallahs didn't bother me then, nor 30 minutes later as I came out of the train ticket office.
From Mysore I took a bus to Ooty, and I had arranged for a bus through a travel agent at the hotel. I was told it was 450 rupees all inclusive on a private bus going a quicker route than the public bus. Well, first of all the private bus did rounds to hotels until it was full so it wasn't much faster. Second, as we approached some national parks on the way, they started demanding money for entrance. I flat-out refused. The conductor started to make a fuss of it, so I raised my voice and said that if he had a problem with it, he'd have to take it up with his agent that sold me the ticket in Mysore. No colourful language. Simply a stern, straightforward, loud voice and I got what I wanted.
So if you are somewhere with people around, just use a very loud and stern, matter-of-fact voice and you'll usually get what you want.
Though Indians make a scene all the time, they simply don't know how to deal with foreigners that make a scene. Just don't curse or personally belittle them, because then they get pissed and that won't help you at all.