Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Am İ the only traveller who gets annoyed by the touts at Istanbul Aırport ? The latest scam ıs the offer of seats on the shuttle bus to town for 'only 35 YTL' A taxı costs less than that !

From my hotel to the aırport İ pay 9 YTL !!!!!!

yaramaz · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:55 am Post subject:

The shuttle bus- Havas- is only 8ytl. Where does it say 35?

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I do not know if the shuttle bus is run by Havas, but I do know that on two visits now I have had the 'hard sell' by two touts. They quoted 35 YTL as the fare.

This kind of thing makes me mad.

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

luckily you know better. I have not run into those touts-- maybe you look like a sucker? Not trying to be insulting, but you know all the touts prey on people they think know nothing. I agree to tell them you will tell the police and you might also mention it to the Havas people.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I really must get rid of that T-shirt that says : "I AM A RICH AND GULLIBLE FOREIGNER"

I am always tragetted in Sultanahmet too - by the guys who know where all the cheap carpets/leather coats/rerstaurants are.

My defence is now to growl at them in Serbian. They get the message.

Frizzie Lizzie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:08 pm Post subject:

Even after a number of years in Turkey, and looking very Turkish myself, I am still harrassed in Sultanahmet. They must have very sharp ears, and they seem to read your lips from a distance (when you're talking to whoever accompanies you) and address you in English instantly.
My friend and I were followed once all the way from Kapali Carsi to Aya Sofia by a bloke who simply wouldn't get it that we weren't interested in buying carpets. He had heard English and was not persuaded by any other attempts (in Turkish) to get rid of him.

jamessmart50 · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 91 Location: Istanbul, Turkey

So what about Ataturk Airport?

They tried to charge me 20 YTL for a sandwich and coke!

....I'd sooner starve...!

Golightly · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:55 am Post subject:

I was once targetted by a shoe shine bloke at a distance of two hundred yards in the outer courtyard area of Suleymaniye.
'Hello, my friend!', he said in quite an impeccable accent and a broad white smile on his face.
'Effendim?' I said.
His face suddenly dropped and he muttered, in Turkish, 'Shine yer shoes, mate?'
I said, in Turkish, 'Thank you, but no', and carried on walking.
Then I said in English, 'Thank you'.
When I looked back from a safe distance, he was still stood in the same place, scratching his head and trying to work out what had just happened.
I love dumbfounding peddlars and mendicants. Twisted Evil

billybuzz · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 219 Location: turkey

Istanbul is just rife with all kinds of people who will charge an obscene amount of money for the smallest commodity or service ,if you pay it ,well thats your own stupid fault some wanker asked for 2 mil for a botle of water once. I told him to shove it in English ,my tone and body language left him in no doubt that it was time to walk away .Must have been my green colour that did it .

vicinage_of_roland · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 17 Location: Krakow, Poland

I've also experienced the same thing and frankly it leaves me rather dismayed with turkey. I have a lot of good and honest friends but I always feel as though someone is trying to rip me off I shop in a migros even though it's more expensive just because I can read the prices myself and the scanner can't change them when I'm checking out. I can't blend in though I"m a 6'8 (2.5M) giant and obviously not turkish even if I could speak the language impecably well.

Golightly · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject:

my best ever attempted rip-off moment came when I was in Izmir in '94. I was having a well-earned skive in the shabby disgrace of a teachers' room we had, cutting up stuff from cheap paper, when I heard this boy's voice coming up the stairwell and towards our floor. He was selling buckets for 50,000 tl (this was nearly 13 years ago! �1=ca. 35,000tl at the time Very Happy

), and he was calling out his wares in the gravelly, evenly-measured tones of the average street merchant:
'Kova...50 bin...Kova...50 bin...Kova...50 bin...', all the while his voice nearing. Eventually, he came into the staffroom.
'Kova...50 bin...'
'I'm sorry?' I said, not speaking that much Turkish then.
Without a break in pace, he said,
'Kova...50 dollar...'
Rolling Eyes

you've got to love the opportunistic gets.