Were you bothered or hassled by people when visiting the third world? (cycle, ideas)
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I have traveled to most of the popular 1st world countries in Europe and Asia. They were nice but I want to expand my horizons and see the 3rd World. I want to see exotic and economically struggling countries where life is completely different than here in America.
My question is this: If I walk up and down the streets of third world countries will I be hassled, bothered or even attacked? Will people stare at me and make getting around difficult? Tell us your experiences traveling in third world countries.
No, it being a 3rd world country does not mean you will be hassled/bothered/attacked. Many 3rd world countries are as safe or safer than major US cities.
Good grief, where do these ideas come from? We've never had any issues, respect is universally understood.
Yes. This!!
People would probably stare at you if you would pass their poor villages sitting in a Roll-Royce wearing gold chains and a big Rolex, or otherwise behaving like a spoiled, obnoxious, out-of-touch rich American who has no clue how it feels being poor, and looking down at them... lol
My understanding is that in some third world countries one may encounter touts, pushy panhandlers, or self-appointed tour guides who approach you with varying degrees of eagerness hoping to solicit your business or money.
Doesn’t seem like a deal-breaker to me, though. You know how to ignore strangers who try to get your attention or say “no,” presumably?
My understanding is that in some third world countries one may encounter touts, pushy panhandlers, or self-appointed tour guides who approach you with varying degrees of eagerness hoping to solicit your business or money.
I agree with this statement although one can also hassled by the same type of individuals in big cities in the USA. So if one can handle it domestically, one should be able to handle it when traveling elsewhere as well.
In recent years, I haven't been at all. But 30 years ago it was still an occasional problem, and 50 years ago, it was a regular and significance annoyance. Mostly children, who then rarely went to school, had nothing else to do, and it was gainful employment.
In that sense, there reeally isn't any third world anymore, with its legions or urchins, beggars, cripples and con men. If any do show up, the local people will shoo them off and apologies for them.
Now a kid will run an errand for you only if you pay him with Visa on his phone.
we found in Havana not only are secret police all over but the locals make about 20 bucks a month .
tourists give them money to take their pictures and they do quite well . if any locals do anything to hurt the tourist trade many of these locals will take matters in to their own hands and deal with them .
My understanding is that in some third world countries one may encounter touts, pushy panhandlers, or self-appointed tour guides who approach you with varying degrees of eagerness hoping to solicit your business or money.
I was in India and Nepal last year and I agree with this. I was on a group tour but we encountered a lot of gritty reality since we frequently took motor rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, visited landmarks such as the ghats at Varanasi, etc. It was typically vendors more than beggars but we had both. They follow you, they speak good English (many seemed to have learned the phrase, "you're breaking my heart" when you say No) and some keep lowering the price of an item. Keep saying No, keep going. And one well-meaning coworker years ago haded money to a beggar in India and she was swarmed by so many more the police had to intervene.
I kept it in perspective by reminding myself of what a friend from India once said: "In India if you don't work, you don't eat". This type of hustling is taught early. It's a survival tactic. One woman selling postcards bore the obvious scars of an acid attack. (We went to the SheRoes cafe in Agra, which was run by women who had had acid poured on their faces for such offenses as bearing only girl babies.)
I LOVED that trip. I'd rather go to India than experience the sanitized plastic of Disney any day. (I'd already been there a half dozen times on business- it tells you something that I went back as a tourist.) It makes you realize how average people live elsewhere, how blessed you are, it opens your mind. It's still not for everyone.
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