On 8 Nov 2003 20:22:17 -0800, (Bjorn Olsson) wrote:

Turby wrote in message . ..
On 21 Oct 2003 07:18:03 -0700, (Bjorn Olsson) wrote:

You should generally ignore people who turn up unasked for to "show
you something". Without possession of that little piece of common
sense, you shouldn't travel anywhere.

Balderdash. I've been "befriended" numerous times and had good
experiences seeing things that most tourists don't.

Sure. Me too.

You just have to
have a good sense about the situation and know that it's extremely
rare for a local in the 3rd world to approach you without an ulterior
motive.

That´s right. But as solution to the "problems" listed by another
poster in this thread, simply ignoring the people who turn up unasked
for should work well.

But then you'd miss getting to know the guy in Luxor - the one whose
family has been in the artifact faking business for eons. His family
sent him to University in England to study chemistry. He uses that to
create the right "aged" patina for scarabs and such. He took me back
to his family shop/factory. The artifacts they produce are
indistinguishable from the real thing to the naked eye. He showed me a
real scarab and a fake one.

Or the guy in Amridhil Skoura, Morocco, who accosted me on the street
and took me on a tour of the town, intoduced me to his family, and fed
me a lunch of tea, almonds & dates, goat cheese and bread - and then
refused the gift I offered him.

Your rule of thumb usually works ~1/3rd of the time. Another 1/3rd of
the time, you have to use the other rule - "NO! Get the hell away from
me!" And 1/3rd of the time, it's worth paying attention.