Sorry sorry, this shall b the last post abt paris.
Well hav you heard about tourists getting conned by the
locals?
Well, wad I have here is almost an equivalent to day light
robbery. -,-
Bear and I met up with a few friends of mine during my trip
in Paris. The plan was just to float around with them for a day (and I think I
would love the idea of having someone taking pictures of bear and I without
fretting over my fear of pleading to strangers for help.)
So we went for a few not so mainstream tourist spot and we
decided to go to a chapel. Since it is winter, Paris was already quite dark to
have a random exploration.
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| kudos to Alex =D source from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Sacre-coeur-paris.jpg |
Dude: ‘Brother I have something to give you.’
Bunny: ‘No thanks,’
Dude: ‘respect my religion brother.’
Bunny: *keeps on walking* (thinking): ‘gosh, he is persistent,
I wonder wad is he offering… No I shall not be tricked!’
Dude: ‘Free of charge!!’
Bunny: (thinking) free of charge, I suppose one look wont
hurt. NO NO. I should walk faster.
As I managed to reach the entrance, bear grabbed my hand and
pull me away from the dude, growling at the guy.
When I looked around, all the girls were with bear and I, but
a few guys were missing. Uh-oh.
I made my way back and saw my friend was cornered at a fence
by 5 or 6 of the tourist touts. The other friend tried to grab him out of
there. Bear and I rushed to the crowd and tried to reach our hand into the tout circle to grab my
friend so that we can yank him out of the lion’s den. But when I held out my hand,
one of the guys smacked my hand and told me in a menacing tone: ‘don interfere.’
Gosh, I was lost at words. And the fact that we were at the
main street, someone later told me that a passer-by even video recorded this
whole scene. I heard ppl screaming, I think it's the shop vendors along the
road. Ironically, all of this chaotic scene right in front of the chapel. I could see tat Bear was trying hard to protect me as more and more Black guys started
swarming as they got a whiff of their prey.
My friend in question was quite calm, apparently the tout
grab his hands and shoved in a cheap looking bracelet and demanded for a donation
of 20 euros. He did not dare to take out his wallet, fearing that it will get
snatched away. He ended up trying to fish 5 euros from his jacket. Whenever he
fished a 5, the group shouted MORE MORE MORE. It was quite terrifying witnessing
the barbaric scene.
He eventually managed to produce 20 euros, and the group
dispersed as they went looking for more prey. We ended up not going to the chapel as
it left us with a bad taste in our mouths.
But yeah, to those who are travelling abroad, it’s sad but
you cannot trust anyone. Laws can only protect you from afar. And keep a bunch
of small change with ya. =x
Ps: bear quite heroic, he told me tat one of the guys managed to made him wear the bracelet and he just took it off and coolly threw it away. Tat's my bf lol.
Oh my gosh! That's so scary and dangerous! What if they have knives? It's even scarier to know the fact that you guys are walking in a group and yet they still dare to approach. My friend was telling me how unsafe Paris is to tourists and now you posted about this. Gosh! How to backpack to Paris alone?
ReplyDeletewell, i think jz evade trouble when u see it brewing.
Deleteit is unsafe, but so r spain and italy. But don let this stop u from backpacking hahaha. Its an experience by itself!
let me guess... the chapel is sacre coeur?
ReplyDeleteYUP YUP!!! I am too lazy to google hahaha i will put the pics up there hahaha
DeleteActually in Sydney too... Things have changed. People target Asians coz they think Asians are rich. They will just ask for money or try to make fun of you. I saw girls who got harassed but I really dun think I got the ability to push them away. Guess it's time for us to learn some defense skills
ReplyDeleteserious?? in Sydney? @__@
Deletei nvr been to Sydney so i wasnt aware.... is it of a particular race?
KH and I had to wade through the same pack of wolves while getting to up to Sacre Couer. When KH was cornered, I just dragged him away. I gives Paris tourism a very bad name.
ReplyDeleteyeah.... its the same for basically most europe countries, the touristy ones. its good to hav someone tagging along...
DeleteFuck mate, that's quite the scare there. Did you guys also encounter those gypsy kids that would make you sign some donation forms and force you to pay them thereafter?
ReplyDeleteAlso the correct term is Afro-Carribean or Black considering these people are Parisians and not actually Americans so it might actually be offensive to the actual African Americans. Just putting it out there.
yup yup!!!! i saw a few, they caught up to one of the tourists, we ran away not intending to know wad will happen
Deleteoo!! nice, i will change tat, i was awared tat they use another term but i was too lazy to google it so i jz put african american, goes to show how racially ignorant i am lol
Jesus Christ that must have been very scary. I heard an almost similar story when my friend was travelling in Germany. Guess Paris isn't that romantic anyway.
ReplyDeleteEire,
Jung
hahah i tell u, for one thing, it aint romantic, at all. =3=
DeleteThese people are everywhere. When I was in Italy, there were bunches of them. I guess because I looked fierce and those in Italy weren't as aggressive, no one approached me. They approached my friends though.
ReplyDeleteyeah i been to italy and the ones in italy are definitely milder. Mayb the law enforcement is diff. one thing those, they don target girls, the ones in paris i mean
Delete