Crazy world, distrustful and grumpy people!

Crazy world, distrustful and grumpy people!

As a naval spotter, I woke up early to do some pictures of ships moored in the port of Rio de Janeiro, and as I always do, I took some of my postcards with me to distribute to other enthusiasts, passengers and crew.

To my surprise, by offering my last postcard (with a picture of the Silver Muse docked in Malta, made on my last trip to Europe) as a FREE GIFT to some passengers of that same ship and of the Seabourn Quest (both moored today) walking around the port, almost all of them looked at me with an ugly face - like if I were a criminal or a DAESH terrorist - refusing and speeding the pace!

What a crazy world, of suspicious and distrustful people! :o:confused:

Hi,

I understand your view, but I think it a little harsh.

Your intentions were great but most people are being perfectly normal by being suspicious of a complete stranger at a port offering them a "free gift". More often than not it is a start of a scam of some sort isn't it.

:)

hi Dan,

Sorry we missed you. We went out early to see the town for one last day. We were also trying to take pictures of the two ships in port over the last two days. We like the Quest and are currently on the Muse. It would have been nice to have a picture of both ships together in one shot. They look very similar side by side. Also thanks for translating or spending the time to post in English.

Leaving port tonight and hope some nicer and more friendlier cruiser will visit your port next time....

The only explanation I have is that perhaps the ships have passed through Salvador (Bahia) or Jamaica before their way to Rio. As in these places (and in a few others like Marrakesh and the surrounding of the Istanbul Blue Mosque) tourists are often annoyed by a crowd of sellers and beggars who practically force them to buy something or give them money, probably those who refused my simple souvenir you found that I was one of them!

HI Daniel,

You seem to be trying to "irrationalise" perfectly rational, responses by normal people when confronted with unusual and what would seem to many weird behaviour.

As I understand it you approach people who you don't know and who don't know you as they leave Silverseas ships, with the intention of giving them free gifts that you have prepared for these people. When they respond with understandable suspicion and not wish to engage with you, your response is to start a thread calling the world crazy and them grumpy.

I'm sure you mean no harm, so why don't you simply take your postcards on your next cruise and just allow people to get to know you first. I'm sure once they get to know you, they will appreciate your thought and the reaction you will receive will be different.

:)

hi Dan,

We were also trying to take pictures of the two ships in port over the last two days. We like the Quest and are currently on the Muse. It would have been nice to have a picture of both ships together in one shot.

Hi!

I took some pictures with my drone today, one or two of it with both ships. How could I send it to you (I didn't found a link to send a private message with attachments, and this forum allows only very small images with a maximum of 280px height!).

Hi Daniel,

You could upload it to a hosting site and leave the privacy settings to "public" You could then post a link to the page where it it is hosted here. People will then be able to view and download the pictures they like.

Good luck. ,

Here comes the pictures of Seabourn Quest and Silver Muse taken today:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9dtZPgNH8Umm4z992

That works perfectly Daniel. Lovely piccies. Well done!

It even seems to allow imbedding.

:)

Super pictures! Thanks for the link!

Beautiful photos.

I do want to say that I understand how you feel but at the same time I have been on the other end and my first reaction would be to move quickly if someone was handing me something and to not make face contact with them particularly in certain places of the world. I am sorry it is this way but when traveling and in certain cities/countries that do have more of a reputation for issues (that includes parts of my own country) I am more careful who I stop for and converse with.

Keith

Dan, ironically, considering the title of your thread ....... you seem a little grumpy and unappreciative of my trying to help!

Keith, I was really shocked when locals would come up to engage us in conversation during our first visits to Singapore. I thought that I was about to be scammed for something. I soon realised that locals were simply being friendly and inquisitive about why Brits were eating in some of the local untouristy places, and I quickly regretted what may have seemed to them brusque rudeness on my part. I always now enjoy chatting and bantering with locals.

:D

Jeff:

When we travel we are cautious.

Singapore is a bit unique. I have no concerns there. The people are wonderful and yes they will come up to you. A few years ago we were standing on a corner and were not sure which way to go and someone came up to us to help. All good. While you don't see a lot of police there many are undercover. Do something wrong they will be there in moments.

In some areas I would not stop if someone approached me. I would keep walking.

Several years ago before our first visit to Bangkok we went to a lecture by one of the on board lecturers. He warned us of a scam. He mentioned that as a tourist if you are walking around you might be approached by a man who is dressed up. He starts to ask you questions and what he is trying to figure out is what hotel you are staying at and your last name. With that information there is a scam where they will figure out what room you are in and break into the safe. Well my wife and I were walking around and trying to find the sky train station. All of a sudden a guy comes up to us (yes dressed up) and in a minute or two he is asking us all sorts of questions and the "light bulb" went on inside my head and I said thank you and we quickly walked away.

We have to remember that in many places we do stand out as tourists and not everyone is nice.

I know there are places (not many but some) where it is just not wise to make eye contact and it is just best to keep walking and not stopping and as I said that includes certain areas of my own country.

Keith

Hi Keith,

You might have twigged that Singapore has become a core place for us to the extent we have had to cut our visits because it was becoming routine and we don't want that! So only 3 weeks in 2017 but before it was two or three visits of three weeks each each year. It is much more than a stopover and one of the loveliest places we have ever been to.

It has become an urban myth that there are a lot of plain clothed or under-cover Police in Singapore. I've had many conversations with locals and almost all police are uniformed. The explanation is much simpler. They are a simply particularly law-abiding culture that have enjoyed a no-tolerance regime with respect to law breaking. For example until recently it was presumed that anyone in possession of any drugs was dealing in drugs and there was automatic capital punishment, but this has been relaxed for the possession of small amounts. Tourists in Singapore have a hot-line to report scams and this department resolves identifiable scammers within a day or so. I was once over-charged by a taxi and I emailed the taxi company to check and by that afternoon a cash credit including an extra S$5 was hand delivered to my hotel with an apology and the taxi driver was given "extra training".

Taxis are a great example as they not only don't expect tips but tend to round down and are surprised when tipped. In shopping malls stalls with products on are left our over night and things are never stolen. It seems weird to us that everything is so trusting and law-abiding. Hawker centers and food court stall holders have to display their hygiene ratings and everyone working on them has to have completed a hygiene course and if on inspection a worker doesn't have a current certificate it is closed down immediately and fined a period of closure.

In Bangkok on the other hand we've had several unsettling experiences in taxis including one where a taxi went off at top speed in the opposite direction to our hotel and we had to abandon ship at traffic lights because we feared we were in danger.

Our trips in Singapore involve eating in out of center hawker centers that are often placed in housing estates where we get to meet locals and chat and banter. They seem to still love Brits.

As a solo female traveller l maybe overly wary about how I'm approached so tend to go down the total 'ignore ' route and keep on walking.

Some time ago l read about the Burundanga drug which has been used to 'con ' for want of a better word to entice females into potential danger.....if one googles this one can see how the crooks work and just this last week I've seen another warning on Facebook which l find very disturbing so indeed take heed and react accordingly in such situations....

Daniel...I'm sure you mean no harm at all but you must understand that whilst your intentions are very sincere most of us are very wary and at times quite paranoid when in different countries to our own.

Sophia 😊