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 | Marrakesh Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 17 |  |
 | |  |  | Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People: You think you might be LOST don't PANIC!! | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
We had spent hours in the souks, and felt a little lost....the main problem was that we were near the tanneries. This is where you will be offered many trips to the tanneries, people will start to follow you, and even though you have not asked and they are following you they may ask for money for taking you the right way! We met a man close to the tanneries who said that he would take us around and show us them. So we thought it would be interesting, I asked how much and the man said nothing. We looked round and at the end of the tour got dropped off at a large shop selling every leather. A man then started to put on a display of all his items, getting all the slippers, poufees out etc. We felt embarrassed as we didn't want to buy any of the items. So we decided to leave at the start of the display rather than the end! The man shouted at us, and suddenly the first man arrived. Asking why we didn't want anything, and then demanding £50.00 for the tour. This is the only time I have felt scared as the man was aggressive and we were in an area where there were hardly any people around. We managed to leave giving him only a small amount of money, but I was worried as if I had got my purse out he would have seen we had more money that what we had told him. On the way back we then got followed the entire journey by a man who then demanded the equivalent of £20.00 when we said no, the man then started to make a scene, so we gave him a small amount of money. My tip here is to say "we do not want a guide, and we will go to the tourist police" .....this makes people disappear in a flash. The tourist police are very good.
If you are in this situation say something like "we do not want a guide, and we will go to the tourist police" ....
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| | | | Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People: The Medina - Saying "No!" doesn't work | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
The Medina or marketplace looks and sounds like a great place to see the local culture and pick up some trinkets. But, be warned, it's very disappointing and may leave you with your blood boiling. A note from my professors brochure: "Snake-charmers and their bored reptiles entertain the tourists. Dentists display heaps of teeth and ham it up for foreigners. Often merchandise is shoddy but the craftsmen are not enticed to do better when tourists buy the poorly made items. Since most of these people have never traveled except for a trip to Mecca, they believe Allah has sent we fools for them to partake of. Their Berber blood can make the merchants assertive to the level of aggression. You can expect that a rebuff will not be accepted graciously. Marrakesh has a long history of cursing, so don't take their response personally. Develop nerves of steel and play deaf. " While walking through the marketplace I used those words of wisdom. However, while I was looking a one vendor, a group of men came up and put a monkey on my shoulder. The next thing I knew, they were all yelling and demanding money--I supposed since the monkey had sat on my shoulder. They weren't going to let me budge until I gave them monkey and meanwhile, the monkey was pulling at my hair. It took a male professor with our group to get me out of the situation and get them to leave us alone.
Go in a large group & watch your back (and your shoulders for monkeys)!
There are plenty of vendors around other tourist areas (hotels, near palaces, etc.) that sell the same stuff.
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| | | | Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People: Nasty guys at entrance of Tanneries | Tip Rating: | | | | |
I had a horrible experience at the tanneries in Marrakech. Please read on so you can be prepared too. I went to the tanneries with the intention to pop in and take a few pictures and pop out again. We certainly didn't need a guide to do that. As soon as we approached the entrance, a couple of guys (which I would like to add, were tall and seem well fed unlike most frail Moroccan ) offered us mint and insisted we use one of them as our guide. We told one of them that we didn't need his services since we just wanted a couple of pictures. Well this guy was persistent and followed both my husband and I into the tanneries while constantly asking if I needed to take pictures. I ignored him and left after 2 minutes which is all I could bear. At the exit he asked me for money and I reluctantly gave him 20 dirham. I felt he should have gotten less but we had no smaller change. This person immediately changed from nice to nasty. He told me that 20 dirham was "nothing". I asked him if he owned the place and told him if he wasn't happy, he could give me the 20 dirham back. His other counterpart decided to join in then and said to me "YOU COW!!" That's when I turned nasty and had a few words to say to him myself. I then told both of them that I would warn other travellers about them.
My advice to you guys if you want to see this place, is to either go with your own guide, or bring your own mint and be firm with them from the beginning that if they insist on following you in, that they will not receive a tip. At the end of the day, there is no cost to enter the tanneries and perhaps you can afford to give them more but if you do so, then they will expect the same from other tourist, and if they don't receive it, they will try to intimidate them into giving more.
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