Saturday, July 9, 2016

What is the most terrifying experience you have had while travelling?

Thanks for the A2A.

I was in Istanbul, staying at a wonderful little boutique hotel in the Sultanahmet district, which is near the Blue Mosque and most of the old, traditional mosques and sites of the city. It was evening and, after a long day of walking and visiting the sites around me, I wanted to have a relaxing evening across the Galata Bridge in Karakoy, which is a district made up of coffee shops, clubs and more social things to do. I had read about a coffee shop where local artists sing and play Turkish folk songs so thought I would find a restaurant nearby and then sit in on some local music.

In Karakoy that night it was quite crowded. In fact, it is crowded here almost every night, as it is made up of both locals and tourists...and people looking for tourists.

I am walking down the street and suddenly a friendly chap comes up to me and starts up a conversation in perfect English. I don't remember what his opening line was but it caused me to have no initial concern about who he might be. Plus he seemed friendly enough....

He was with a friend and after a few minutes of chatting, pointed to a place and suggested that we stop and have a cup of Turkish tea and sit. So the three of us went into this place and continued our small talk. A few minutes after we sat down he said he had to call someone and got up and walked about 2-3 meters away and spoke with someone. I later guessed that he was, at this time, calling his partner to tell him that he 'had a fish on the line' and to get prepared.

When we finished our tea he told me of a very authentic Turkish restaurant that he and his friend would be more than happy to take me to. Of course I wanted to go, and when we walked to their car I told him I hoped it wasn't too far because there was a place which I wanted to go to that had Turkish folksingers. He said "no problem" and off we rode about 15 minutes, to this restaurant which they had recommended.

The food was great and they even offered to pay for my dinner! I objected at first but they said that I was their guest and that this was the custom. Plus they had a surprise for me...they knew this place with music that I would love.

I was feeling great! Isn't this the ideal situation when you are traveling alone?! You meet some nice locals and they proudly show you their city. They take you to places which you would have never known to visit. This is what happened to me next, though it wasn't the type of experience I wanted.....

We got in the car and drove another 10 minutes and wound up in a neighborhood where there were no tourists and was semi-industrial. We walked downstairs and opened the door and I found myself in a disco. There was music playing and lights flashing. It wasn't my idea of a folk scene with traditional Turkish songs being played...and to make matters worse I was the only customer there.

All eyes were on me as we walked inside, while my 'friends' said hello to the managers standing near the bar. We sat down at a big corner booth and immediately afterwards 3 beautiful women sat down with us. I found out later that they were from Russia and were hired specifically to soften up the customers to make it easier to rob them. They were very good at their job as they knew their trade well, laughing, showing attention, and asking me to dance. Meanwhile champagne was ordered. That first bottle quickly got consumed and another one arrived right after it, and one after that...

I didn't drink that much but my mind was cloudy. Looking back I think they put some sort of mild sedative in my glass. It wasn't enough to knock me out (they wanted more than what I had on me, after all), but it was enough to make me confused.

After about 45 minutes of laughing and dancing the bill came. And you know who it got placed in front of. I looked at it and saw the total amount of ~9380 Turkish lire, (which equaled ~US$3,075). But because of my confused mind I did the wrong math in my head and interpreted the final amount as US$375. (Most likely it was probably because my mind wouldn't fathom US$3,075 for the few bottles we drank!). I thought it was quite high but figured it was a 'night on the town' and these chaps had been nice to me, and I had the money, so I gave them my debit/credit card.

Now came the first of a few things that happened that night that showed that maybe God was looking down and saying "Stupid Jeremy. You got yourself into a mess this time but perhaps I will help you out for now." When the club manager tried to take US$3,075 out of my account, my bank saw that it was a large request coming from a high-risk area of the world, and refused payment on it. The manager came back to me and told me the bank would not accept it. He then told me that there was an ATM machine outside and I could take the money out of it there.

Still thinking that the bill was ~ US$375 I said "Sure", and we went outside to the ATM machine. Lucky thing #2 occurred at this time, because for safety reasons I put a maximum amount which I could take out of an ATM machine per every 24 hours, and it is $300. I feel if I ever need more than that I can use my credit card, and I still use that strategy today. So I got the $300 out of the machine and turned it over to them.

They said it wasn't enough, however. Still thinking that the total was $375, and not having $75 in cash on me (I also carry little cash), I told them of my predicament, and this is Lucky thing #3. When traveling overseas I always keep my credit cards in the safe in my room at the hotel. This is to prevent losing them or having them stolen from me. After all, I am just going out to eat and my ATM card should be enough.

So now I had to convince them that my credit cards were locked up in the safe in my room at the hotel, and that I could go get them and pay them the remaining $75, though in their eyes I still owed them $2,725! So I stood there in front of this manager pleading what I thought was a mere inconvenience of $75, while he was thinking what he is going to do with me! In the end he said ok, and my two 'friends', plus a driver, took me in their car back to my hotel.

It was half-way to my hotel, which was a 20-25 minute ride, when one of my 'friends' told me that I didn't owe the manager $75 - that I owed him $2,725! I disagreed with him and we started to argue what the real amount was while riding through the back streets of Istanbul, towards the Galata Bridge, when suddenly it hit me. Maybe the drug had worn off, maybe I finally came to my senses. It was probably a combination of both. But I realized in quick succession that: A) It WAS $2,725! B) I was getting fucked over real good! C) I am in the back seat of this car with these 3 guys and now was scared shitless! D) I need a plan! So I suddenly blurted out "Ah! Ok! I see! Alright, no problem! We'll just go and get my credit cards", and I acted as if we were all friends again.

That seemed to work on the guy sitting next to me in the back seat, but the guy in front of me sitting in the passenger seat was suspicious. He turned around and said to me "What is your room number, anyways, at the hotel?" I said quickly "It's not important." Fortunately he let it go at that

They got lost going to my hotel. Or did they? True, I was staying at a small boutique hotel that wasn't that well known. But my senses were on razor-edge now and I was watching and evaluating everything they did. To make matters worse I had always traveled to my hotel by public transportation so I couldn't tell if we were going in the right direction or not since I was in a car. When they turned off a main road and started to go down the hill towards the dock my heart started racing. I knew my hotel wasn't in that direction. I had my hand on the door handle and even if the car was moving I was ready to jump out and run in about 2 seconds, when one of the guys said "No, this is not the way", and they stopped the car and turned around. I breathed a sigh of relief but kept my hand on the door handle.

Soon after that we came to my hotel. I wasn't in the clear yet but felt a hell of a lot better. I told them I will get the card and be right back. One of them wanted to go with me but I told him no, that I would be right back. The odds were turning in my favor now, though there was one more thing to worry about.....

I walked into the hotel and the concierge/desk manager stand is right in front of the door, and you could see it from the street. The manager on duty that night was a young-looking 19-20 year old innocent-looking kid. My main concern now was that if these guys outside decided to forcibly enter the hotel and come to my room, I didn't have much faith in this guy to be able to stop them.

As soon as I reached the hotel manager I looked back and saw one of the persons in the car had gotten out and was standing outside the door, watching my interaction with the manager. I was out of breath from the excitement and nerves, and knew that, with that guy watching, I had to speak quickly before he came inside, and I also had to pretend that I was having small-talk with the manager. So there was this surreal scene of me smiling and laughing while I was quickly between breaths telling the manager that I was a victim of extortion, and that there were these 3 guys outside wanting more money from me.

The manager told me to go upstairs to my room and he would take care of it. I didn't want to use the elevator as it would show which floor I got off at, so I walked up the 4 flights stairs to my room. I kept my lights off and my door cracked open, so I could hear if there was a scuffle downstairs. I also immediately ran up another flight of stairs to the roof exit, in case I needed to escape. Damn, it was locked! I went back to my room and tried to figure out what I would do if I heard them come upstairs. Would I be able to fit inside the wardrobe cabinet? Could I be flat enough to hide between the mattress and box spring if I piled some clothes on the bed? Your mind races at a thousand miles per hour in that situation....

Fifteen minutes later I received a call from the manager. The guy who was standing outside had come in when I didn't return and wanted to come upstairs. But the manager was perfect- he let the guy know that he would call the police and that he had to leave now. The guy argued a bit but that young-looking innocent guy held his ground, and booted the guy out! He told me that I could come down and explain things to him now.

I went downstairs and told him, and he said that it was likely the mafia, or organized crime, and that I had nothing to worry about now, and that he would call the police the next day. The next day the police came, and although they could find out the address of the disco because they had tried to use my ATM card, the police didn't pursue it. They said "it wasn't in their district." Thanks Istanbul police!! Meanwhile I didn't have a good day. I didn't want to stray too far from the hotel and was constantly looking behind me over my shoulder. I was certainly glad to leave the day after that.

It's too bad that happened because I absolutely love Istanbul- it is one of my favorite cities, and I would certainly return. I have had a lot of time to reflect on what happened, and curse myself for things that maybe I could have prevented, and accept my good fortune with some things that happened, and which, very likely, could have saved the situation from becoming much worse. I was a seasoned travler at the time, and certainly not naive about different scams. Yet it still happened to me. My takeaway from this is to always be friendly to strangers, always be a little bit weary  of them (especially if they come up to you), and never leave the general area where you meet them. Lesson learned.



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