Inevitably in any country you will always find someone trying to liberate you from your money.
This one is interesting and was attempted on me two days in a row.
A woman started taking to me on the street. She seemed pleasant and innocuous enough.
"Where are you from?"
"New Zealand," I reply.
"Ah! Auckland?"
"No. Wellington"
"Oh how very good to meet you. I have a niece who is due to travel to Wellington to take up a job as a nurse."
She starts asking questions about climate, cost of living etc. Then she suggests I accompany her back to their house so I can meet said niece and give her this information.
I have a rule when travelling not to accompany anyone in a car or on a motorbike unless I am instructing the cab driver where to go or the person is not a stranger to me (or has been introduced by someone I know). I make exceptions to this - though typically not in Asia. You'll see why.
"Actually," I reply, "I'm due to see a friend soon so I can't join you. However, I am coming into town tomorrow and can catch up across the road at the coffee shop if you and your niece want to join me for coffee."
I show up the next morning and Anh (the woman's name) is there waiting for me. "My niece is working this morning. Maybe you can come back this afternoon or maybe you can come back to our place now and join us for some food and wait for her?" As chance would have it Jehangir and I were due to catch up that evening so I agreed to meet at the same place at 5.00pm that afternoon. Anh never showed.
On face value it sounds like a reasonable story and a reasonable request. People like to talk about their country, particularly to someone who is due to move there and may be a little apprehensive about what to expect. If that person is in one of the caring professions, all that much better.
The next day I was walking out of the national museum and a Cambodian woman and man start chatting to me. "Where you from?" [...you know the drill]
"Ah. You know Auckland? Her sister is due to travel there soon. Maybe you can tell us a bit about it?" We sit down on a step nearby. This is sounding very familiar to me. "What is she doing in NZ?" I ask.
"She is a caregiver."
A Tuk Tuk driver yells at me from the street. I tell him I don't want one. He replies that it's not important but not to go with the people I am speaking with. "They will ask you to go with them. They will not charge you, but if you go, will be bad."
We talk some more , the people on the step and me. When it becomes apparent that, while happy to talk to them here, I am not going anywhere with them, the conversation very quickly dried up.
Not sure what would have been waiting if I did accompany them, though I'm sure it's not a caregiver wanting to learn more about your country.
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