Meeting local people on your travels

Jess Fitch writes...

"Remember when you were a kid and grown-ups used to lecture you about 'Stranger Danger'? ‘Say no, never go’, and all that? I was even a member of a special not-going-with-strangers club, possibly called the Never-Never club. Had a badge and everything.

You generally find these lectures stop when you reach 12 or so and the grown-ups figure you’ve got the message. However, if you’re a girl and you’re planning on going travelling, expect them to start again, big-time.

Before I left for India when I was 19, my Mum told me not to talk to anyone, not even if they offered me sweeties or said they had a fluffy kitten at home with big eyes and would I like to come and stroke it...

However (sorry, Mum), the reality is that as long as you’re not stupid, contact with local people is one of the most rewarding and interesting parts of the travelling experience.

Of course you’ve got to be careful, especially as a girl, but generally all this requires is a bit of common sense. Don’t accept invitations from strange men to go to their homes (duh), or to take a ride on their motorbikes to watch the sunset in the desert (double duh), and you should be okay.

The best advice I can give is to set yourself boundaries (‘I won’t arrange to meet people except in busy public places’, ‘I won’t accept food or drink from anyone I don’t know and trust’) and stick to them.

This may occasionally mean you’ll have to be rude. Depending on your personality, this might be tricky. One night in Manali I was taking a rickshaw home with a female friend when a decidedly dodgy bloke we’d met once before ran up and asked if he could ride with us. We said yes, knowing we shouldn’t. Luckily all was fine, but we should have ignored our (typically English, typically female) instinct to be polite.

You’ll find that being female has advantages, too. You’ll find it easy to talk to local women, who will be much more comfortable chatting with you than with a male traveller. Ask a woman how to wear a sari or cook a tasty local dish, or what the word is for dog or cat, and you’ll find that cultural and even language barriers fall away (though she may end up laughing at your ignorance).

Children, too, will be happy to let you join in their games. Some of my best memories of India involve imaginary tea-parties and learning dances and clapping-games from local kids.

And even men, you know, aren’t all bad. After my mum’s advice I set off for India a man-fearing wreck. When I arrived I had to spend 16 hours on a bus, sitting next to an old bloke who must have thought I was fairly odd, as I spent the whole journey trying to cover my exposed forearms in case they sent him into paroxysms of violent lust. In the end, he got me chatting, gave me some coloured rice to offer at a roadside shrine, and - can you believe it - he didn’t leap on me once."



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More safety advice
Click here >> for advice on staying safe in the sun
Click here >> for advice on staying safe on public transport
Click here >> for advice on alcohol and safety
Click here >> for advice on self-defence
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