Sarajevo & Bosnia: Big problems with corruption
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2009
1
Trip End
Aug 29, 2009
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
This time i decided to invite two Dutch friends. We would meet up in Mostar and be traveling together in Bosnia for twelve days. I would be guiding them around.. since i have been here several times before.
The cities we visited were Mostar, Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Travnik, Jajce, Jablanica, Konjic and finally Sarajevo where we would split.
More stories and photo's about those cities later. First some of the bad things we experienced.
Unlike other years corruption and tourist rip offs were really a major issue this time.
It started with the usual things:
Asking two or three times the price once they noticed we were tourists. For food there was also another trick. For example: ordering a big cevapi, kebab or anything else, getting a small one, but paying for a big one. This just did not happen in Sarajevo, but also in cities like Travnik. Even at the various buses we traveled with, the driver regularly charged us two to four times the normal price to store our luggage in the cabin.
The taxi's were a major problem, but i already knew that. In Srebrenica we had to pay about 6 euro to get from the Potocari memorial to the city center. A few minutes drive. In Sarajevo taxi prices were 10 - 20 euro from the main bus / railway station to the city center. Luckily in Sarajevo there are trams as well.. I never really had a problem with those until this year...
We got on a tram just outside the center. (we were dropped off by some Bosnian friends after a visit to Konjic) Inside the tram we bought a ticket from the driver. For some reason he first had to make a phone call, so we waited for him to finish. When he hang up we got to the next stop. We realized who he was calling. Three officers came into the tram and immediately walked to us. The driver gave us our tickets and i went to the stamp machine to stamp them.
However, it said the tickets were invalid. (what?!) The officers were next: telling us we didn't have valid tickets and that we were criminals. The fine was 40 euro. We tried to get into a reasonable discussion with these guys, but they were reluctant to do so. They would not let us go till we paid the fine. I said, 'forget it, we won't pay this..' But my two friends (who were in Bosnia for the first time) could not believe what was happening and felt really really uncomfortable. (The scene, which went on for 10-15mins was quite harassing) They decided to pay for all of us.
We got off and went to the hostel. My friends were kind of shocked and went to bed. I was quite mad and disappointed. I decided to go to a Bosnian friend to tell him what happened. He wasn't surprised. As he is a hotel owner he has encountered this problem before. "A short while ago one of my guests, American tourist, bought a ticket, and stamped it. An officer came in, asked for the ticket and swapped it for a invalid one. Result, a fine!" He said he even called the newspaper for this, cause it gives a bad picture to Sarajevo and Bosnia. No shit, it definitely does... A Dutch friend of mine who regularly goes to Bosnia because of company visits told me an almost simular story once i told her about our experience.
Another problem are souvenir shops. Don't even think about buying something there. Most of the products are fake and/or cheap production from China. Especially the blacksmith street in Sarajevo, Baščaršija seems to be a fraud. They trick you into thinking the cups, cans, plates are hand made.. (once in a while each shop owner takes a hammer and starts polishing a cup, plate, whatever) , but once you take a look at some of the printed marks or labels you can read 'made in China'. It still wouldn't be such a big problem when it was reasonable priced. Forget about it. They vary from 50 to 100 euro for a simple plate or a few cups and cans. And i am sure everyone knows it will probable cost 1 - 5 euro in China.
Sometimes we felt stupid after being ripped off again. "We should have paid more attention." But in Bosnia the sellers and traders seem really sophisticated in doing so. It really happens right in front of you, while looking you in the eyes. Something you would not really expect. They trick you into thinking the price is right. My advice, watch the f-ck out. Have the hostel owner arrange a taxi or anything else for you. Take notice in trams. (don't give an officer your ticket, but just show it to him. Get out when you see other tourists getting screwed) Try to pay in 'small' money. Only have dinner in restaurants or cafe's which have a clear menu card. But even this is not safe: after one dinner it happened that a waiter said that the menu card was outdated. And then the struggle begins...
Many of the hostels owners i spoke with and Bosnian friends i know say the country is sick of corruption. "Corruption is even higher than in Albania" Said one of them. I just hope the people in Bosnia will realize ripping off tourists is not the right thing to do to fulfill the country money needs. (taxes are raised every year because there is millions of debt)
More stories and many photo's later. Especially about Srebrenica which to my surprise looked so much better than last year. (a lot of work has been done there) And, don't worry... Bosnia hosts many nice people. There are of course many people which are honest. The country has beautiful landscapes. But for this trip the above really really ruined it for us. For some time i was really considering never to go to Bosnia again.
