Friends in Far Off Places

No matter where we go in Sri Lanka, it seems that we are never far from our home in Vienna.  It goes like this.  We are walking through the busy streets of New Town in Galle, looking for a curry joint.  A man will approach us (always a man, for Sri Lanka is publicly a male dominated society) and ask us where we are from.  We alternate answers between "USA" and "Austria".  Austria produces two responses, one being "Ah, Australia!  Madam and Sir are from Australia!"  Now I know why there are T-Shirts in the tourist shops of Vienna which say "No Kangaroos."  "USA" always produces the response of "Ah, Obama!  Good Man!"  My apologies to FOX "News", but that's the way it goes down.

If our interlocutor actually knows where Austria is, the next part of the exchange is the amazing coincidence that they have an Aunt-Uncle-Cousin who lives in Vienna.  It is amazing how many people in Sri Lanka seem to have relatives in the tiny European country of Austria.  This fictitious relative is, of course, part of the come on to the entice us into this person's gem shop or spice shop or whatever it is that they are trying to steer us towards.  It is an all to common scam in Bangkok and we have been experiencing the Sri Lankan version.  It is harmless as long as one is aware of the transaction.    

This has happened in Colombo, on the train to Galle, in New Town of Galle, and more yet to come.  The man on the train was telling us how horrible Galle Fort was and how much better his Brother's guest house was if we would only get off of the train a few stops before Galle.  We demurred and he went after a Russian guy who was standing in the open doorway of the train.  Presumably our friend had relatives in Petersburg or Moscow as well.

I can't blame these folks for trying to steer a little business in the right direction.  Shills are as common as Capatilism and just as old, probably older.  I admire their persistence and creativety.  The extent of the fabricated relatives takes a bit of knowledge and story-tellling ability and they usually pull it off with a straight face.  Unlike other parts of the world, the shills here, as well as the Tuk-tuk drivers, are able to take "No thank you" for an answer with a degree of grace.  I admire that as well.