Many thanks for info about odd restaurant practices in Dar. I was there, off and on, many years ago but missed the unusual opportunity to be able to impress anyone when I would have loved to! I also visited Bangalore twice, more recently, but hadn't experienced nor heard about variable restaurant prices aka Gabriel.
When in India, I have invariably passed off, with an adapted/localised accent, as an Indian and have not had to pay for hotel stays, in foreign currency, even when this was the 'rule' for a while, and before plastic came into greater use. On indicating when booking, that I was from Goa (with address of course) I invariably had a feeling that the thought crossed some minds that these guys from Goa are a funny lot who only speak English. But I recall one case when pestered to change money by street urchins in Bombay. When I indicated with the single word that I was "Indian" the shrewed little geezers simply said "no no sir you are foreign Indian." And of course, most taxi drivers, the world over, immediately know when to make an extra buck or two, except perhaps in Sydney, when on two occassions I was taken free, albeit on short journeys, by most friendly Indian drivers who wanted to discover from me if they would be better of in the UK. The Aussie dollar was especially weak at the time!
Cornel
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mervyn Lobo"
Cornel, There used to be a restaurant in Dar that had the same menu with different prices. The menu given to the male had the prices they would charge. The menu given to the female had the same items with twice the prices. Needless to say, some of my dates got really impressed when taken for dinner there :-)
