tattoo scam
Getting a tattoo is a popular thing to do on any vacation, but beware of the tattoo scam here. Getting a tattoo in Rai Leh is strongly discouraged. You will be severely overcharged for a tattoo using questionably sterile equipment by a questionably skilled artist. First, in order to impress you, they will show photographs that have been downloaded and printed from the Internet and passed off as their own work. Unless the artist is in the photograph with the recipient, it is probably not their own work.
Once you have described what you want to the artist, they will refuse to give you any kind of estimate, and insist that they must first draw the design on you with a pen before giving you a cost but tell you that drawing is free. While they are drawing, they will delay you as much as possible in order to get you drunk. They'll convince you that the tattoo hurts less with more alcohol, pretend to be your friend and drink with you, have drinks delivered from nearby bars which of course you have to pay for and various deceptive an manipulative tactics. Once they feel you're drunk enough, they will finish the drawing and give you a price that is three times the cost of a tattoo from more skilled artists in the United States. They're counting on you being too drunk to realize how much you're spending and you'll just go to the nearest ATM, or that you just won't care if you highly overpay because you're on vacation. They may bargain down to about twice the cost of an American tattoo if you're lucky.
Even if you don't care about the cost, getting a tattoo here is still highly inadvisable. The artists here are not as skilled as they appear to be, and since they use a bamboo needle without sufficient skill the tattoo will not last as long. Although they may claim to use new disposable needles, the sterility of their equipment is questionable at best.
