Continuing on scams, here’s another scam, on another tropical island – Sri Lanka. But this one’s not as bad as the money-changer thieves of Bali. Not even close to half as bad!
Sapphire mine, Sri Lanka – OK, OK, it’s a replica. So what?
Sri Lanka is famous for its sapphires. And I’m the type of tourist who likes to see famous things, whatever they are, be it sapphires or animal-poop coffee (Indonesia) or Dead Sea mud (Jordan), and so on and so forth. And so, on our tour of Sri Lanka in 2013, when we were in between Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (two tourist attractions in Central Sri Lanka), our trusty tourist car driver brought us to a sapphire processing place. Even better, it was a ‘government-approved’ place! So far so good, except that I didn’t know that ‘government-approved’ in Sri Lanka also means ‘highly over-priced’!
Gemstone showroom, somewhere between Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya, Sri Lanka – At the time of visit, there were only 3 customers, 2 adults (us) and a kid (Justin). And that’s Justin, in the picture, going wild, having the whole friggin hall to himself!
Anyway, the place was a lavish building in …err, the middle of nowhere (no, I have no idea where it is, except that it’s about an hour before you reach Sigiriya from Polonnaruwa). The entrance was like the concierge of a 5-star hotel (…umm, OK, 4-star), with valet services (but hey, we had a driver of our own!) There were life-sized replicas of sapphire mines in the building (ya, inside the building, with air-con, not outside). We were shown how craftsmen, cut, polished, etc (how the heck could I remember? this was 2013, OK?) basically made sapphires out of err… stones. Yeah, they looked like stones to me, but nicer and harder looking ones!
And finally (no surprises here), we were taken to the shop! That’s where you’re supposed to buy something to make it worthwhile for the place to make all those life-sized replicas, and have such a nice building, and employ all those professional looking people. (Government-approved doesn’t mean government-sponsored, OK?)
Sapphires aren’t the cheapest of things (they’re not called precious stones for nothing, OK?) and are beyond our means (told you we’re cheapskates!) Besides, we know next to nothing about the value of gemstones. Of course, if your skin is thick enough, you don’t really need to buy anything. Never mind the free tea, or free tour that they give you. After all, they’ve done a good job of showcasing their country to the rest of the world. That should be a good enough reward for them already, right?
But we’re not the type who go for free rides, and so settled for a semi-precious stone, an amethyst (a purple gemstone). We managed to knock the offered price down by half. Not a bad buy we thought. And that was the end of it until we had some time to shop around in the town of Kandy and found out that ‘hey… we could get it for a lot cheaper than what we’ve paid for, those friggin government-approved cheats!’ (And there went the tips of the driver for the day. ‘Sorry driver, you’ve had your commission!’)
We went to the extent of visiting another ‘government-approved’ gemstone place in Kandy just to check. And came out feeling a little better. (The friggin place was selling stones at higher prices than the shop we visited!! OK, driver, you’re not so bad after all).
But it’s OK overall. The little shops in Kandy and the shops at the airport might sell the stones cheaper, but they didn’t have a lavish building, or exhibits of sapphire mines, or free tours (and tea), or a whole contingent of staff to chaperone you around. Who’ll pay the salaries and fund the establishment (and pay the government for approval)? That’s where we come in. And that’s how I justify paying higher prices for the gemstone we bought, which is definitely worth it, when compared to the scumbags who conned us of our money in Bali!
How an air-conditioned sapphire mine looks like, Sri Lanka
Sapphire mine, Sri Lanka – OK, OK, it’s a replica. So what?
Sri Lanka is famous for its sapphires. And I’m the type of tourist who likes to see famous things, whatever they are, be it sapphires or animal-poop coffee (Indonesia) or Dead Sea mud (Jordan), and so on and so forth. And so, on our tour of Sri Lanka in 2013, when we were in between Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (two tourist attractions in Central Sri Lanka), our trusty tourist car driver brought us to a sapphire processing place. Even better, it was a ‘government-approved’ place! So far so good, except that I didn’t know that ‘government-approved’ in Sri Lanka also means ‘highly over-priced’!
Gemstone showroom, somewhere between Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya, Sri Lanka – At the time of visit, there were only 3 customers, 2 adults (us) and a kid (Justin). And that’s Justin, in the picture, going wild, having the whole friggin hall to himself!
Anyway, the place was a lavish building in …err, the middle of nowhere (no, I have no idea where it is, except that it’s about an hour before you reach Sigiriya from Polonnaruwa). The entrance was like the concierge of a 5-star hotel (…umm, OK, 4-star), with valet services (but hey, we had a driver of our own!) There were life-sized replicas of sapphire mines in the building (ya, inside the building, with air-con, not outside). We were shown how craftsmen, cut, polished, etc (how the heck could I remember? this was 2013, OK?) basically made sapphires out of err… stones. Yeah, they looked like stones to me, but nicer and harder looking ones!
And finally (no surprises here), we were taken to the shop! That’s where you’re supposed to buy something to make it worthwhile for the place to make all those life-sized replicas, and have such a nice building, and employ all those professional looking people. (Government-approved doesn’t mean government-sponsored, OK?)
Sapphires aren’t the cheapest of things (they’re not called precious stones for nothing, OK?) and are beyond our means (told you we’re cheapskates!) Besides, we know next to nothing about the value of gemstones. Of course, if your skin is thick enough, you don’t really need to buy anything. Never mind the free tea, or free tour that they give you. After all, they’ve done a good job of showcasing their country to the rest of the world. That should be a good enough reward for them already, right?
But we’re not the type who go for free rides, and so settled for a semi-precious stone, an amethyst (a purple gemstone). We managed to knock the offered price down by half. Not a bad buy we thought. And that was the end of it until we had some time to shop around in the town of Kandy and found out that ‘hey… we could get it for a lot cheaper than what we’ve paid for, those friggin government-approved cheats!’ (And there went the tips of the driver for the day. ‘Sorry driver, you’ve had your commission!’)
We went to the extent of visiting another ‘government-approved’ gemstone place in Kandy just to check. And came out feeling a little better. (The friggin place was selling stones at higher prices than the shop we visited!! OK, driver, you’re not so bad after all).
But it’s OK overall. The little shops in Kandy and the shops at the airport might sell the stones cheaper, but they didn’t have a lavish building, or exhibits of sapphire mines, or free tours (and tea), or a whole contingent of staff to chaperone you around. Who’ll pay the salaries and fund the establishment (and pay the government for approval)? That’s where we come in. And that’s how I justify paying higher prices for the gemstone we bought, which is definitely worth it, when compared to the scumbags who conned us of our money in Bali!
How an air-conditioned sapphire mine looks like, Sri Lanka
1 comment:
Hey, I think I found the location of the gemstone showroom! I've marked it as the Location of this post. This must be the one, I don't see any other near this place.
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