As travellers we're taught to respect local knowledge of the citizens of the place we visit as priceless, to value it above all else, regardless of our familiarity with the source person. Yes, your guidebook and TripAdvisor and half the internet might be telling you to go to one place, but how about this random person you chatted to for a few minutes on the street? If he/she tells you something different you hold it close to your heart as a hidden secret, just revealed to you, by your stroke of good luck! It is almost a sermon from the pulpit!
The reality is that locals don't always know best. Or know anything at all. While I have been helped by locals in many places I have been led astray on almost equal occasions. Does this person, your source, know exactly what you want? Does he understand what his city has to offer to suit your taste and thirst?
Anyone who has ever asked for directions in India would be able to tell you that locals often know very little but are reluctant to admit the same. People tend to want to help, even if they actually can't. They won't say "I don't know". That would seem a bit rude. It would feel like they weren't doing their jobs as hosts. And so, you end up walking miles in the wrong direction, totally confused, because of your newly acquired local knowledge.
Same goes for attractions. Locals aren't tourists. Some will have a really good handle on what an outsider would enjoy experiencing in their city or their area. Plenty, however, will not. And same goes for pubs and eateries. Locals do not fancy what visitors do. Try taking a Chinese or Vietnamese visitor to your local Chinese restaurant and see their reaction; you were definitely trying to help by offering something familiar but they would have enjoyed your local cuisine far more than the pseudo-Chinese that you have offered.
Restaurant recommendations are so often the most sought after of all local knowledge. Ask a cab driver, ask your Airbnb host, talk to the bartender, ask some random person on the street. Where should I eat? What should I eat? Sometimes this will work out really well. You will end up somewhere amazing; somewhere tourists wouldn't usually even think to go, discovering dishes no one even knows about.
The trouble is that you have no idea if the local you're speaking to has any clue about food. Some people eat food in a hurry between job shifts. The way they experience their food is an insult to the food they eat. They have absolutely no idea what constitutes a good meal, or a good dining experience. And some of those people are locals.
The Lucknow scenario
Every tourist comes to Lucknow with a sacred desire to devour Tundey Kebab. The famous Kebab shop by Haji Murad Ali came into being in the bustling street of Gol darwaza in the Chowk area of Lucknow in 1905. This is where Haji sahib, fondly remembered as ‘Tunday kababi’ sold his delicious kebabs for 90 years, and built a legacy to the envy of all. It is said that the kebabs made here continue to follow a closely guarded secret family recipe. Supposedly the women of the family make a special masala for the kebabs that use a whopping 160 different spices! Haji Murad Ali only had one working arm, he was an amputee and hence the name Tundey, which means amputee. When the corporate house Sahara had an airline Tundey’s Kebabs were in their menu and so this gastronomic wonder flew all over the world!
But the problem today, after the demise of Haji Murad Ali, is that the city has almost 30 outlets claiming to be the original Tundey Kebabi. So if you ask any local Lucknavi which is the authentic one, chances are he will be equally confused or excuse himself by declaring that he is a vegetarian.
There are many tourist attractions which are open only on working days and not on holidays. There are still others which are totally free and require no standing in serpentine lines for entry at certain time of the day. These invaluable tips are what tourists usually seek from locals but the latter often disappoint them by their ignorance. They are helpful but they are living their own life and have never bothered to know about their own heritage.
The Italian experience
I'm sure the good people of Naples thought they were doing me a favour. When I asked locals for a good pizza place, a place to order proper Neapolitan-style pizza, a place people in the know would go to, a cherished secret, a slice of absolute Italian perfection – I did not expect this.
I was on a train from Rome down to Naples. I'd got chatting to the girl next to me, who was heading home for the weekend. We talked pizza, the Neapolitan staple. I asked where I should go for the best in the city. I don’t know how my polite inquiry went beyond her but soon commenced a loud and very long conversation that stretched across most of the train carriage, as everyone seemingly argued over where to send me. Finally, I had an answer: L'antico Pizzeria da Michele.
Feeling distinctly lucky with this priceless bit of local knowledge, the result of a mini opinion poll cum parliamentary debate, I tucked that little nugget away in the back of my brain and made an instant decision to make da Michele my first port of call. What an introduction to the city. What a great opportunity to do something you just couldn't do without a fortuitous conversation with those in the know. But then I arrived and discovered that a lots of other people knew about da Michele, too. There was a queue down the street, pretty much all tourists. I looked the place up on Google and discovered it has more than 30,000 reviews. It's in the Michelin guide. It's in Lonely Planet. It's also, crucially, in Eat Pray Love, the literary juggernaut that turned da Michele from local secret to touristy hotspot something like 15 years ago. Sigh! So much for local knowledge!!
As I have a phobia for lines I fell back on TripAdvisor and opted for Lombardi 1892, which had only 2000 Google reviews but more than 20,000 entries on TripAdvisor. This remained my favourite eating joint throughout my stay.
This is a good lesson though: locals don't always know best. And even if they do know best, they might not steer you to those places, perhaps out of misplaced goodwill or not. Just because someone exists within a great food culture, doesn't mean they know about great food. I'm not saying you shouldn't talk to people when you travel, and get their advice. You definitely should. It will be instructive. The conversations will be interesting. You might even discover something amazing. But you should also understand that the person you're talking to may not know what they're doing. This isn't your guaranteed ticket to success. It's a chance. You have no idea where this stranger is about to steer you. It might work out brilliantly. It might be just OK.
Or, you could find yourself near the most touristy pizza joint in all of Naples, standing at the back of a queue of singlet-wearing English-speakers that wraps around a corner and halfway down the next block, just to eat – for Naples at least – some fairly average pizza.
A professional guide
Travelling abroad is fun, but can sometimes be challenging because things are so different and you are not used to them. With the language, culture and system differences, it can be really confusing and overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been before. In certain countries even travelling interstate is challenging as rules, religion, culture and attitude change from state to state. A professional local guide can be very helpful in such situations
A good guide will be able to explain the local culture and traditions and give you other local insights about the places you visit. He/she will know the best hours to visit the attractions to avoid big crowds, how to avoid rush hour, and tricks to let you experience the most out of major tourist destinations even with big crowds. They can also bring you to off-the-beaten-path spots you wouldn’t have known otherwise and offer personal suggestions on how to get the most out of your trip. You don’t have to waste your time to plan a good travel itinerary, as the guides will do it for you. A good guide will structure your itinerary to be time-efficient, probably allowing you to visit more places. They can also tell you the local custom of tips for waiters and drivers.
There are guides you would remember all your life and I have a boatman in Varanasi, a guide in Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, one in Khajuraho and one in Ellora in my phone and I recommend their names to all my friends. The gentleman in Bharatpur will tell you about all the birds you are likely to see, identify them for you, tell you about their migratory habits, their life span, their breeding and eating habits and help you to snap the best photographs. The monument guides usually tell you when they were erected in the historical time line, who erected them, why, cause of damage and decay if any, dimensions, archaeological features and style, decorations in floor and ceiling, surrounding gardens and historical importance.
So, while travelling, local help is valuable but the help you manage randomly may not always be up to your expectation. A help from a professional guide however is a different story altogether.
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