Oops! I did it again
Remember a long time ago in Shanghai I got ripped off by the ‘Art Student Scam’? I thought I was just being friendly to some Chinese students and ended up being coerced into spending over RMB 500 on a painting? Since then I’ve even read about this con in the Rough Guide – albeit a bit late for me.
Well, I’ve gone and done it again in Beijing. Unbelievable. This is the ‘Tea House Scam’. After visiting the Forbidden City, I was going up the hill at the north end to get a panoramic view of the capital when two girls – students from Wuhan, don’t you know – struck up a conversation and kind of drifted along with me as I climbed the path.
Sure, it’s obvious what was happening in hindsight but, at the time, it just didn’t cross my mind what they were up to. God knows, I didn’t want the company but I’m just too damn polite or socially inept to rebuff people. At the top of the hill, however, I managed to distance myself from them among the other tourists and get back to sightseeing on my own.
But they returned and suggested going to Beihai Park. “No, I need to go back to my hotel, thanks.” I thought at the foot of the hill we’d go our separate ways but, as we were going past a tea house, they suggested just having a cup together. Okay, what harm could it do?
Sitting round a small round table, a hostess theatrically brewed a selection of tea leaves and gave us small cups to sample each one. The girls babbled on non-stop. After about eight or ten teas, the ceremony came to a pretty abrupt halt: “it’s time to pay”. The hostess reached for a price list and plonked it, unceremoniously, in front of me.
Was that 65 or 650 Yuan ? Was that altogether or each? And then the penny dropped (doh! finally). I was furious. RMB 650 is about a week’s wages. You could buy a new mountain bike with it. It’s a colossal amount of money. Doing a runner occurred to me but images of police and cells and deportation also occurred to me at the same time. Who knows? Perhaps I should have scarpered but I paid instead. The only small consolation was being able to tell another tourist at another table what was happening before he’d gone through the whole menu.
All I did was try and be nice to a couple of Chinese girls. I hope they rot in hell.
Well, I’ve gone and done it again in Beijing. Unbelievable. This is the ‘Tea House Scam’. After visiting the Forbidden City, I was going up the hill at the north end to get a panoramic view of the capital when two girls – students from Wuhan, don’t you know – struck up a conversation and kind of drifted along with me as I climbed the path.
Sure, it’s obvious what was happening in hindsight but, at the time, it just didn’t cross my mind what they were up to. God knows, I didn’t want the company but I’m just too damn polite or socially inept to rebuff people. At the top of the hill, however, I managed to distance myself from them among the other tourists and get back to sightseeing on my own.But they returned and suggested going to Beihai Park. “No, I need to go back to my hotel, thanks.” I thought at the foot of the hill we’d go our separate ways but, as we were going past a tea house, they suggested just having a cup together. Okay, what harm could it do?
Sitting round a small round table, a hostess theatrically brewed a selection of tea leaves and gave us small cups to sample each one. The girls babbled on non-stop. After about eight or ten teas, the ceremony came to a pretty abrupt halt: “it’s time to pay”. The hostess reached for a price list and plonked it, unceremoniously, in front of me.
Was that 65 or 650 Yuan ? Was that altogether or each? And then the penny dropped (doh! finally). I was furious. RMB 650 is about a week’s wages. You could buy a new mountain bike with it. It’s a colossal amount of money. Doing a runner occurred to me but images of police and cells and deportation also occurred to me at the same time. Who knows? Perhaps I should have scarpered but I paid instead. The only small consolation was being able to tell another tourist at another table what was happening before he’d gone through the whole menu.
All I did was try and be nice to a couple of Chinese girls. I hope they rot in hell.
posted by PatRawle at
11:56 am
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