Saved by the Chinese government. Yesterday on my 10 hour layover I decided to venture out into the city of Beijing. With only a little bit of time I figure I could see 1 maybe 2 sites. So I rushed to Tiananmen Square. On my way out and on to my next stop I had trouble finding the exit. A nice English speaking Chinese lady jumped in and offered me some directions... Now, I consider myself to be pretty street smart but what happened next proves to the contrary. This very nice lady then asked me to get some coffee with her. At first I turned her down, not only was I not interest but I was also in a hurry to get to my next stop and then the airport. But she insisted, so I said yes. As we walked to the coffee shop, we exchanged some nice convo and I was convinced she was genuine. After about a 5 or 10 min walk she offered trying the coffee/tea at some hole in the wall shop. I felt immediately something was up, but thought Naum just go with the flow. We entered and got a small private room. I order some chicken and rice and she ordered two pots of tea. After a little more chatting the bill came and it was $285. I was in shock, how is this possible. She eventually convinced me to pay half, which I agreed to. Luckily my credit card company blocked the transaction, and I only had $50 on me which I willingly gave up. With only 40 yuan in my pocket 20 of which was from the girl bc I didnt have enough for the train after I gave up my $50. We went on our way. I kept telling her how that was ridiculously expensive, but yet she convinced me that the tea we had always is. I went on my way, she went on hers. Still feeling uneasy about the whole thing I stopped and asked a cop about it. In his broken English he told me this was a scam, called the local police and I went on a ride along. A few cop cars later a ride around the city and a whole bunch of smoking cops, I found myself back at the coffee shop, with 2 cops in hand. Next thing I know my $50 is back in my hand and Im getting sent on my way. All in all it was a lesson learned and a few reminders. 1) follow you intuition 2) maybe be a little less gullible and nice to random strangers 3) you have amazing angels watching your back and 4) when you live in the flow you get a free lunch, 20 yun, free rides in cop cars and a hell of a story! Naumaste
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:49:44 +0000
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