A Fool and Our Money are Soon Parted: One of the great knowns about China is that prices are regularly inflated when a Lowai/Gwailo is ready to be taken to the cleaners. Nobody pays sticker price for anything. For example: The Hilton Hotel (formerly the Panglin) sits just down the street from the border crossing from Shenzhen and Hong Kong. A very highly trafficked area and one of the best places to have meetings and jump back across the border. They have had the Russian blonde hostesses as well by the way. I arrive at the front desk and ask for my previously arranged suite key card. I also ask to see what the charges will be for the suite. I am shown a bill that says the room will cost $850 US per night (5100 RMB). I laugh and ask to see the manager. I show him my business card and ask him if he knows of Dr. Norman Bethune (Buy-chu-en), he says that of course he knows who he is. I ask him to look at my card again. He sees that I am the Executive Director of The Bethune Institute. He is honored to meet me and praises the good doctor for a few minutes. He then offers me a far better room rate (without being asked) and we chat some more. In the meantime a Swiss banker comes over to say hi. We met in Beijing at another hotel and he starts to chat me up. By the time the banker and I are through with the Manager we have both gotten suites for $85 US per night, 10% of the original asking price. Now I am not trying to say that when its your own money you might take better care of it than when you are on an expense account, but both the banker and I know the game of sticker price versus the real price in China. A lesson that our betters would do well to learn. Why isnt Mrs. Obama paying for her own trip and all the expenses from her own pocket? After all the purpose of the trip is to see what schools the kiddies might like to attend along with their buddy from Sidwell. This is not a political goodwill tour and she is not a real member of any official government party or function. Could a Republican get away with throwing taxpayers money away on junkets to China that cost millions of taxpayers money? The goodwill being lost because of the behavior of this group of low lifes is not being reported in the media but is explosively making its way to all corners of the Hidden Kingdom because honor and face count in a nation of people who know their place and know what standards of behavior are all about. My letter of apology was sent yesterday on behalf of a nation holding its collective head in its hands in shame and embarrassment over our new position in the east as laughing stocks. - Dr. Jim Garrow - Executive Director The Bethune Institute
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:51:23 +0000
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