I just read a sign at our hostel saying: “Ignore those who chase you for student arts or tea ceremony, etc. …especially at public places.”
ARGGGG!! Can you believe it! I fell for two scams—in less than half a day!! No wonder I felt sick at the Pearl Tower. Those incidents happened right before I went up there. I knew it. I wondered if it was a scam! It was not just one—but two!
The only few people that were friendly to me outside in Shanghai wanted something from me. What a horrible first impression to have of a city. I would expect it in Hong Kong, but in Shanghai? Which I thought was so cultured. It just threw me. You don’t even know you’re in a scam until it turns that corner. Then you remember things they said that didn’t add up.
Two college students on an art showing trip here for 2 weeks and they’re just starting to see things? Then in the end it’s their ‘last day’? Then the teachers (man and lady) who are traveling together from Xian but one has a fiancé and the other has a boyfriend?
Weird right? And they wanted me to choose how many teas we sampled--each costing 60Y a piece. (They wanted to sample six apiece—but I couldn’t afford that. Here I thought I was being a nice foreigner by going along with them.)
They were the ones who wanted to go to the tea ceremony. But they wanted me to pick how many teas WE should sample. That should have told me right there. Clever, clever. (Hey, didn’t they say it was free in the beginning..?)
And what about the look the local girl gave me as I came in. Again, not a ‘festival in a mall’ as they had said, but a small shop. Was the look almost pity? ..or disdain? I guess you know it’s a scam when the friendship involves money and the story keeps changing. Two people being friendly seem so less suspicious than one person.
I feel sick.
ARGGGG!! Can you believe it! I fell for two scams—in less than half a day!! No wonder I felt sick at the Pearl Tower. Those incidents happened right before I went up there. I knew it. I wondered if it was a scam! It was not just one—but two!
The only few people that were friendly to me outside in Shanghai wanted something from me. What a horrible first impression to have of a city. I would expect it in Hong Kong, but in Shanghai? Which I thought was so cultured. It just threw me. You don’t even know you’re in a scam until it turns that corner. Then you remember things they said that didn’t add up.
Two college students on an art showing trip here for 2 weeks and they’re just starting to see things? Then in the end it’s their ‘last day’? Then the teachers (man and lady) who are traveling together from Xian but one has a fiancé and the other has a boyfriend?
Weird right? And they wanted me to choose how many teas we sampled--each costing 60Y a piece. (They wanted to sample six apiece—but I couldn’t afford that. Here I thought I was being a nice foreigner by going along with them.)
They were the ones who wanted to go to the tea ceremony. But they wanted me to pick how many teas WE should sample. That should have told me right there. Clever, clever. (Hey, didn’t they say it was free in the beginning..?)
And what about the look the local girl gave me as I came in. Again, not a ‘festival in a mall’ as they had said, but a small shop. Was the look almost pity? ..or disdain? I guess you know it’s a scam when the friendship involves money and the story keeps changing. Two people being friendly seem so less suspicious than one person.
I feel sick.
Ahh my sympathies. Chock that one down as a learning lesson. Good job, it won't happen again.
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