Wednesday, October 26, 2011
"Shanghai-ed": From one blog I came across, I was told to beware of tea scams in Shanghai, wherein you are approached and invited for tea by peeps saying they want to practice their English on you and off you go to a tea house. The next thing you know, your new friends have disappeared and the unlucky one (you) get the bill from the tea house running to thousands of yuan (ehem) and a large gentleman now approaches you if you balk at paying. But I have an advantage....*wink*
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I was a willing victim of this. : ) long story.
ReplyDelete....I think I look Chinese enough that I get approached instead by people speaking to me in Chinese :-) and nobody told me they wanted to practice their English with me...LOL
ReplyDeleteekwento nyo here or when we see each other...over tea and scones if the latter..I pwamis, hati tayo sa bill :-)
ReplyDelete(though lugi pa rin kayo kc mas marami ang aking share sa tea and food)
I will hold you to your promise. : )
ReplyDeleteone more thing...
ReplyDeleteon the last night, I still pushed to go to Yu Yuan even if knew the gardens were already closed. It was almost 7 pm, I had a 12:30 am flight.
I don't know if scam ba or not, but I was approached by a woman talking to me in Chinese and asked me to take a picture of her and her cousin by the big Chinese gate. Of course I had to say in English I didn't understand although by her camera waving I guessed what she wanted to be done.
Her cousin lived in Shanghai daw and was a teacher of English and was showing her around coz she came from far away province. We talked, and I was asked to come for some tea somewhere along where I had already passed.
What saved me was the knowledge I had to catch the train back to E. Nanjing, run to my hostel, get my luggage, run back to E. Nanjing station and go to the airport...I told them I'd be back next day and probably run into them again :-)
Scam or not? Dunno...but I was more interested in steamed buns or xiao long bao or some food and not tea...hahaha!
malay mo, baka sa SHanghai....wahaha!
ReplyDeleteThey usually work in tandem. May mother and child; may girl friends, etc.
ReplyDeletemost probably a scam........
ReplyDeletehay...hirap hanapbuhay :-)
ReplyDeletemali lang target market nila...hahaha...kung pagkain ba yon at nagsabi xiao long bao..e baka I would have risked it...
siguro nga..though I give the benefit of the doubt to them naman...
ReplyDeleteanyway, nag take pics ako, after a while, though she didnt ask me again to go to the teahouse,
sabi nya directions kung san daw may makita ako for my photo op (e reason ko pa naman declning them is sabi ko sa mom ko "daw" na I will visit and take pictures here and that bad luck if I don't push thru with my goal..hehe)
As I am not very fond of tea, baka di ako ma-enganyo sa ganito. Pero depende siguro sa mga nag-aaya yun. I guess they've mastered the approach.
ReplyDeletesayo yata Chito mali rin target market...hehehe
ReplyDeletebtw, one reason I was wary of tea stuff was due to my visit with Loo and Che to Beijing...
ReplyDeletee kasama pa nga si Loo, pinag-pa-taste pa kami ng tea :-)
iniwanan ako kc isang tsaa lang binili ko..hwahha! mahirap if walang budget..
in Nanjing road a pretty Chinese girl approached me & asked if i spoke English i said " no i do not!" hehehe...ganun din a gypsy appoached me if i spoke English
ReplyDeletei guess its easy to spot a target when they see cameras hanging from your neck.
wahaha...you answered in English?
ReplyDeleteyou know, I kept waiting for this to happen, all the time nandon ako sa Nanjing Road, sa French Concession area, etc. I even didn't hide my guidebook with the big "Shanghai" in it sometimes when I stopped to check as to where I should go...
to be approached on my last night with something like this was an amusing experience because I thought looking local helped...hehe....