Part 2: Beijing
My male teammate flew home with the coach after the moot, while the three girls went on to Beijing for a celebratory trip. He's such a nice guy that he offered to take home all of our suits and extraneous shoes so we wouldn't have to lug them around China. He also agreed to carry around my girly garment bag. Don't worry, we bought him a scroll as a thank you (as if that in any way makes up for his having to entertain the coach for hours during a layover in NYC, which is a story in itself).
Here's the problem with writing this entry: I can't possibly include all the details I'd want to (and there are enough stalkers out there that I probably shouldn't anyway), but there are so many anecdotes that give the flavor of the experience. I think I'll focus on a few experiences and write one per entry. The pics that I posted on the facebook can explain the rest.
SCAM 1
My sister's best friend has family in Beijing, and they were supposed to arrange for us to be picked up from the airport. Sure enough, a guy named "Sunny Sun" was waiting with a sign for us outside of customs. The name alone should've tipped me off, but I was trusting in the connections to take care of us.
It turned out he was a travel agent, who tried to sell us tour packages and international cell phones all the way to our hotel (in an non-air-conditioned van). I was sitting closest to him, so I got the brunt of the in-your-face sales pitch, as well as the refreshing splash of his sweat. His English wasn't great (but at least he tried!); although, his card ironically boasted that he was the "Best English Guide in China." When I got sick of the sales technique, I gave him the old "Don't call us, we'll call you [to set up a visit to the Great Wall]" line, but he didn't buy it. He insisted that the only day he could take us to the Wall was the next day. Then I put on the dumb girl act that we were just clueless American girls who don't really know what we're doing yet, so we'd have to give him a call from the hotel. Throughout this uncomfortable exchange, he kept asking if we'd changed enough dollars to yuan and that he'd be more than happy to stop at a bank. Sketchy!
As we pulled up to the hotel, he said that he'd need us to pay him up front for both the trip from the airport and to the airport, as well as for the package deal to the Great Wall. The feisty redhead of our group piped up that there was no way in hell she was paying for anything up front (which none of us wanted to do anyway without comparison shopping for other tour groups and taxis). So we paid only for the trip from the airport, which turned out to be 600 yuan (or almost US$100). I was a little bothered by the price, but we just wanted to get out of the van at this point. I later found out from the hotel staff that the average taxi/car price to the airport should be around 100 yuan. Let me just say that I was thoroughly ticked off at being scammed from the get-go. I spent the rest of the trip hard bargaining to recoop my portion of that 600 yuan.
So, we collected our suitcases to enter the hotel, but Sunny followed me in and said, "I'm sure you're very scared. This is probably your first time checking into a Chinese hotel. Let me help you." I didn't know what kind of last ditch attempt this was to make us sign up for his tours, but I wasn't impressed. After telling him (as politely as I could) that we were fully capable of checking in, he left.
I'd booked the hotel for two girls, thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal to squeeze in another, but the receptionist made us buy another bed for the third person. We finally agreed after failed attempts to persuade them. Plus, we didn't want to look at night for another hotel in a city where few people spoke English. We went up to the room just as the staff was wheeling in what looked to be a marble slab. Yup, it was our extra "bed." Apparently mattresses are a luxury in Beijing. The other beds were pretty hard, but a marble slab?? We decided that the only fair thing to do would be to pile on as many blankets as we could find and then take turns with the slab. We went down to the lobby again and managed to bargain down the price of the room to make up for the potential backaches.
Later that night, we wanted to see a Chinese acrobatics show, so we went down to the lobby to ask for directions. As one lady was helping us with the map, the front desk phone rang. The receptionist said, "It's for you." While I had given my family the name of the hotel, there was no way they would call the hotel instead of my cell if they needed to reach me.
"Hello?"
"Yes, Hello, this is Sunny Sun. I want to know when you go to Great Wall. Tomorrow?"
At this point, we'd found out that our hotel offered much cheaper guided tours to the Wall. I told him (nicely, of course :P) that we'd be going with our hotel. But this didn't stop Sunny. He started back into his spiel about other tours, and I lost my patience and hung up the phone. The feisty redhead was ready to kick Sunny's ass, so it was probably a good thing that I was the one to talk to him. I just couldn't believe how pushy and obnoxious his sales pitch was. It seemed completely different from our smooth, subtle sales pressure that gradually increases until you're either charmed or guilt-tripped into buying. We just hoped that he wouldn't show up the next day in the lobby, ready to take us to the Great Wall. Luckily, we never heard from Mr. Sun again.
Here's the problem with writing this entry: I can't possibly include all the details I'd want to (and there are enough stalkers out there that I probably shouldn't anyway), but there are so many anecdotes that give the flavor of the experience. I think I'll focus on a few experiences and write one per entry. The pics that I posted on the facebook can explain the rest.
SCAM 1
My sister's best friend has family in Beijing, and they were supposed to arrange for us to be picked up from the airport. Sure enough, a guy named "Sunny Sun" was waiting with a sign for us outside of customs. The name alone should've tipped me off, but I was trusting in the connections to take care of us.
It turned out he was a travel agent, who tried to sell us tour packages and international cell phones all the way to our hotel (in an non-air-conditioned van). I was sitting closest to him, so I got the brunt of the in-your-face sales pitch, as well as the refreshing splash of his sweat. His English wasn't great (but at least he tried!); although, his card ironically boasted that he was the "Best English Guide in China." When I got sick of the sales technique, I gave him the old "Don't call us, we'll call you [to set up a visit to the Great Wall]" line, but he didn't buy it. He insisted that the only day he could take us to the Wall was the next day. Then I put on the dumb girl act that we were just clueless American girls who don't really know what we're doing yet, so we'd have to give him a call from the hotel. Throughout this uncomfortable exchange, he kept asking if we'd changed enough dollars to yuan and that he'd be more than happy to stop at a bank. Sketchy!
As we pulled up to the hotel, he said that he'd need us to pay him up front for both the trip from the airport and to the airport, as well as for the package deal to the Great Wall. The feisty redhead of our group piped up that there was no way in hell she was paying for anything up front (which none of us wanted to do anyway without comparison shopping for other tour groups and taxis). So we paid only for the trip from the airport, which turned out to be 600 yuan (or almost US$100). I was a little bothered by the price, but we just wanted to get out of the van at this point. I later found out from the hotel staff that the average taxi/car price to the airport should be around 100 yuan. Let me just say that I was thoroughly ticked off at being scammed from the get-go. I spent the rest of the trip hard bargaining to recoop my portion of that 600 yuan.
So, we collected our suitcases to enter the hotel, but Sunny followed me in and said, "I'm sure you're very scared. This is probably your first time checking into a Chinese hotel. Let me help you." I didn't know what kind of last ditch attempt this was to make us sign up for his tours, but I wasn't impressed. After telling him (as politely as I could) that we were fully capable of checking in, he left.
I'd booked the hotel for two girls, thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal to squeeze in another, but the receptionist made us buy another bed for the third person. We finally agreed after failed attempts to persuade them. Plus, we didn't want to look at night for another hotel in a city where few people spoke English. We went up to the room just as the staff was wheeling in what looked to be a marble slab. Yup, it was our extra "bed." Apparently mattresses are a luxury in Beijing. The other beds were pretty hard, but a marble slab?? We decided that the only fair thing to do would be to pile on as many blankets as we could find and then take turns with the slab. We went down to the lobby again and managed to bargain down the price of the room to make up for the potential backaches.
Later that night, we wanted to see a Chinese acrobatics show, so we went down to the lobby to ask for directions. As one lady was helping us with the map, the front desk phone rang. The receptionist said, "It's for you." While I had given my family the name of the hotel, there was no way they would call the hotel instead of my cell if they needed to reach me.
"Hello?"
"Yes, Hello, this is Sunny Sun. I want to know when you go to Great Wall. Tomorrow?"
At this point, we'd found out that our hotel offered much cheaper guided tours to the Wall. I told him (nicely, of course :P) that we'd be going with our hotel. But this didn't stop Sunny. He started back into his spiel about other tours, and I lost my patience and hung up the phone. The feisty redhead was ready to kick Sunny's ass, so it was probably a good thing that I was the one to talk to him. I just couldn't believe how pushy and obnoxious his sales pitch was. It seemed completely different from our smooth, subtle sales pressure that gradually increases until you're either charmed or guilt-tripped into buying. We just hoped that he wouldn't show up the next day in the lobby, ready to take us to the Great Wall. Luckily, we never heard from Mr. Sun again.