Chinese Bitches

We walked around the area just outside of the forbidden city and ended up meeting three girls who were studying English. We walked through the gates of Tiananmen Square, took a couple photos, then these three girls told us they were going to go to a cafe to get something cold to drink, and wanted to know if we would like to join them. They wanted to practice their English. We were all tired. We didn't really want to have an English-language teacher moment, but they were sweet and whatever. So we walked several hot, sunny blocks - I should mention that we saw psuedo blue skies for the first time today because it rained last night and blew some of the smog away -




They took us to this great little tea shop. Ben mentioned that he read about a scam in Lonely Planet how they would get you to order $200 worth of stuff and then leave you with the bill. We were leary. We had been with these girls for hours at this point - all talking about family and travel and language. We told them we didn't need to rent a tea room (we read that on the wall - it was $15 to rent the room. We also told them that we didn't need the "traditional tea show" - although part of me was curious what the hell kind of show they would put on. They said, ok, we just want to talk with you and we can share a pot of tea. Then they brought a plate of fruit. Ben and I objected - it was also written on the wall that a clean fruit plate cost $15. I refused the fruit. I told one of the girls we didn't want it. She assured me that they ordered it and would pay for it.

I stepped away from the table for a few minutes and when I returned, Ben, Amanda and Linda were all giving the server 100 Yuan bills ($13). Ahhh ok. The bitch next to me (she called herself Serena) told me the bill was 558 Yuan... everyone owed 77 Yuan. Ahhh. OK. I told them I didn't want tea. I told Serena I didn't eat fruit. I wasn't going to pay. But the pressure was on... everyone else had handed the server 100. In America, we would split the bill. I knew there was evil in the world. I knew that it was not going to end well.

But we watched the three girls pack up their things, start speaking Chinese to each other, and then they said "good-bye, nice to meet you." And were gone. What we paid for a plate of watermelon and a shared pot of tea was equililent to 3 nights hotel. We were all dumb-founded. Especially when we saw the girls several doors down, collect money. We got had. I was so annoyed.

Let me tell you, if I see one of those bitches on the street, I will punch them in the throat. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Beware of these scamming bitches: