ANALYSIS
I am beautiful. No, don’t look at the photo printed here. Really, I am beautiful. I was told so — more times during my 10-day stay in Beijing than I have ever been in all my 45 years.
I am beautiful. No, don’t look at the photo printed here. Really, I am beautiful. I was told so — more times during my 10-day stay in Beijing than I have ever been in all my 45 years. The comment usually preceded another one about my big eyes and then a congratulatory comment to my husband, who was “so lucky” to be married to me.
To be brutally honest, we fell for it on Day 1. The husband and I had landed in Beijing at an unearthly hour, woken up what felt like 10 minutes later to have breakfast, and then plunged straight into meetings. So, at sunset, when we strolled down from our hotel to see the flag being taken down at Tiananmen Square, we were not, to put it mildly, 100% there.
Several guides approached us with offers to take us on tours, take us for tea ceremonies, all of them warning us against other similar offerings that were scams.
The husband, with his trademark disingenuous smile, was the perfect target. I had to pull his elbow and hiss a no at our potential guides.
A young Chinese girl came up to us and said, “Excuse me, where are you from?”
“India,” we said. By that time, another girl and a boy had also come up to us.
“India? Beautiful country. You have Buddhists there?”
The disarming had begun. “Buddha was born in India,” I said proudly.
“Oh, you speak such beautiful English. We are Buddhists. We are students, we learn English. Maybe we can speak English with you and learn?” An earnest discussion ensued. They were from a small town in China, in Beijing for the first time. And they were so lucky to have met us. Maybe we could have dinner together?
The husband agreed immediately. I was not so sure, but mainly because they were rather noisy and I was still in jetlag mode. They took us to what looked like a little house, but turned out to be a restaurant, but with separate rooms instead of tables. Maybe this was what restaurants in China were like?
We went through a tea ceremony and then the menus came around. No prices on the menu. I dug the husband in the ribs. “Don’t worry,” he said benevolently. The students ordered dinner. It didn’t seem like an extravagant order, so I relaxed a bit. Finally, the bill came around — 2,250 yuan. More than $300!
That was when the husband had the first flash of common sense he’d had all evening. “So,” he said, “our share of this would 800 yuan?” The boy in the group said, “1,000 yuan.” So we paid up. As they walked us to the end of the street, the boy went off to use a public toilet facility.
Luckily, the bill had sobered us and we declined all offers for further interaction. Back at the hotel, I picked up my wad of Wikitravel notes, which I’d not had the time to read thus far. There it was — the tea ceremony scam, which we’d just witnessed close up. The bladder heavy boy had obviously run back to the “restaurant” for their share of the kill.
There was the young girl who said she could arrange a tour to the Great Wall, but that’s not how she began. “You have a beautiful wife,” she told the husband. “You are here on honeymoon?” Show me one middle aged couple that could walk away from that. The slightly wiser husband quipped back, “Yes, here on honeymoon, but not my wife, my friend’s wife.” She looked dazed at that little bit of info, but brightened up when he proceeded to quiz her on Great Wall tours.
There were the two men who asked if they could click a photo with us as we sat at an open air cafe on Wanfujing Street. We complied happily, holding their hands and beaming at them. The coin dropped when they asked us for 50 yuan for the pleasure. We didn’t pay up.
When I finally signed up for a Great Wall tour, I went through the hotel where we were staying. The concierge warned me I would be taken to a shop, but there was no obligation to buy. Naturally, I bought a quilt. But it was silk, for god’s sake!
Beijing is full of scamsters — each one more ingenuous than the next. The sheer artistry that was brought into play was admirable. But by the end of the first week, we’d decidedly ruefully that we needed to get “C#1” tattooed on our foreheads. I will leave it to you to decipher what the “C” would read.
Russia plans to boost birth rate with 'Ministry of Sex', here's how
Jharkhand HC issues notice to MS Dhoni in business deal case, asks him to...
IND vs SA, 3rd T20I Dream11 prediction: Fantasy cricket tips for India vs South Africa match
Meet IAS officer, aka 'Collector Bro', who cracked UPSC exam in 2007, now suspended due to...
Here’s why Chunky Panday wouldn’t stay in Shah Rukh Khan’s house in London
Yash's Toxic in trouble? FIR filed against producers of KGF star's upcoming actioner for illegal...
Meet Dr Priti Challa, Kangana Ranaut film director Krish Jagarlamudi's second wife, she leads...
Yaariyan actor Himansh Kohli ties the knot with mystery girl in Delhi temple, first wedding pics out
‘Sometimes I wish I was more tough, more thick-skinned,’ says Aishwarya Rai in viral video
KL Rahul sweats hard in Perth nets ahead of BGT series, WATCH video here
Shahid Kapoor, wife Mira Kapoor rent out their Rs 580000000 luxury Mumbai apartment for Rs...
South Korean actor Song Jae-rim dies at 39 in Seoul apartment
Viral video: Thar SUV gets stuck on railway track after man tries to shoot reel, watch here
Elon Musk's new X post claims Putin must not be blamed for Russia-Ukraine war, instead names…
Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives fame Shalini Passi reveals 'Mom used chilli powder in my...'
My experiences with dating apps
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal reveals how company got its name, says 'we wanted…'
Key Differences Between the Indian Stock Market and Global Indices
Stock prices vs company valuation: Is your stock worth it?
Navjot Singh Sidhu is back on Kapil Sharma's show after five years, but there's a twist
Mukesh Ambani set to invest Rs 65000 crore in THIS Indian state, it will be Reliance's biggest...
Mohammed Shami to return to competitive cricket; star pacer set to play for…
Makoons World School brings a new approach to K-12 education across India
Pakistan Cricket looking to take BIG step on Champions Trophy issue, planning to...
Did Isha Ambani lend Neetu Kapoor her Navratna necklace? Reddit users react
J-K: Gunfight underway between security forces and terrorists in Bandipora
Viral video shows women as 'live mannequins' in mall, sparks fury; WATCH
As Vistara bids goodbye, Air India-Vistara's first flight takes off from Mumbai to...
GATE 2025 Schedule: Exams to begin from February 1; Check full timetable here
CBSE announces BIG changes in Class 10,12 board exams 2025, know details here
Veteran Bengali actor Manoj Mitra dies at 86
Isha Ambani graces Diwali party as she walks with her twins, husband, WATCH
Donald Trump plans to pick Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State: Report
Vadodara IOCL refinery fire: Death toll rises to 2; probe underway
Shah Rukh Khan death threat: Mumbai police arrest accused from Chhattisgarh's Raipur
Delhi reports record high chikungunya, malaria cases in 5 years
Japan's Nara deer's polite bow to Indian woman leaves netizens in awe, WATCH
Meet MS Dhoni’s sister Jayanti Gupta who works as teacher, is married CSK star's...
Pakistani TikTok star Minhal Malik's popularity soars in India, sees unprecedented 100-time surge
Seo Hyun Jin dramatically apologises to BTS ARMY, says 'I know a lot of...'
Amid threats of violent protests, Brampton Triveni temple cancels event
Mike Waltz, India caucus head, named Donald Trump's National Security Advisor
Mukesh Khanna returns as Shaktimaan, 90s kids dance with joy
This Indian man owns a train, he's not Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, has net worth of...
SSC CHSL Exam 2024 admit cards to be released today at ssc.gov.in; get direct link here
‘He will play his last game in…’: CSK CEO provides massive update on MS Dhoni’s IPL future