Shanghaied in Beijing!

Posted by User ImageA. Caleb Hartley on January 7th, 2008 filed in Air Transport, Asia, Beijing, China, Hong Kong, aviation, environment, environmental, green, transportation

Hello everybody - sorry I’ve been quiet the last week or so.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been in Hong Kong since December 30th, and my internet access was limited, so I’ve been unable to post regularly.  Both directions of travel were dreadful - more than 24-hours of airports and flying each direction… horrible (and I’m an aviation enthusiast!).

Hong Kong Skyline

We also got conned while at the Beijing airport - we were unable to get our full through tickets out of Hong Kong, just the Air China tickets from Hong Kong to Beijing.  This meant that we had to go through immigration in Beijing, then through the baggage claim and customs to the public area.  Here, we were trying to find where to go to get our Continental tickets back to the US and a Chinese woman wearing a hotel name badge offered to help us, so we followed her through the back halls of the airport (first mistake) to near the customs check for international departures.  She then asked for money (I told her we only had Hong Kong dollars, which she refused), then my mother gave her a U.S. $20.  She asked for $20 per person she “helped” (there were three of us).  My mother gave her another $20 before I said “forget it” and pulled our group away from the women (another woman - a pickpocket had shown up as we reached the final destination where the original woman asked for money). 

This was a good lesson that, fortunately, only cost us $40 US - the pickpocket got into my wife’s bag, but didn’t get anything.  For anyone reading this - next time, get full paper tickets all the way through to you destination so you don’t have to go to the public area of any foreign airport.  Also, only speak to people in full uniform - I didn’t notice that the woman who offered to help was NOT wearing a uniform - just a hotel name tag.  Most airline employees are honest - no matter the country - and customs agents and police officers are always going to be more trustworthy than just some person offering to help.  Lessons learned.  Thank you universe (it could have been worse).  On that note, I’ll probably never go back to Beijing airport.  Certainly not if I can help it.

Con Artist 
This is how I will remember my Chinese con-artist - except my memory will be of a Chinese woman and her shill.

On the bright side, I did make it to the Hong Kong Manufacturers’ Expo, and was able to get some great pictures and such from the Organic Living Pavilion.  I also got to see first-hand how Hong Kong is attempting to make itself greener on a day-to-day basis.

Stay tuned for more information about Hong Kong’s environmental efforts and information!

Glad to be back in the US (for now)…

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

Have you ever been conned? How do you protect yourself from it now? Let us know in the comments!

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7 Responses to “Shanghaied in Beijing!”

  1. no imageAllyn Paul (Who am I?) Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    Wow, what a story! We had something similar happen in Mexico, but I didn’t give the guy any money. I told him “tough luck amigo” and walked away. He cussed at me, but I just kept walking.

    Glad you came out ok! It could have been worse than a pickpocket waiting for you in the back halls.
    AL

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  2. no imageA. Caleb Hartley (Who am I?) Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Yeah - it was a bit of a scary lesson to learn, but we all came out okay, only slightly lighter in the pockets. I’ll definitely know better next time. Thanks for the comment, Al!

    Caleb

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  3. no imageBig Game James (Who am I?) Says:
    January 8th, 2008 at 12:03 am

    Traveling really can be horrible. I recently barely escaped the California storm on my way out to Idaho. We were driving though so a bit different. I am interested to hear about what you learned in Beijing. I would love to go there!

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  4. no imagewilson (Who am I?) Says:
    January 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am

    Hello, Caleb…THanks for the link, I’m also added your site as well. Hope you didn’t get any “Beijing Phobia”, because the 2008 Olympic is nearly around…Cheers

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  5. no imagekristinaQ (Who am I?) Says:
    January 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Something kinda similar happened to me a few years ago when I was in Ninoy Aquino airport in Manila… by myself, I might add, as my mother had already come back to NYC. Apparently one of my suitcases was 2 lbs over the limit, and the clerk offered me two options: $50 (USD, of course), but I would have no receipt of the transaction, or the normal $125 airline fee, and of course, since that way is the legit way, I would get a receipt.

    Well, I chose the legit way. Who the hell knows what might have happened to that suitcase if it hadn’t been properly tagged and processed.

    They assumed because I was a 16 year old traveling internationally by myself in a country that I was obviously not familiar with (I’m Filipino but I grew up in New York) that I wouldn’t see a scam right in front of my nose. The funny thing was, I guess because I sound completely American with no hint of a Filipino accent, they assumed that I couldn’t understand their entire conversation about just taking my money.

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  6. no imageMister Poo (Who am I?) Says:
    January 14th, 2008 at 3:48 am

    I think your advice to only speak to people “in full uniform” when in “foreign” airports is an over-reaction.

    It is possible to be ripped off in your USA also.

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  7. no imageA. Caleb Hartley (Who am I?) Says:
    January 14th, 2008 at 9:01 am

    THanks, James, Wilson, Kristina, and Mister Poo for the comments…

    James - I don’t suggest Beijing, even as a place to visit. It was by far the smoggiest place I have ever been… from the terminal, you couldn’t even see off the airport property for the smog. If you do go, though - let us all know how it was!

    Wilson - I don’t so much have Beijing-phobia as Beijing-disgust. And I couldn’t afford to go to the olympics even I wanted to go back to Beijing…

    Kristina - Wow- I traveled alone when I was young, but never through a foreign airport… in the US at least I would have known the language. Good that you were able to understand them talking to each other about scamming you… I imagine that memory will help you in any future similar situations!

    Poo - you, of course, are absolutely right. You should also only speak with uniformed officials in airports in your own country as well. What I meant was that when you don’t speak the language you might be more likely - out of desperation - to accept help from nearly anyone who offers it - and you shouldn’t. You probably shouldn’t accept help from anyone who offers it to you… you should seek out someone in uniform and ASK for help. No matter what country you are in.

    Namaste,
    A. Caleb

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