Onto the gripe at last - skip the entire post if you don't want to read another story of how-I-was-nearly-ripped-off-in-China. Then again, knowing how schadenfroh you all are...keep reading! Hey - I'm making progress, thanks in no small part to knowing basic Mandarin. At least now its more and more "nearly" stories, and no longer the "argh, ba$tards, thieving shites, dishonest, nasty, ..." Rrrrright, moving swiftly on to the story-du-jour!
I'm so sick of arriving in places and being deemed a target for being ripped off as soon as my feet hit the pavement outside the luggage claim. They try, they always try. This morning I had some guy following me out to the taxis, asking where I was going. Told him "I'm going in a taxi, and you?". He kept bugging me as people around me stared. Kept pointing at some stupid "cert" patch hanging around his neck. I wasn't sure what he was "cert" for, but since he didn't speak to everyone in the taxi line (just the dumb-easy-target-foreigner) I figured he was up to no good. Then I finally got to the head of the line after shoving another would-be queue-jumper out of the way. As I got into the cab, the cabdriver mumbles to him then tells me he doesn't know the address of my hostel. So I tell him - its ok, I have a map and I know it wil cost 20 RMB to get there. The annoying guy (let's call him MR. A$$hole) tells me the taxidriver doesn't know, but conveniently he does and he can take me for 80 RMB. So I tell him in Chinese "you drive me crazy, I pay only 20RMB". The first part of that sentence being the only condescending / halfway insulting thing I know other than "lazy pig", which, let's face it, wasn't any more suitable in this situation. I tell the taxi driver "do you know or not? I go with other taxi if you don't know". Wish I knew what 'don't waste my time' is, might figure that out today and learn to recite it by heart. So the taxi driver finally admits he does know and we get back in the cab as Mr. A$$hole is shouting "60RMB" at my uncaring back. I KNOW I should have gone to a different cab... In hindsight it's like watching that horror movie when the victim doesn't look behind the door as she enters the room even though you can see the shadow lurking...
He starts driving, then stops after 5 minutes and asks me where it is again. I get angry and ask him "do you know or not? Its near Zhuan Tang park" and I give him the little map with x-marks-the-spot. He continues, does another u-turn, continues.... looks about a bit, driving 20km/h. I call the hostel and tell them to talk to the cabdriver and to tell him to stop going in a circle and that I am not paying more than 20RMB. FINALLY he gives up trying to cheat me and I get here with the meter at 20.6 RMB. B@stards. Didn't get me! AND NOW the hostel tell me they don't have my room... right. Told them I'll wait until official check-out at 12:00 and then they'd better have my room because I have a printed confirmation and I will put in a complaint to both the site that booked it and LonelyPlanet. If they don't have my room, they can pay for a taxi to the next hostel plus give me back the deposit. She tells me I can use Internet until then... so here I am, sitting at a PC with a big sign over the top saying: "If you like our hostel, would send an email to <
Every little thing here is a fight for justice and fair treatment. It's such a blessing when people are nice, honest and helpful...which is kind of what you'd expect if they want people to come back and give good word-of-mouth advertising to others along the way. I am ready to finish my travels here, leaving the squat-toilets and cockroaches behind for less polluted pastures! it's like a race against time - if I don't see the things I want to see now, I may never (willingly) come back. Sad, but true.
Aren't you all glad you're at home, have a normal clean toilet, a bed without bugs, a shower that isn't suspended over the toilet, food isn't always covered in a mystery sauce to hide the mystery meat, and the Tube/train/bus/taxi isn't going to try charging you 4 times the standard price?
Ah, but then I've also seen the Temple of Heaven and the Terracotta Warriors, climbed the Great Wall in two places, been in the world's highest hotel-lobby and floated down a river along scenery featured on a banknote, climbed around the world's largest Buddha AND seen REAL Giant Pandas!!! That's gotta be worth a bit of hassle, right? Right? Who's with me?!
