| Ni hao!
We're HERE! Staying at the Far East International Youth Hostel. Good time thus far. Everything is so cheap here, and I'm loving every minute of it. We haven't done a lot thus far, but yesterday proved to end very interestingly . . . here's the story:
Last night, we went with our friend/roommate Keshan to dinner. He had seen a restaurant that was notorious for it's Peking Duck in the Lonely Planet Beijing book. So, the four of us go in a cab and headed to Wangfujing, which is the huge walking shopping district in Beijing - very Western. Anyway, we found the restaurant, but before we could get to the entrance, a man in dress slacks, a dress shirt and a tie stopped us and told us that the restaurant was full because of a large group, and that we would not be able to eat there. He also mentioned there was another franchise about a 5-minute walk from there and gave us directions. So, we started to walk away.
About 10 seconds later, he came back to us and asked if we spoke Chinese, of course the answer was no. So, he said that he'd already called the other restaurant and had a table reserved for us, but no one there spoke English, so he would go and help us and get us settled. So, we walked to a side street and to the restaurant. Keshan noticed that the name was different, but didn't mention this when we were with the man. So, we were taken to a back table behind a glass wall, and separated from everyone else there. We were also given a crappy paper menu, (which didn't go with the rest of the restaurant AT ALL) and told that the only way to order was with this menu. It was very expensive. 168 yuan per person . . . roughly equal to 20 USD. It was a very nice restaurant, and a great experience, but I didn't really want to eat there, because I didn't need to spend that kind of money on a meal. I had already shelled out over 400 dollars the days I lost my passport, and didn't need to cost my parents anything else. So, I sort of threw a fit, cried and such and told Monique that I just couldn't do that to my parents.
Anyway, we started our five courses and everything was good. I'm not sure exactly what I was eating, but I don't think I want to know. So - we noticed another group of foreigners come in on their own, and sit down in the big part of the restaurant. We then noticed that they got a different menu. So, by this point, we knew we were being ripped off. We called the waitress over and asked her about the different menu, and she just kept saying I DON'T UNDERSTAND. . . over and over again. So, we asked for a manager, and she said the same thing. At this point, we decided to call the people we were working for. They had told us that we would possibly run into this sort of thing, so we called for help. They told us to call the police (which seemed drastic) but they know better, so we did. Then we noticed that miraculous the waitress that couldn't understand us, was taking the other foreigners' order! We explained the situation to the police, and about this time, the original man that helped us find the restaurant magically appeared and asked what the problem was.
We (well, Keshan) calmly explained to him the problem and he acted clueless. It was insane. He kept saying, I have no idea what menu you are talking about. Finally, he left and went and got the real menu and let us see it. The price for a duck meal per person was 70 yuan less than what we were paying. So, the police were on their way, and this man was starting to get VERY angry. He threw the menu down, and told us that we needed to stop thinking we were so clever and that he'd say he had never seen us before and he didn't know what menu we were talking about. Basically, he just continuously lied to us, and he was trying to use every English intimidation tactic he could think of, and they weren't working. Although, his threats of how he knew people in the government and police and we didn't scare him, he had no fear, etc. were scary.
So, he gives us a time limit, and keeps coming back and forth between our table and another table with a man that's getting pretty mad at him. So, finally he tells us that he will play with us for days if we want to play. He makes us pay 400 yuan for everything and makes us leave, so we walk out - and he tells Keshan that if he ever sees him again, he'll be dead. Then he spits at him. We get outside and it's raining. The waitress tells us to come back in, and we do to wait for the police, and the man runs at us and screams at us to get out. Then, the man he'd been yelling with all night comes and gets in his face and chews him out. So, we leave and realize . . . THERE IS A POLICE STATION NEXT DOOR. We go inside and Anna (our boss) speaks on the phone with the man and explains what happened in Chinese. Then, two other officers show up and take us to another office and there we have to go through everything yet again.
Eventually, the guy that picked me up from airport, and another guy that picked up some others from the airport, and the main boss from the Education Group we're working with show up, and we all get in cars and head back to the restaurant! It's closed, but the police officer makes the children who are there cleaning up call whoever's responsible. The owner (the man who'd been arguing with our guy all night) showed up and they cleared everything up. Turns out, our bill was only 243 yuan for the restaurant to make profit, and we'd paid 400, but the man had already left with the rest of the money, but the restaurant agreed to pay us the difference.
Turns out, the owner was paying this man to do this type of thing to foreigners, and it usually worked. He used his own menu and brought it in and made the difference. Craziness.
Anyway, I would LOVE to get e-mails from any and everyone! If you get a chance, just drop a note and say hello! My e-mail address is: nstrum@mc.edu
Much love!!!
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