Shanghai Scammers

The end of the term is fast approaching, thank gawd, and I have a nice little break coming up. I've been planning to go to Shanghai for at least a few days, maybe a week, just to stretch my legs a little bit.


Unfortunately I'm dreading some very likely encounters with scammers and/or touts. I visited Shanghai for an afternoon a few weeks ago and mistakenly decided to stroll down Nanjing Lu, the most famous shopping street in town. I was probably approached 20 times in a few hours by the "tea girls" and dozens of times by touts selling their crap wares. You can read details about Shanghai scams on this thread; also, I quite like the picture halfway down the page.

I have some experience with these people. This summer I was pickpocketed three times while in Barcelona (though thankfully I noticed what was happening each time before they got away). And during my first visit to China, the first place I went was Tianamen(sp) Square, and the first thing I encountered were a couple of "students" who wanted to take me to their "art gallery." I didn't fall for it, thankfully. There was also the street urchin I literally had to kick in the face to leave me alone, but the records on that incident are sealed and I will say no more - unless you get me drunk.

I've yet to encounter the "bag swipers on mopeds" yet, and hope I never will. Those guys sound good.

Although everyone with experience with these people counsels "ignore them, smile and try to walk away, be polite," and though I've followed that advice before, I think I'm going to go about it differently next time it happens. The first person who comes up to me and says "excuse me, do you speak English," I'm going to answer "yes, fuck you."

It should make for an interesting visit. I'll keep you posted.