The main roads are broad and lined with huge, but well-spaced buildings. It is clear that some serious planning went into these boulevards. I have to say that it doesn't feel particularly Chinese to me. In its attempt to be grandiose, this part of town ends up feeling rather sterile and lacking in character.
The streets were planted wıth beautiful flowers, but I can't be sure if this is standard fare or special pre-Olympics planning.
After a bıt of a walk, I was starving, having skipped breakfast and delayed lunch until this late hour. As I wandered, I realized I was not in a place with readily available food. After much stomach rumbling and much wandering, I was introduced to another classic Beijing experience -- the tea scam.As I walked down the street, I was stopped by a well-dressed, young woman, who had a strange air about her. I am not one to trust anyone, especially someone who stops me on the street. But I gave her an ear for 30 seconds, mainly because I wanted to ask where to find a restaurant and she appeared to be one of the few English speakers I encountered. She claimed to be a student from Mongolia, which I didn't believe because I look more Mongolian than she. Her story was that her father was a merchant who was in a meeting in town and she was killing time until she could go meet him. She wanted to have a drink and practice her English, which was essentially fluent and without accent. I didn't buy a word of this and have even heard of tea scams in Beijing, but I was hungry and hoped she could lead me to an area with restaurants. Naturally, I lied about my name, occupation, accommodation in Beijing, place of residence in the US, and pretty much all other details of my life. Call it the cynic in me, but I also set up an alibi of needing to meet a friend later, should I need to extricate myself from the situation without a fuss. All the way to the tea house, she told me details about her life and tried to get me to spill lurid secrets about me or my friends, which I naturally declined to do.
Fortunately, she did lead me to an area with food, but then led me into a basement tea house with minimal ambiance and expensive tea. Each group of people was placed in a separate room and all patrons were Westerners with one or two locals that they had clearly just met. Sitting in the main (i.e. safest room) and knowing this was a scam from the start made it easier to make smart decisions. She ordered tea for us both, without allowing me to see the menu. Not wanting to be too rude or paranoid, I lifted the tea to my lips, while wondering, "Could this be poisoned?" But, finding that unlikely in a tea house with other Westerners, I sipped. Then she asked for the food menu. Seeing the high prices for cheap, pre-packaged food, which is the heart of the tea scam, I told her I wasn't interested in the food on offer and would wait to eat. This did not prevent her from ordering food, but I insisted that I did not like any of it and refused to eat even a bite lest I be charged for it.
Sure enough, minutes later, the waitress presented me with a calculator showing 400 yuan, which is about $50 US. I played dumb, asking, "What's that?" She indicated that it was the bill, to which I responded in amazement, "For a cup of tea?!" My new "friend" assured me she would pay half, at which I reminded her that I had less than half, having not wanted, ordered, or eaten the food. She tried to explain that she and her friends normally split the check (which is of course what I do with my friends) but I wasn't going for it. I was now tired of this game and still hungry, so I started to get indignant and raised my voice, striking in the scammers' hearts the fear that the other customers (i.e. marks) would overhear. At this, my companion offered that maybe I should only pay for my own tea, which was a mere ten US dollars. (How generous of her.) But at this point, I was annoyed and I had no patience for paying that much for mediocre tea. I told her that I didn't have that much money and that she should consider this before ordering expensive tea for someone she doesn't know. I was about to flip the scam right back on her; I considered saying I had no money at all and playing the "I thought you were buying tea for me in exchange for practicing your English" card. But, deciding that I didn't want the waitress carrying the heavy, metal kettle full of hot water clonking me on the head with it, I decided to be smart about this, rather than stubborn.
I paid the equivalent of five US dollars and then sat there, taking advantage of the free hot water refills by drinking four cups of tea. All the while, my companion tried to make me feel bad by telling me the waitress must think we are so strange that we were arguing over the bill and suggesting that I could leave if I wanted to. But I sat there for an hour, wasting her time and keeping her from picking up her next mark. (OK, so maybe I was being a little stubborn.) I also returned the favor by lamenting my lack of money and how this was all the money I had for lunch and I wouldn't be able to eat today. Apparently, this made her feel badly enough to offer to buy me some juice on our way out, but I turned this down, my aim at this point to be rid of her. On my way out, I leaned over to a westerner that had just entered and told her to check the price of the tea before ordering. My work here was done.
So far, Beijing has not left a great impression with me. We will have to see what tomorrow brings.
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