Subject: [79attendees] Forbidden City Recommendations

From: Ed Jankiewicz <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:21:16 +0800

1.  Definitely get the audio tour in your preferred language.  There is 
a lot to see, and it helps to hear the stories.

2.  If you exit via the North Gate, there seems to be little in the way 
of food, etc. but turn left about 2 blocks, there is a courtyard with 
street food, and next door a small restaurant with indoor seating and a 
full menu.  Fast and cheap, and it was good.

3.  whatever you do, don't accept a ride with one of those power 
richshaws - basically a scooter with an aluminum box.  We grew desperate 
at the lack of taxis, and were not going far (to Temple of Heaven) and a 
pleasant young fellow talked us into it.  At least the back alley he 
wanted to drop us off was within sight of the Temple, and I was 
following our route on a map, which may have kept him on the right 
path.  Of course, the negotiated price was revealed to be HUNDREDs 
rather than RMB.  He loudly argued in Chinese (apparently his good 
English escaped him at that moment) other than to ridicule my 1 RMB 
notes as "coins",   I offered him 20.  He grew more belligerent but my 
wife was really upset and crying and I think he started to worry that 
she would really scream and draw attention, luckily there were people 
around.  Maybe to calm us, he cracked open the door, and I knew we were 
close to settling.  I pulled out another 20 and said "40, that's it" and 
we bolted out.  Could have been much worse.

I'd say we learned a valuable lesson, but we knew this before we got in 
the silly thing.  Heck, we're from NYC and NJ where the shakedown was 
invented.  Our guard was down, we were tired, and no taxis in sight.  
Maybe we'll save someone else from this or worse mistake.  Stick to the 
licensed taxis.

4.  Temple of heaven is beautiful, though we were a bit too upset to 
really enjoy it.  That is certainly one of the top sites as well.

Have fun, but be careful out there!

---

From: "Joel M. Halpern" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:06:56 -0400

I hadn't realized all the jitneys were scams.  I ran into that trying to 
get a cab back to my hotel from the Forbidden city in August.  The guy 
drove around in circles for a while, then stopped on a major street and 
demanded money.  He handed me a card which claimed those motorcycle-cabs 
were a cultural artiface, and demand money.  I got out, paid him 18 RMB, 
and walked away.  I assumed at the time that I had run into a 
particularly nasty specimen

Joel

On 11/6/2010 5:21 AM, Ed Jankiewicz wrote:
> 1. Definitely get the audio tour in your preferred language. There is a
> lot to see, and it helps to hear the stories.
>
> following our route on a map, which may have kept him on the right path.
> Of course, the negotiated price was revealed to be HUNDREDs rather than
> RMB. He loudly argued in Chinese (apparently his good English escaped
> him at that moment) other than to ridicule my 1 RMB notes as "coins", I
> offered him 20. He grew more belligerent but my wife was really upset
> and crying and I think he started to worry that she would really scream
> and draw attention, luckily there were people around. Maybe to calm us,
> he cracked open the door, and I knew we were close to settling. I pulled
> out another 20 and said "40, that's it" and we bolted out. Could have
> been much worse.
>
> _______________________________________________
> 79attendees mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/79attendees
>