Korean Job Discussion Forums

[travel zen]

A good question while you are overseas.

The justice system doesn't work like 'back home'. It may not work at all. I didn't see any police in China, and a few around the monuments in Mongolia. Even less in India. Airports and banks only.

An example of what to do:

When I was in China, my friend and I hired a taxi that drove us from Shenyang to Beijing for a reasonable price. i didnt want to take the bus. As we were driving, the taxi dude stopped by and picked up his wife. My friend and I were cuddling in the back seat, sleeping, playing cutsy games and such. As time went on he started to drive more belligerently, started smoking inside the car with intent, turned the radio loudly....

Finally, he pulled over to the curb and demanded that he wanted more money. His wife jumped out and seized my napsack from the trunk. A crowd forms out of nowhere (in the middle of the highway, in the middle of nowhere!
So i get out, lean back on the car and ask for my napsack back. The woman is wild eyed and looking for physical violence. Finally, after a 5 mnute standoff, we give them what money we bargained for, and take another cab the rest of the way.

A huge crowd, no police anywhere. It could have been different.

Any stories ?

[jvalmer]

How much money did you have to give?

In the end it's probably best to avoid any physical confrontation, especially if it only comes down to only a few dollars. If the police can't understand you they will probably take the local's side 99/100 times.

[RMNC]

You should have given them the percentage of the way they took you and left. And probably stopped when he started smoking and gotten another cab. Being proactive will save you hassles like this, everyone.

[travel zen]

I believe we (my gf) bargained for 500rmb for the trip. We were about 80% there and he pulled this scam.

When he started smoking and acting up, we were doing 120kms/h on the highway..no time to bail, almost there so we ignored the barbarous attitude. He and his wife wanted more than the bargain, they took my stuff as hostage, so 500 rmb given, my gf grabbed the bag back and we took another taxi.

Proactive? How so when dealing with shady taxi drivers ?

[mayorgc]

the people of beijing are damn crooked. in all my travels through asia, I've never been more disgusted than when I was in Beijing.

I never had problems with shanghai, hong kong or tokyo. But when I was in beijing, merchants left right and center were constantly trying to rip me off.

[machoman]

tricky situation... IF you did resort to physical violence then the locals could gang up on you, but that's highly doubtful in china. those guys don't want to get involved, they just want to watch. considering that it was china, i would bet that if you snatched your bag back from the cabbie's wife and threw down as much money as you thought the ride was worth and started to walk away, they wouldn't have done anything, maybe follow you and hassle you for a bit but eventually just give up.

in the philippines i took one of those horse taxis. the guy said 500 pesos i said that was too much, i bargained down to 200. we get on, he rides us for about 5 minutes and stops and says it's 200 us dollars. i say "hell no, are u crazy? u said pesos." and he said "no, i said dollars." obviously this was a scam. i knew this was going to be a confrontation, so i stepped out of the carriage along with my gf and told him no. i told him to call the cops. he pretended to call but he faked it. he kept insisting for dollars, i told him he's crazy and told him that he's trying to scam me. i told him i'd pay for what i think the ride was worth which is 20 pesos so he either takes it or i walk off. he said he won't take it, so i walked off. he came back and took it. then he started threatening me saying that he'll see me again tonight and that he'll find out where i live. blah blah.

anyway, i felt proud for sticking to my guns. my gf said she would've just paid it.

anyways, i thought about that moment a lot afterwards and wondered what i would do next time, and i figured i would just go fricking nuts. like, start screaming and take off my shirt and punch myself in the face foaming at the mouth. i figure that would freak someone out to the point that they would just leave me alone.

another thing is that i would get bombarded by those street kids trying to sell me things. i learned that if you say "no" in the most satanic/death metal sounding voice, they back off pretty fast.

[rollo]

That's the way cabbies drive in china. He was trying to save you time. Smoking is legal. so no problem there. But your cuddling with your friend was very very offensive to the conservative Chinese.

Also you showed your wealth something an experienced traveler never does by Taking a taxi that distance . If you flash your money someone will take it .

Yes Beijing is a nasty place with arrogant people who know that you can do nothing to defend your self. Beijing cab drivers are famous all over China for being ripoffs.

You are lucky they did not deposit you in the middle of nowhere. that happened to a friend of mine.

So the lesson. Dont show a lot of money, dont make out in public in places where that is not acceptable.

[interestedinhanguk]

[toonchoon]

[travel zen]

[blm]

[rollo]

Well travelzen : first you were not in Mumbai. China is different. Second if you are too good to ride public transit then that attitude probably shows. Most lessons that are remembered cost something in this case a little money.

You had no reason to get physical they were just bargaining for more money from someone who obviously had more than they had. That somone had behaved offensively in their cab. Unless your bag is quite large don"t put it in the trunk. I am not suggesting that you are stupid or a bad person but just learn from this. Riding the buses is interesting you actually meet Chinese people and get to see how they live.

[Fishead soup]

It sounds like you people are taking unmarked Gypsey Taxi's.
When you get into a taxi. It should have some official markings colors.
Also it should have a photo and number of the driver