Shanghai

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In Shanghai we stayed at a hostel call UTEL international hostel. The staff there are very friendly and can speak English very well. The hostel provided a free breakfast buffet from 7:30am to 9.30am. The food was basic. There was cereal, toast, steam buns, Chinese fried bread, orange juice, milk and warm soy milk.

After breakfast we caught the metro to the “bund” near the central area of town. It is on the other side of the river to the CBD. We walked along the river side to see the world famous view of Shanghai with the distinctive pearl tower in the background. We followed some of the lonely planet’s walking guide on the bund looking at all the old foreign European buildings. Some parts of this area felt just like in Europe.

We went to the international foreign bookstore to stock up on reading material for our future long train rides in the north. Before going to the Shanghai museum we visited the food street were we got lamb meat on stick and flat onion bread (similar to naan bread). Late in the afternoon we headed towards the Shanghai museum. Unfortunately they close at 5pm and let the last visitors in at 4pm. We didn’t manage to get in.
A few month back Hannah forward me a link to stuff.co.nz with an article of tea house scammers. The article was about a guy who was approached by young student type Chinese who befriended him and convinced him to go sightseeing with them. They took him to a tea house where they bought lots of very expensive tea. As they were buying a lot he joined in the fun and bought lots as well. After they left the tea shop they abruptly left him standing in the street with expensive tea. That was when he realised that it was a scam.

Anyway on the way back to the metro from the museum which was in Remin Park we walk passed a group of 2 well dressed Chinese females and a male student chatting up a lone white male tourist. I overheard a bit of their conversation and it sounded like the students were trying to extract information out of the tourist. It reminded me of that article so we stopped and observed.

We watched as the students flirted with tourist but at last, the guy walked away. We thought maybe they were genuine but something told me to keep watching. After the guy left the students hung around the park. They moved closer to the exit of the museum, it was around 5pm so allot of people where coming out. We were about to leave when I saw some action. The girls went to pose by the museum with the guy taking photo. It just so happened that a single foreigner walked passed them coming out of the museum and they asked him to take a photo of them. He duly did and they struck up a conversation. Unfortunately for them he was in a hurry to go somewhere. That’s when leave and when back to the hostel. There was a big sign at the hostel reception warning of this activity.

The next day we went back to the museum and the same 3 people were standing there waiting for their next victim.

Pete and Hannah.

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