China
One:
Went to visit some holy mountain (Tai'Shan, I think) and bought a new film for my camera from a gent selling films from a Kodak kiosk in the town square. Took loads of great pics and when I got back to my flat - a 24-hour bus ride away - I took them them to be processed. Only, there were no pics. The grinning fucktard at Tai'Shan had sold me a roll of previously exposed film that he'd just rolled into used canisters. Not a photo survives.

Two:
Visiting a friend in the north of China, I arrived and took a taxi. Despite my fears, I was taken directly to the right address in about ten minutes and charged only double what the ride was worth. On the way back, I told a different taxi driver to go to the station and he proceeded to take me on a magical mystery tour round the outskirts of the city. We were driving for 40 minutes and I knew he was ripping me off. But I had a train to catch and he didn't speak a word of English. As I swore fluently and red-faced at him, he just laughed hysterically to himself and kept on driving until he'd explored every road in town. When he asked me for the cost of a new house, I refused. Cue the usual Chinese taxi driver trick: screaming and crying until a dozen other people come screaming and crying and you're forced to pay up by the mob.

Three:
In Shanghai, I went into a street noodle bar and pointed to the cheapest dish on the menu - just vegetable noodles. The rat-faced streak of jizz then threw every exotic meat he could find into the bowl and charged me double the cost of his most expensive meal on the menu. By this stage, I just couldn't be bothered arguing and paid. Thereafter, I only ate at KFC.

Four:
When I mercifully left the country, they informed me that I had to pay a departure tax. About ten quid in cash, or you stay in China and get thrown in jail because your visa has expired (and they make you pay for your own incarceration, too.)

Fucking China.
(frankspencer, Tue 20 Feb 2007, 17:26, Reply)