the day the saran wrap guy got us.

...a story of being a foreigner.

sometimes often we don't know what exactly is going on.  chinese is a second language, the culture is very different, and other factors that cause us to not always fully know what is happening or why.  this is a story of one of those moments.  

as we began out trip this past chun jia holiday to thailand the saran wrap guy at the airport tried to take us for the foreigners that we are.  

it was 4 am. we arrived at the beijing airport on a smoggy thursday morning.  we had an extra hop in our step, even though it was 4 a.m. and we didn't get a wink of sleep because M thought it was cool to share a bed with mom, dad and H that night.  {NEVER AGAIN!}  the airport was calm, with few early morning travelers.  as we stepped through the door of the airport and descended down the entry ramp, a man asked us {in his best broken english} where we were going.  

"thailand!" we said in unison.  

"ok, come with me," he said.  and he quickly walked ahead, and we picked up our pace to keep up.  

we figured he was going to help us find our ticket counter for thai airlines.  he took us to a side counter, where he began to wrap our suitcases.  in saran wrap.  

Tricia said, "Wèishéme {Why?}?"  And they just laughed.  his english was not that great, and our chinese is not that great so we didn't push the issue.  the guy made it seem like we needed this.  no. no. no.  he actually said we NEEDED this saran wrap.  remember it was 4 am and there were few other travelers around to compare saran wrapped suit cases with.  we also thought maybe this was just a thai airline thing.  we have never flown thai air before, maybe they require this.  so we let it be.

they saran wrapped our two big bags.  then they picked up our check luggage and placed them on the counter.  we jumped in and told them that we need to get inside those, and they would not be checked.  {i mean.  doesn't it sound silly to have saran wrapped checked bags?}  Next, they picked up our stroller.  folded it.  and attempted to saran wrap it two different times.  if it had been later than 4 am maybe some bells would have been going off in our heads at this point.  we told them both time we wanted to be able to use our stroller and gate check it.  so they set it on the ground.  pushed it back to us.  and said, "80 kuai."  

"sheme {what?}?"  i am sure at that point our faces dropped.  

at no point in time were we told this was going to cost us money.  there were no signs with the prices listed.  the whole time we were told nothing.  other than we NEEDED saran wrap on our suit cases.  i don't know, but i hear the word NEED and of course i think i do NEED it.  i want the best for our luggage.  they may have thought they got the foreigner. but not today.  not with my wife.

i began taking the wrap off our two big bags.  the lady took the bags away from me to stop me from unwrapping them.  i took them back.  the lady took tricia over to a sign on the other side of the counter.  and like vanna white, took her jacket that was covering the sign off.  she then revealed that it said the price for their wrapping service.  i began taking the wrap off and told the guy, "you never told us that this cost money, you said we needed it."  he said, "you want it."  i said, "i never wanted it.  you just did it and never told us that it would cost money.  you asked, where we were going and then took us over here."  i was taking the wrap off and tricia was firmly speaking chinese, and they guy said, "ok, 60 kuai."  "no way."  tricia said in chinese, "no. you never told us it cost money, you said we need it.  and your coat was covering the price the entire time!"  as i continue to take it off our bags the lady said, "ok.  go."

that was the day the saran wrap guy {almost} got us.  we may be foreigners, but we won't be taken as fools.           

aren't our suit cases nice and clean?