Taxis, Scams, and Police Reports

So it turns out my intuition about the taxi ride wasn't entirely wrong. Later this afternoon Sheryl and I were in the local shops and bought some things at the nearby 7-Eleven. I tried to pay with a 100¥ bill (approx. $15) and the cashier rejected my bill. I tried with another 100¥ and the same thing!

Then I remembered back to when the taxi dropped me off at the hotel. He rejected my 10¥ bills because they were torn (some had the bottom corners torn off). So I gave him one of my 100¥ bills for change. He didn't readily give me change, so I assumed he didn't have enough change (he spoke almost no English, and I couldn't speak Chinese, so communication was pretty difficult). There was more "discussion" about the money, with me in the back seat and him in the front, til finally he motioned me to come to the front seat. I did, and more confused "discussion" pursued. Over the course of the "discussion", I had offered him either of my 100¥ bills and he had given them back to me. In the end he accepted my five 10¥ bills I originally gave him, saying they would be okay. So that settled it and I left him for the hotel.

Well it turns out that the shuffling of money and all the confusion was contrived by a shady driver. While he was handling my 100¥ bills, he exchanged them for fake bills. So not only did I pay him 55¥ for the taxi ride, but he took another 200¥ from me :(

When Shiyan found out about it this evening she insisted that we tell the police. So she hailed an officer and told him the story. He gave us a ride to the police station and an hour-long report ensued. They actually pulled up the video from a nearby camera and we saw the whole event happen (albeit from a distance and without enough visual to prove anything). So now China has a police report with my name, address, passport number, and signature. I also had to fingerprint my signature and several other sections of the report!

So that's how our "free" day went. Not the best way to spend a day. But this evening we took Kiana down to the swimming pool (which is VERY cool, BTW). She *loved* it! She was kicking and splashing and smiling like crazy. That was a good way to end an otherwise discouraging day.

Tomorrow we go to the consulate to hopefully get Kiana's visa. I'll be calling our Bethany office before going to bed (since our 11:00pm is their 8:00am). Please pray we get the home address issue worked out. If we don't, we won't be able to get Kiana's visa, and therefore won't be able to fly home as scheduled. We SOOO do not want to be delayed (not to mention paying for more nights in a hotel, more eating out, and possible flight postponement fees)! We're all eager for home.