15

A person who follows anyone who "tells" him about a cheap deal for half a dollar to any location will also follow a guy into a dark alley in the Bronx to buy a Rolex watch for one dollar :)

Blame yourself for being lazy and underprepared for travel in a foreign location.

16

The guts of the Forbidden City is in Taipei a fact not advertised much. But as anywhere if one deals with any kind of tout anywhere infront of a tourist site it won't usually turn out near the right price. But generalising a nation by its touts is unreasonable.

17

#15 Taxi drivers are often shitty people in many countries That is not my general experience from China. With the notable exceptions of tourist hot spots and a couple of airports, incidents are rare in my experience.

18

#jkkin toronto regarding the question:
+Trekker 502 - I did not hear that story and would like to see a valid reference to it.+Look here:
http://loku.com/content/pedicab-driver-charges-family-44254-for-short-ride#

19

by the way, the Lama temple and the forbidden city are equally unpreserved-- as in they have both been totally renovated multiple times in recent years and everything is new besides the general structure. The renovation phase may just be favoring the forbidden palace at this point in time, but could easily swing back to the lama temple soon.

20

#16 -- "NYC putting foot down after $442 pedicab fare" by Karen Matthews, The Associated Press; printed in The Santa Fe New Mexican 10/24/2012. It had been previously published on the Internet, possibly on Yahoo news.

Even in an era of $500 hotel rooms and $18 cocktails, the $442 that a Texas (I erred calling them Australian) family paid for a ride in a New York City pedicab has become notorious.

The outrageous fare made headlines in the city's tabloids over the summer, and since then, officials have been pushing for a simplified pricing structure so tourists don't get taken for a ride.

Even operators of the pedicabs .... say publicity over the mother of all shakedown fares has given all of them a bad name.

Pedicab operators are allowed to charge whatever they like as long as their prices are posted on the side of the cab. But listed prices are often based on a confusing formula -- for example, an initial charge of $5, plus $1 or $2 per short block and $3, $4, or $5 per long block. And not all rate cards state clearly that the charges are per rider. A loop through Central Park can be $40 or $50 per passenger.

The driver who charged $442 told the Texas couple after their 14-blocks ride that there was a $100 fare for each additional passenger, even though the daughters, who sat on their parents' laps, were only 7 and 9. It was technically illegal to have four passengers, but such a trip for three people ordinarily costs $80 to $100.

Greg Zuman, the vice president of the New York City Pedicab Owners Association, acknowledges abuse of the rate cards but he does not support the newly proposed per-minute system.

21

Shame you guys can only understand 1 language.

22

One can only be scamed if you let them scam you. If an offer is too good to be true, ITS NOT. Your brain must have been in neutral. I have travelled China for over 25 years and find the people on average to be very kind and helpful. A few bad apples can always spoil the basket.

23

It was an eastern ukraine pedi cab owner, that since this came out was fined for taking 4 people, and also kicked out of the US as he didnt have a work Visa, and also was not paying taxes, so what comes around goes around....