Modok has some safety tips for Beijing visitors. He has a top-ten list, including looking out for fake Maobacks and not following the art students in Tiananmen square. And he says:

5. Beware of lady bars. I am personally quite wary of anyone who approaches me on the street to solicit me for anything, especially on a bar street, but I have heard many a sad tale from those who have fallen prey to the 鈥渓ady bar鈥� scheme. Inevitably you are taken to an extremely over-priced bar that may or may not have any 鈥渓adies鈥� and liberated from all of your cash.

6. Beware of offers for tea. As innocuous as this sounds, many people have been lured into having innocent tea with some charming young ladies, only to be charged hundreds of dollars for a single pot! Rule of thumb, unless you are used to being approached by charming young ladies and asked out on a regular basis in your home country, be very wary if it happens to you in Beijing.

I’d also add that that Houhai girls who keep asking my boyfriend and male friends to “drink beer” with them are probably running the same kind of scam. While the girls asking for “English practice” are just hitting on them.

Via Eye of Modok