Oh man oh man oh man.

So tonight I was wandering Tiananmen Square (sp?) like a stupid tourist and some girl approaches me. Naturally I ignore her along with the plethora of girls trying to sell something if not sell themselves. But she says she wants to practice English. I say, okay can't hurt. So we chat chat chat for a while, watch the sunset, turns out she's an English teacher from Western China on vacation in Beijing ... I use my superhuman honesty sensor to detect that she's genuine. She offers to walk around one of the shopping areas with me, so I take the offer. We're chatting the whole time (been about an hour now), stopping in a few shops but not buying. One of us points out a sign for CHINESE TEA CEREMONG (typo included) and she asks what's the deal. I say it's a typo, but don't know what a "tea ceremony" is. She says let's check it out.

Wander upstairs, some nice ladies welcome us (only customers) to a table that might seat 6. So we get a nice demonstration and a tasting of six various teas - VERY good tea, I might add. They also bring out three little plates of nuts to munch on, cleanse the palette I guess. The whole thing is in Chinese and my new girlfriend is translating for me. So finally at the end I ask if I can buy some tea to take home (of course, duh). I was very surprised at the "government-set" prices - upwards of 1000 RMB / kilo. Okay, I suck it up and get the small container for 500 RMB. Then the bill comes, and the tea ceremony, itemized for each of the six teas we tried plus the nuts, comes to total of ** 1100 RMB ** ?? Plus, of course, the tea I had purchased.

Normally I'm a savvy traveler -- ask prices before trying food or getting in the cab, don't shop on tourist thoroughfares, etc.

What happened? I would suspect that the whole thing, including the nice Chinese girl wanting to "practice English", is an elaborate scam, but she also shelled out for her own gift box of tea! I'm sure I got fleeced, but what exactly happened, other than making the mistake of not asking the price beforehand?? My only reasonable theory is that it's meant for larger groups (4-6) who would split the cost of the ceremony, also bargain the price in advance. I might add that the tea was very good, and paying 1000-2000 RMB is not unheard of for good tea.