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Q: Get in the car!
Sunday evenings, I regularly wait for my carpool home to bring me back to my family in the county. Last Sunday, right on time, a red car stops in front of the building where I always wait. He opens the trunk for my bag as always, and signals me to get in. It's a driver I don't recognize, but sometimes it's a new guy - nothing strange about that. Almost as an unnecessary routine, I ask where he's headed. My Chinese is crummy, but I can mutter "You go where" clearly enough. To my surprise, he doesn't shout the destination back.
I decide not to get in the car. I worry for a few minutes that I missed my ride due to a communication error, but the real carpool car shows up quickly. It seems that some locals have been keeping track of my movements very carefully, and I'd have stepped in if it wasn't for a single hole in their plan. I shudder to think what would've happened if I'd stepped in that car. It was just one guy, though, and he couldn't overpower me alone while also driving.
Are there instances of kidnappings of foreigners in China? I can't say I've seen any in the news. Or even robberies for that matter. Am I reading too much into this? Maybe it was an illegal taxi offering services or something..?
10 years 7 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
I've never heard about kidnappings, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just wanted to take you for a ride while they emptied your place, because as we all know, us foreigners are super rich, so we have gold plated toilet paper and such.
Probably was illegal taxi. He would demand pay, before letting you exit the car.
I wouldn't think, his aim was kidnapping or robbery.
Illegal taxis have 'deal' with receptionists in hotels everywhere. Once in Nanjing, hotel's employee holding an umbrella for me, stopped taxi, and in the end of the ride, taxi demanded double pay. I refused to pay more than Chinese teacher told me I'll be charged, before the journey. School covered difference to illegal taxi driver.
Honestly... I can't say. It definitely sounds suspicious, but more likely it was just an illegal taxi. Kidnapping or robbery could be possible, but I don't think many would go through that trouble when they could make money through much easier means, like simple ripoffs.
Things like this are exactly why, as foreigners, we need to not let ourselves fall into predictable routines.
What I found so strange is that he opened the trunk and signaled me to get in, exactly like my carpool would do. I don't appear wealthy at all (carpool...with Chinese), and people in the neighbourhood know I don't live in a fancy apartment during the week. I've never encountered an illegal taxi in my little city, and it was even timed and presented in a way that I almost mistook him for my carpool...
My guess is it was just a very persistent illegal taxi, but still wise decision to double check.
