Mugged or hustled?

There is a difference between being robbed and being hustled. And if someone tells a long enough story, the difference can become clear. But for lack of some details that were erased via large consumption of alcohol, telling the story becomes difficult. Long and forgotten story short, while in Beijing I was approached by a woman and agreed to have dinner with her. She guided me around in a tour guide fashion and never explicitly came off as an escort. Instead she appeared to be a "hostess". And after a while one of her friends arrived to. Not to miss out on a good time I agreed to buy some food and drinks. They were fun and agreeable. Spoke good English and answered my questions about China. We had a great time. Later we ended up in a Karaoke bar and that's when things started going south. Needless to say, they started ordering $100 drinks for themselves that consisted of tea. I was having an okay time but really wanted to move on a walk though more of the city without them. When the bill came it was over $3000. Luckily for me, every credit card in my wallet was denied, and after they led me to a phone, an atm, and later down a sketchy alley, I decided to run. While that can seem like I skipped out on my tab. Just realize there is a fine difference between being robbed and being hustled.

After all this went down, I was left with no money, a frozen bank account, and two cancelled credit cards. American Express was great about doing a wire transfer, and after the Mendocino Savings Bank opened for business the next day, I got my debit card off of its holds. In the mean time I needed to catch my flight to Bangkok. This requires me to make the airport from downtown Beijing, without any money to purchase train fare. Knowing that missing my flight wasn't an option, I hopped the turnstiles at the subway. Only one security guard caught me, but speaking quick English to someone who barely speaks any (for a $2 fare), will see them wave you on regardless of how sketchy you seemed a second before.

I'll add that after I ran away from my "Hostesses", I ended up near the forbidden city, sleeping in a hedge, and talking with construction workers running a skid steer and a dump truck at 5am. Made for a pretty good memory of old town Beijing.