Warning: A HK Scam!

Friendly Warning:

When you're in Hong Kong, here's something you've got to look out for:

Nice Kiwi guy falls for the scam.

These con artists down from Mainland China dress as Chi Lin monks and flutter around HK accosting tourists and humbly showing photographs of their monastry or of a new monastry they wish to build, asking for donations.

THIS IS A SCAM!

Chi Lin monks do not beg. They are forbidden to. Besides, they don't need to. They're the guys you see in Starbucks drinking latte and fiddling with the GPD on their mobile phones.

Anyway, the quickest way to tell a real Chi Lin monk from one of these con artists is by their shoes. Chi Lin monks wear brown soft-soled cloth shoes with holes in the sides. (The holes in the sides of this dudes shoes are too large.) These shoes are hard to come by and so you seldom see the scammers in them.

Also, Chi Lin monks never let metal touch metal - too yang - so when these guys hold out a metal bowl for you to drop your coins into, you know you're falling for a vastly successful ruse.

So, when one of these dudes comes smilingly up to you, just give them a nasty glare and turn your back.

However, I always give a donations to the ones posing as Chi Lin nuns. Those women have to shave their heads to pull off their scams and since shaving your hair off is such a hard thing for women to do, I figure they deserve something.