Stranded in Asia
Watch your back
So there I was sitting in Hong Kong international airport with 2 hours to kill before the seventeen-hour plane ride home. After two weeks trekking accross China I was ready to go home, but the universe decided I needed one more experience in Asia. Seated across from me was a young Asian girl. After twenty minutes of conversation I decided to grab a bite to eat.
"Can i join you?" she asked in stumbled english.
"uhh sure" i responded. After all, she would be some one interesting to speak to during my remaining hours in China. In return I could help her practice english.
Walking around the airport, we painfully continued our boring conversation. She had exhausted everything expression she knew in english: "What is your name?", "Where are you from?", etc... There was little left to awkwardly talk about so I decided it was the perfect moment to ditch my temporary friend. My first attempt was the mens room. Yet after five minute she was still there waiting, arms folded, when I walked out. "Perhaps if i ignore her long enough in the bookstore...", I thought. The next fifteen minutes were spent in vane attempting to look fascinated by a book written competely in Chinese. While she appeared to be distracted by the Chinese equivalent to Seventeen Magazine I decided it was time to escape.
I had almost made it safely to the moving sidewalk when I received a light pull on my backpack. This could easily have been ignored but certainly not the arm tug that followed. Before I knew it I found myself in a store that sold woman's accessories and perfume. Annoyed at watching this girl sample perfumes, I had to get the hell out of there.
"You like this one?"
"OH yea... grrreat," i forced out with a nod. I slowly turned my back to her and walked out unaware of the foul play that was occuring.
I was not far from the store when I receive another arm tug. "I need go, but I meet you later." I held back the excitement as we departed. I thought of how much i would enjoy dimsum alone and how soon I would be thousands of miles away from this person.
But as I approached the food court I received another arm tug and a tap on the shoulder. Annoyed, I turned around. To my surprise it was not the girl -- it was a police officer holding an assult rife. He was accompanied by two other officers and the store clerk of the perfume store.
"uhh... what is going on here....", i thought surrounded by three large automatic weapons. A very angry looking store clerk shouted in Chinese and shook her finger at me.
"What seems to be the problem officer," I calmly asked.
One of the officers reached behind me (just like a streeet magician pulling a rabbit off of confused pedestrian) and produced a bottle of perfume. "You have shop lifted", the officer sternly replied.
"What!?! Perposterous!!" Stealing! How could this be? Then it occured to to me: I had been betrayed. The bottle was slipped into a sidepocket of my backpack by my recent acquaintance while my back was turned. She had intended to use my backpack to transport the bottle to a place where she could safely recover it. The store clerk must be confused. Surely she must have seen the girl place the article on me. "I will find this girl and clear up this confusion." For the next ten minutes I desperately scanned the crowded airport. But the longer I searched, the more and more I looked like a guilty person desperately trying to slither my way out of the situation. The stubborn store clerk could not hear or understand my position: she clearly believed me to be guilty.
"My flight leaves in twenty minutes. Look at the security cameras and you will see that I am innocent."
The airport detective arrived and at last there was some one who spoke coherent english. He explained to me that in order for the police to look at the tapes they would have to launch an official investigation. "We simply cannot do it." Damned by the Chinese beauracracy! The detective told me I had two options. If I plead not guilty on the spot then they would launch the official investigation. This would require two appearances in Chinese court and representation by a lawyer over the next two to three weeks. In such a case I would not even be guaranteed that the security cameras recorded and unobstructed view of the incident. This was impossible. By the time I received the final verdict my one month visa would have expired and would have committed a far more serious offense. The other option was to plead guilty to this minor offense and admit to a crime I did not commit. The situation would be cleared up in a day and at most I would pay a fine of several thousand Hong Kong dollars.
Out of a plane ride home, hand cuffed and surrounded by three heavily armed police officers, I watched as they scoured my belongings for contraband. After I waited in a holding cell for four hours I was finger printed and asked to give my statement. "Fortunately, you are still under 18 and there is a possibility that you will simply receive a stern warning from the police cheif. Admit you are wrong and appologize. If you are insincere, you will face a fine of no less than three thousand Hong Kong dollars", the detective informed me. By simply telling them what they wanted to hear -- that I stole a bottle of woman's perfume appraised at $30 US in the AIRPORT (of all places) -- they would let me go without fines or court dates. The bail money would be returned to my brother and I would not have an international criminal record. What was I to do? Tell the truth?
"I did it for the excitemnt... I am very sorry and I will never do it again..." At this point I just wanted to go home. It was my brother who posted the two thousand dollar bail. I was released into his custody and allowed to leave the station. Luckily, I had been staying at an apartment of one of my brother's friends, Liesl, and she could put me up a few more days.
"I will let you off with a warning this time, but never steal in Hong Kong again!" the police cheif said the following day. To celebrate my release, my brother and I ate luxuriously at Kenny Rogers Roasters -- an upscale restaurant in these parts. All records of my arrest were destroyed and everything was set right. A service charge for changing my flight set me back $150 US dollars. But because my ticket is only valid from Monday to Thursday, I am stranded in Asia until Monday. A moral to this story? It's worth being a little extra careful with your bags in the airport.
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