When is Shanghai good to visit?

Did I miss an opportunity to interact or miss getting ripped off during my visit to Shanghai?

• I was in Shanghai in the last week of June 2013 and 2 sets of youngsters invited me to sample tea at "our Chinese minority community" tea houses. One was outside the Shanghai Urban Arts Museum in People's square where I went along with this group to a building called "Hectometer Champs Elysees" and one was at the metro station ticket vending machine. I did go along with the first group but then balked at joining them and declined the second since it had been a long day and also "Lonely Planet" warns of young English speaking people inviting you to have a meal at expensive restaurants and then disappearing leaving you to pay the bill. Both the groups were very polite and appeared honest. So was I too cautious and missed an opportunity to make friends? Later I met a threesome in Xian who I happened to ask directions. They happened to be going to the same place and we had a good time spending half a day together.

• Answer:

  I would think that they were trying to market something--people in Shanghai generally do not behave this way unless they are working some angle. While there are rip-off and scam artists out there, in most cases in Shanghai this is just an attempt to get you to buy something. As far as I know, they were wanting to take you somewhere to sample the tea they were selling, and the price may have even been reasonable. Without going along with them you have no way of knowing. Generally, I refuse to go on such adventures because more often than not it is something of a time-waster or a small rip-off, even if it is not a complete scam. I just don't have the time or energy to deal with this kind of thing. If I want to buy tea, I will go to a tea shop. They are not hard to find.