In a message dated 8/9/02 3:06:32 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
ellisjames@yahoo.com writes:

<< Yup, I remember some USA smart-alecks who got caned (like, cain- not
canned) in
 Hong Kong for malicious mischief and vandalism. My kind of eBay auction at
the
 moment is more in line with that 1959 Desoto Firesweep stationwagon that was
 recently up for auction. Rusty chrome, bad paint, 5 mpg, big old honkin under
 dash airconditioner, that UFO funky smell in the back seat that smells like
 sweat combined with old frenchfries with a hint of poopie diapers and cookie
 crumbs. That $14. VW is bound to show up at the Chinese equivalent to the
 Pomona swapmeet for a zillion yuan. ;-) I will be looking for NOS
 anti-carbonmonoxide fume scoops on "DesotoPlanet." >>

Well, the young man who was caned was in Singapore where personal freedom is
just a hair better than mainland China. They do have a low crime rate. $14
for any car in any part ofthe world sounds like big mistake on someone's
part. The question is always whether it is worth risking the cost of
litigation to recover from someone whoi may not have the funds to reimburse
you even if you won.

Let's also not forget hat the Chinese Media can even be more sensationalist
than the National Enquirer. As an example, a very close personal friend of
mine belongs to a very famous acting family in Hongkong. Someone had
mewntioned that he may have bought a house in Westborough in South San
Francisco. By the time the papers got wind of the story, he found himself
"buying" a house in Hillsborough worth 5 times what he was buying his real
house for. Oh yeah, they also made up some story about his engagement to some
girl in Canada. He's not even straight.

BenT
 <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/index.html">Vanagon
Cafe</A>