Tao Tsoo Dun Too - Waiting Under a Tree for Rabbit

This Chinese saying is supposed to be along the lines of hiding and waiting for a rabbit to pop out. In today's case, we were waiting for a thief. Man, Shanghai doesn't disappoint nor wait to be eventful.

If you haven't read about thieves and scammers in my other note, might want to for a bit of background to this entry.

So after dinner around 6pm today, we went to a nearby store (think Target) to buy some stuff for me to settle in. My parents own a bicycle and a battery-powered bike, and I took the bike while my parents rode the electronic one. Along the way there, we were still talking about how I should practice riding on the electric one.

Once we got there, my dad said he'll go grab some dumpling skin at a nearby supermarket and meet us up after. My mom and I went into the "Target" store first to look around. 10-15 minutes after we went in, my dad met up with us and said the motorbike was stolen. He was only in the market for 5 minutes buying dumpling skin!

Some things to note are that the bike has 3 to 4 different locks. One to activate the bike, one chain lock on the front wheel, and one built-in lock on the back wheel that prevents it from rolling. So whoever took the bike really was handy and quick (and quite the bastard). My dad even took the bike to look around and see if he could find the motorbike.

So the three of us begrudgingly went through the rest of the store with such a negative, troublesome thought in mind. We barely bought anything and went back out.

As we walked home, my mom and I walked as my dad brought all the groceries with him to the bike. Much to our surprise, my mom and I walked by a motorbike that looked awfully like ours. And as I looked closer, I saw that it resembled ours too much, including the words on the back seat. We took off a black cover that was draped on the steering wheel and the interface was all lit up, even though no key was inside. In a hurry, my mom shouted at my dad to come over, saying we found the bike.

My dad came over and confirmed with us that it was our bike. Then shortly after, 2 men came by to talk to my dad. They told him they were undercover cops (1 flashed his badge) that were looking to catch thieves stealing bikes, and after my dad explained our situation, they asked us to cooperate with them to catch the thief/thieves. My mom and I walked home first to drop off the groceries, and my dad called asking us to bring the vehicle registration.

Once we went back to the scene, my mom and I sat next to my dad and just waited to see if the thief would return. One of the undercover cops asked us to move somewhere farther, since we might look too suspicious (especially what with my mom just constantly staring at the bike's direction).

I'm not sure if it was my dad who knew or one of the cops who told him, but my dad said the cops would get a reward if they catch the thief. And apparently, a lot of cops were around the area, though I didn't know how many in total. After sitting in wait for about 1.5 hours, you kind of know who was undercover and who wasn't since they just seemed to be wondering around.

Unfortunately, all our wait didn't lead to any result. We waited until 10pm, when the store we went to closed down. By then, we told one of the officers we were just going to return home. When we gathered around the bike and my dad showed them the vehicle registration, that's when I realized there were 6 undercover cops in the area. After they took a look at the vehicle and the papers, one mentioned how lucky we were to be able to recover our bike. Apparently, the thief managed to open the locks without breaking them open, and he/she just opened and hot-wired the front of the bike, hence why the interface was open. Once we got home, my dad pulled out this little wire-like triangle thing that was stuck inside that might have forced the bike to work.

All this excitement and not even 1 day (24 hours) in Shanghai. Though it's an unfortunate event, it was really fortunate of us to recover the bike, and it is a sound lesson that you can't be too careful here. My parents (jokingly) even said this isn't something I'd ever encounter in the States. I'm kind of paranoid as to what else might be in store for me for the future in Shanghai, but I'm not completely fazed about Shanghai from this one event.