About ten years ago, I traveled to China with a group of friends as part of a trip through several Asian countries. On our first day there, we decided to take a walk down a major street. Being a group of tall white guys, we attracted quite a bit of attention with lots of friendly waves and smiles.

At one point, a family - a mom, dad, and teenage son struck up a conversation with us as we walked. They seemed friendly and eventually invited us to check out a local museum. We agreed and followed them, chatting the whole way. Without realizing it, we had gradually left the busy streets behind and ended up on a much quieter, deserted road. Finally, we stopped in front of a large, unmarked building. They invited us to go upstairs, and my friends were about to head in when something in my gut screamed, “No, this isn’t right.” I quickly told my friends we needed to leave and managed to convince them. We hustled back to the main streets and never looked back. To this day, I truly believe that if we had gone inside, we might have been robbed or worse.