Case #3 - We offer our Pingyao guesthouse waitress a tip. She spoke a little English and was most helpful during our three-day stay. It was just a gesture of appreciation. She refuses to take it.

What to do, what to do!

And then there are your local guides and drivers. Do you tip? After all, we paid additional for these services. And if we do tip, what is considered appropriate.

Right or wrong, here is our own personal American guideline based on the same criteria we'd use at home.

- Drivers - If the driver has been with us for days, driven distances and not spent his time sleeping in the car for most of the day, we tip $5-10/day.

- Guides - If the guide has gone out of his/her way to give information other than the usual history facts and/or has been particularly helpful, we tip a minimum of $10-20/day. We recently had a local guide with us for one week. Extremely knowledgeable with facts but never volunteered any information on scenery, people, offered restaurant advice or things to do on our own. She also rode for hours without saying one word about anything. I wanted to give her "zilch" and had a knock-down battle with ex-Marine who was struggling with his American "tip ethic" and couldn't not tip her. My thoughts were, "She did her job and that was it." For the life me me, I can't see additionally rewarding someone for just "doing their job. Isn't that called a "SALARY"?

Factor in the bald fact that whatever you do tip, it's never enough. Fast true story. In India, ex-Marine once handed a tip to someone for practically doing nothing. The person's remark..."Is that all?" My answer..."If you aren't happy with it, give it back..." and I stretched out my hand to take it back. (Try it some time.) Man, he hightailed it out of there as fast as his greedy body could move.

Feel free to jump in on this with your comments, pro and con, on tipping in general and specifically tipping in China where it's still a cultural faux pas at times. What times? What places? Who knows!