The Real Reason for Confiscation

My grandmother has a tendency of trying to bring things, either from or to abroad, that she most likely shouldn't be bringing. For instance, on a trip up through Malaysia and to Thailand, she bought a bunch of fruit in a market in Thailand. Why? Because they don't have that kind of fruit in Singapore. On a trip to Japan with her friends from tai chi, she smuggled in some flowers that she found to be rather pretty and wanted to grow in front of her flat. Most of the time, she actually gets away with this because she pretty much plays that whole "I'm just a poor old lady" bit and the Customs Inspectors will just wave her on. I would even say that prior to 9/11, she got away with that quite often because she didn't speak nor understand English (which isn't 100% true) and she'll just smile and nod and look every bit the "little ol' lady" (which is a bit hard, considering she's still taller than me, and I'm 5' 6").

When my husband and I arrived at SFO to pick up my grandma, we waited by the gate for quite a while. We soon realized that all the people who had arrived two flights after her had already picked up their respective luggages and on their merry way out of the airport. I started hoping and praying that my poor grandmother hadn't fallen ill or was detained. Close to two hours after the arrival of her flight, we soon found her.

It turned out that she had come out through another gate (oops!) but had only just come out and had been waiting for half an hour. So what happened with the first hour and a half? It seems that the little ol' lady had indeed been detained by the inspectors. And what did the inspector confiscate?

- Zong zi (they're like Chinese tamales. Good stuff!)... about 20 of them
- Instant noodles (yes... I know what you're thinking, but the ones from Singapore are apparently better)
- Chicken essence (Chinese herbal chicken stuff that's actually very good for overall health. Think of it as potent chicken soup)
- Some other foodstuffs that I can't remember anymore

My grandmother was quite irate at having lost so much good food, especially since she had been the one to make the zong zi with her own hands. She was trying to do her best to salvage the remainder but was quite unsuccessful.

"She took all my best things!" She complained once we fetched her and were walking back to the truck. "She took all the instant noodles and wanted to throw everything away. I kept telling her 'no no no' but she said that I couldn't bring in."

"Well," I said, laughing. "That's what happens when you try to bring food in, grandma. It'll get confiscated."

"No," she huffed angrily. "It's because she knows that I'm such a good cook and wants to keep my food to herself."

"That's not why your food got confiscated, grandma."

"It's true. She just wanted the food for herself. I know she just put it aside so she can bring it home for dinner later. She must've taken a look at the food and thought 'mmm... looks good!' and decided to just keep it for herself."

So there you have it. Sagacious Grandmother says that if your stuff ever gets confiscated while travelling through airports, it is because the local inspector wants it for him/herself.