Today at six PM, my entire group left by bus for Beijing. We have a long weekend, from Friday to Monday. I sat by Kelli Golden. Apparently, our bus is a “luxury coach” because it has a small TV and some cushion on the chairs. To us Americans, it’s only tolerable; but at least it has cushions and extra large windows.
I have been looking forward to watching the Chinese countryside, but most of this trip would be spent under cover of darkness, since it gets dark at 7 here. Kelli and I chatted some, but I slept for the majority of the trip. The bus stopped about every two hours for a potty break, which we discovered was really a smoking break for the driver, but the passengers could take advantage of his excuse.
You know when you travel by some form of ground transportation, and you need to pee but you know that the only choice you have is the side of the interstate or a dirty restroom in some hole-in-the-wall convenience store? Well, Chinese rest stops are infinitely worse. The toilet is the hole in the wall, or in the floor at least. You can smell the squatters fifty meters away. One time, the lights had blown in the rest room so we had to find our way in almost complete blackness. That sure was an experience.
In all truthfulness, I prefer public squatters over public toilets. I think they are more sanitary because you don’t have to touch anything. Most places in China do not provide toilet paper, so most of us packed a roll. There is the rare occasion where a restroom provides paper, but it’s usually a communal roll on a wheel outside the stalls and you grab some before you go in.
Anyway. Kelli and I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine on my laptop until we fell back asleep. I awoke the next morning when we pulled up to breakfast in Beijing.
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