The People Stand Guard, II

For four days, I am on an SAS trip, traveling from Shanghai to Hong Kong via Xi'an. Xi'an is a couple of hours by plane from Shanghai, due west. It's the former capital of China, and the home of the terra cotta warriors. Our guide calls it a small city, only 8 million.

Our home for this visit is the JianGuo hotel, a cosmopolitan place with an array of clocks in the lobby (London, New York, Beijing, Tokyo...). It has presented some challenges, however.

In addition to the usual, amenities include toothbrush,
comb, vanity kit with cotton balls and Qtips.

The first one was getting into the room. No slot for the key card. This one you simply hold in front of the door until it decides to let you in. Then, none of the lights work. In the dark, you have to figure out that power depends on having your room key in a holder on the wall. This turns out to be handy, as you always know where your room card is.

I do not know what kind of rowdy people visit this hotel, but there is a very strict warning greeting you, with a price list. They are not in the business of selling these things, but will charge you if any are missing when you leave. In addition to the usual bathrobe (300 yuan, or about $50) and pillows (¥260), the list is a complete inventory of the room. A coffee cup will cost you ¥30, but the laundry bag can be pilfered for a mere ¥5. I am not entirely sure what the propogandist billfold is, but if it goes missing, it will cost ¥350, and the casket--which I definitely have not seen--is a quick ¥75. In case you are interested in the bathtub, it goes for ¥4500.

I will, as the directions instruct, "cherish all articles of room" during my stay, and just to be safe, will not use the notepad, lest I get charged ¥25 for it.

ALL staff of Jianguo Hotle, we are warmly welcome you and whish pteasant stay with us.
The articles of room we generally do not for sale.  We sale it on the under price form despite ourselves then you have got to buy.  Whole room of articles are intact, you can contect with housekeeping office when dissent.  EXT;55
For your personal and hotels properties security reasons, please cherish all articles of room.  Please put calm stump inside ashtary, you will pay RMB50 at least per hollow if you burned the carpet without careful.  Or else, please put the shower curtain insidebuthtub when you take a shower, you will pay RMB50 at least per square meter when carpet indemnify submerged by your personal reason.
Heartfelt thanks your supports and understanding!

I would, however, like to be able to use the internet, since I lugged my computer with me to catch up on blog posts before all of these sites run together. I thought I had signed on properly, but couldn't bring up my email or the blog. I had been told the internet only worked in the lobby, so I headed down to see. The front desk lady said it was free in the room (nicer hotels usually charge for internet). "Please go back up to the room and I will call." I assumed someone would call me on the phone and talk me through it, but soon there was a knock on the door and a woman who spoke not one word of English was standing outside, looking at a complete loss. When I finally got her to come in to the room, she fiddled with the ethernet cable, which had no effect , even after I turned off the wireless. She called the front desk, who sent up another person, better dressed, who was equally unsuccessful. His diagnosis was the internet did not work in my room, and the decision was made to move me to another room. A third person arrived, with a key card.

Since I am sharing a room, this was not a workable strategy. I tried to gesture: two beds, two suitcases, two people, two keys. Another call to the front desk to translate. No problem, they can get a new key for the roommate when she arrives. (She was, in fact, next door all night. Sleeping on the floor is preferable to sleeping with an old person.) I was pretty sure the problem did not lie with the room, so I gestured that we would take only the computer to the new room until we found out.

Score one for the old person. Although the hotel had hosted as SAS group of 60 the night before, evidently no one raised this question with them. Or they are just making a show of being helpful? In any event, the change of room did not improve matters and a third person was dispatched. This one was able to discover that sites he frequents work, and we concluded reluctantly that the internet provider is blocking google and blogger (also a google site). Why these sites are not blocked in Shanghai, I don't know. I also don't know how I can get my mail from google through the Apple mail client, but I can. So I can post from my mail, but not with attachments.

for pictures, you will have to wait. Check back! I have taken 1000 pictures in just three ports. Monster slide show when I get back.

I will post some pictures as internet permits. For now, appreciate the power of the written word.