Kafka’s Disco Party and the Haunted Elevator

Next stop is Tun-xi, a town at the base of Yellow Mountain.  I had heard rumors about the hotel the group stayed in last year and was curious if it would be the same bizarre hotel this year.  This hotel is enormous for the relatively small size of the town and somewhat brightly lit.  When we finally made our way to the check in desk located on floor -1 (yes that is right negative one) via the, very dimly lit, 4^th floor we got our room keys for the 8^th floor.  So back on the 8^th floor it is still dimly lit, old carpet for an otherwise newer hotel.  Some of the hallways weren’t even lit.  Yet when we arrived at our rooms a whole different story sparkly, sparse but very modern.  The rooms had hardwood floors, big windows and one sparkly blue wall with a flat screen TV.  This I wouldn’t have guessed from the hallway.

Strange mix of disco party and austerity at this hotel.

The shower was a yet another story.  A glass window separated the shower and the room with an opaque curtain for privacy. Hmmm!  At this point I am trying to not think about the types of parties or adult films that this room might lend itself to and what is the point of a shower with a window and a very thin curtain as opposed to a wall.

What kind of parties do they have here?

Such showers must be hard to build because both the inner walls in the bedroom and the outer walls in the dark hallways of the interior were suffering some mold damage. Well, it’s only for one night.

The Haunted Elevator

At some point in the morning a group of people went down the hall shouting WAKE UP!  WAKE UP!  Confused by this style of wake-up call, and that the “wake-up call” was in English I reconsidered my resistance to using earplugs.  At some point I got up and resolved to go to the breakfast buffet.  I made my way out of my sparkly room into the gloom of the hallway which daylight didn’t improve and waited for the elevator.  The elevator went from -1 to 9 and back down to -1.  This happens a couple more times and the door doesn’t open.  By this time there is a crowd waiting for the elevator when the door finally opens the elevator is full but what is a few more people so I stuff myself onto the elevator and make it down to -1.  When I make it to the door of the breakfast buffet on -1 there is a line pouring out the door and I forgot my breakfast ticket. Damn.  Back up the elevator.  I make it back up to my room and run into my roommate who reports just what I expected.  It is a zoo down there.

Breakfast attempt 2 waiting for the elevator again. It passes again and again and it strikes me as strange that the halls are always empty and the elevators always full.

You might be wondering at this point why I don’t take the stairs.  For whatever reason the stairs in hotels are a small step up from the stairs in a parking garages, sparse, cold, complete with weird sounds and strange smells.  Some of the doors that you would expect to open do not open.  So I don’t take them very often.

With that said I stuff myself onto the overly full elevator again and after a few floors of going down the elevator door opens and I get off only realizing after the fact that I wasn’t at floor -1. I was on the 4^th floor.  That is what I get for trying to do anything before drinking coffee.  I walk down the empty corridor of the 4^th floor looking for the other elevator, which I know exists.  After a bit of a walk I find a somewhat out-of-the-way elevator.  It opens, nobody is on it, It has a button that says -1. So I take this elevator to -1.  When the door opens there is nothing but a drafty construction zone, clearly not the reception area.  So I try for the first floor thinking that I can surely take the stairs from the 1^st floor.  The door opens and there is nothing but darkness.  Wrong again.  Time to retrace my steps back to the 4^th floor.  At this point I am ready to forgo breakfast, I find the other elevator with a crowd in front of it and take the stairs quickly up to the 8^th floor back to my room and have some dried fruit, beef jerky and instant coffee for breakfast. My roommate tells me that breakfast wasn’t very good anyways and I am content with the fact that if I would have eaten the food I wouldn’t be allowed to leave, like in the Hayao Miyazaki movie Spirited Away.  If you haven’t seen it you should.

Crouching Tourist Hidden Parking Space

Two of the things to make peace with right away, while site seeing in China, are tourist bathrooms and parking (or lack there of in some cases). This excursion was no exception tourist toilets come in varying qualities good ones will have doors and the ability to flush.  Don’t expect western to toilets or for paper to be provided and don’t count on hand soap or the ability to dry your hands. I’m just saying.

On our first stop to Yellow Mountain which was rural village Huang Cun.  It is actually a little past the Yellow Mountain but that is besides the point.  We were let off the bus maybe a kilometer or so early as we approached the line of traffic waiting see the historic village.

A busy day at the historic village.

We were told that the village was founded in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) but that many on the architectural elements are from the Ming (1368-1644 CE) and Qing (1644-1911 CE) dynasties.  You could easily get lost in winding narrow alleyways and possibly fall in the water, if you aren’t cautious, as much of the village is surrounded by a lake and the water source runs through the village. More pictures of the village later.

Part of the 2000 film, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed in this village.  I will have to watch it again to see if I can recognize any of the locations.

My travel companions listening intently to our tour guide.

We only spent a couple of hours in this little village.  Proper exploration of this village and its intricate workings could easily take days. When we left our driver had made it to the entry way, patiently waiting and ready to drive.  That man loves to drive.