the yangyuan huating commerce hotel no.8

the week before last i flew with a couple of work colleagues to visit a factory in yangyuan, close to the border of hebei and shanxi provinces. the closest airport was at datong, about a three hour drive away. we flew into busy datong airport (click on the thumbnail above) and headed to yangyuan.

at yangyuan we checked into the 'huating commerce hotel no.8' where i was given what supposedly was the presidential suite. the picture above is the view after entering the front door. the small table in front is for playing mahjong and was plugged in and making a loud refridgerator-like humming noise when i walked in.

the presidential bathroom overlooked the factory next door and was large but missing a few things such as... a mirror. presumably mr. president would have someone preening him in the morning and wouldn't have use for a mirror.

to the left in the bathroom there was a small sauna and jacuzzi. unfortunately there was no shower-head except for a small handheld one with about a foot of slack. i suppose mr. president doesn't worry about having to wash his own hair. the toilet was missing a toilet-paper holder, but i suppose mr. president also doesn't... never mind.

the telephones in the room were a bizarre gaudy combination of what you'd perhaps find in an early 20th-century mansion except made from plastic with a digital display.

another grotesque example next to the bed. i felt like picking it up and shouting, 'mr. watson, come here, i want you!'

the view from the bedroom. you'll notice the bed doesn't have covers on it. i thought perhaps there would be a 'turn down' service later in the evening but when i returned back to the room after dinner it still didn't have any covers on it. after hunting around for a while i asked for help and learned that the covers were stored in that small chest next to the television. yes, that made perfect sense.

this was by far the most bizarre aspect of the room. the second toilet was located right in the center of the room, surrounded by a hannibal lecter style glass room. no curtains, no screen, nothing. making matters worse is the front door to the right had about a quarter inch gap between the door and doorframe, so using the throne is not only a show to whoever is in the room but also whoever is walking down the hall. i really wonder what the purpose of this room is. perhaps some things are better left unknown....

a panoramic view of yangyuan as seen from the glass toilet cage room.