Gentle Reader,
The bus stops were always welcome -- for stretching, for finding a bathroom, for discovering a new snack, for exploring the ways Western businesses have been incorporated into Chinese life.
My partner Scott was always especially happy to find a coffee shop at the rest stops!!!
We were initially very surprised to see so many "Merry Christmas" greetings, accompanied by all manner of Santa images. My personal favorite was "Jazzy Santa," hooked up to speakers playing some funky music.
We found Starbucks and McDonalds to be two of the staples at some of the rest stops. Much more interesting was the street food sold by vendors. Many folks on the tour found the rest stops an inexpensive way to try a new snack, a new food. Scott and I tried a thick pancake type dough filled with fermented vegetables at one of the rest stops. Superb!
Many folks have asked me about the bathroom facilities. At the hotels, we always had Western toilets. At the rest stops and anywhere along the way, we often encountered squat toilets. Compared to the rural squats I encountered in Guizhou Province, the squats at these rest stops were incredibly clean. Many times, however, we would find a handicapped or a infant nursing bathroom, which often contained a Western toilet. Yep, we carried around our own toilet paper. Some folks cleverly saved suitcase space by removing the cardboard from the middle of the toilet paper roll. Great idea!
As some of you may know, when I was teaching in Beije (Guizhou Province), my apartment was an old Peace Corps apartment. This apartment had a squat toilet. In addition, we would often have a week or so at a time without water or electricity. The squat in my apartment had a flusher, but of course this flusher did not operate when the water/electricity was out. So, when we did have water, I saved up water in all the bowls and pans I could find. I would cover them with paper or lids, depending on what I could find, because mosquitoes were a huge problem in this part of China. We eventually lined the windows with plastic. I could hear the mosquitoes banging against the windows all night long. As far as the squat, I was hesitant to use it in the middle of the night when there was no electricity. It is possible for rats to come up out of the squats, and if I am going to confront a rat, I want to do it in the daylight. Therefore, I rigged up a chamber pot system on non-electricity nights. Worked well and allowed me to clearly see if a rat was coming up out of the squat once daylight hit.
To continue to answer squat questions.... our least "private" squat was at the Buddhist Temple. There were four squats, surrounded by simple half doors for a little bit of privacy. I learned years ago to give up on privacy in the squats of this kind. I have experienced squats that were set up like troughs, too, on a slant for water to run down, with no privacy doors whatsoever. We all go with the flow when we travel...
The McDonalds at the rest stops often had modified menus. If you scroll down, you can see the set up and menu of a typical McDonalds in this part of China.
Scott often did his tai Chi form at the rest stops. We sometimes did Qigong together, too, to stretch and feel refreshed and energized.
Namaste,
Marianne
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