Devon Winrick

December 9th Beijing

December 9th was a big day. We would go for a walk through Beijing, explore the gardens the summer palace, checkout the Great Wall which was terrible, and wrap it up with an automated sex toy store.

But first, I had to take a picture of another manhole cover.

Why is there a tab? Do they really have to go on a certain way? Easier to open...?

A lot of people in Beijing have pidgins. In fact, the Government would ask local citizens to temporarily "donate" their pidgins for special events. The pigeons would be released, make everything look pretty, and fly home.

We eventually made it to the Summer Palace gardens. It was fairly early in the day, and there was still some smog.

So at this point, we actually didn't have plans to go to the great wall. What happened was we got a taxi to our intended destination and the taxi driver explained that destination was closed, but he could take us to a bus stop that would take us to the Great Wall. Now, I'm not sure if the taxi driver was paid off or not, but we accepted his alternative destination and he dropped us off at a corner in the city where a bus was waiting. After some discussion, we paid and got on the bus for the multi-hour ride to the Great Wall.

On the way, the tour guide would tell us about how painful our trip was going to be (now that we already paid). He said that going up to the wall would be a tiring walk, and then afterward the food would not be very good since it was free. He was completely right, but the views were pretty at least.

I slept on the bus ride because I was exhausted from our trek through the city in the morning.

When we got to the Great Wall, the first thing I had to do was go to the bathroom. So the first picture I have of the Great Wall is in the bathroom, because I noticed something interesting.

Notice how this drain goes straight into the pipes below? There's no P-trap.

If you're not a bit of a pumbing geek you might be asking - so? What the heck? Well, a P-trap is what catches your ring when it falls down the drain so it doesn't end up in the sewer system. It's what stops big blockages from clogging the whole system down the line. It also stops sewer gasses from coming from below.

This would be a reoccurring theme in China - drains without P-traps. We'd see it in hotels and bathrooms everywhere, and you noticed the smell too. I don't get it honestly.

I actually had an argument with a local who insisted the P-traps were bad because they got clogged, which is what they're supposed to do. They also switched arguments and said that it was under the floor, which made no sense to me.

Anyway that's my first picture of The Great Wall.

The next picture isn't in a bathroom.

The guide said he wanted our numbers displayed where he could see them, so mine is on my forehead. I'm no longer Devon. I'm #935.

Probably the best thing about The Great Wall was the monks that we saw. They wished stopped and for world peace, and it was quite moving. Here's a video of them singing.

The final picture of The Great Wall, a reminder of the times we live in.

Anyway, after all of that we get on the tour bus. Then we get to go look at Jade stones in an underground facility near some tombs. Sounds pretty awesome right? Well.

This whole area is a giant store. Rows and rows of cases of jade stone, far as you can see. It's pretty I guess, but if you look at anything you'll have a salesperson bug you.

From there, we get to go have dinner. Yes it was bad, no meat in any of the food for example. However, you could buy meat - there were stands and such around. We had packed our own food though before we left the hotel. The dining hall somewhat reminded me of high school, except cheaper furniture and somewhat dirty. But you know, it was free. This was also the first time I'd use a public hot water dispenser. This would not be note worthy, except it was this big " industrial-grade" thing. I thought it was pretty nice example of how different the drinking culture in China is. People love their hot water/tea.

So at this point it's dark out and we're guided back into the tour bus.

You'd expect that I am about to tell you that we went somewhere, and I probably slept on the way and forgot to take pictures.

But no - the tour guide said some things, and then we got back off the bus and went inside another building. We didn't move. We just got in the bus so he could tell us that they're going to try to sell us more stuff, and try they did.

We had to walk through rows and rows of merchandise with people trying to sell us things. This was also one of the few places where people would switch to English when they saw me with a "hello!".

We didn't buy anything because it was overpriced.

Ok - now we get back in the tour bus and go back to Beijing.

The tour bus does drop us off next to some other touristy locations but we were too tired to explore any futher. Here's one of those locations in the distance.

It was actually pretty good. Crispy.

After much indecision we stopped at a restaurant and being thirsty I flipped to the page with the drinks.

Here's a picture at the restaurant showing off my suspenders, which I had been wearing all day. I have to say, suspenders are where it's at. You can also see in this picture the bracelet that I got from some new friends. The bracelet has a golden Pixiu which is a mythical Chinese creature with a mouth and no butt. It's a symbol of being able to attain and hold wealth. Pretty good gift!

Being thirsty I ordered $25 worth of tea. I quickly realized my mistake after the $2 or so of from-powder tea was brought to the table...

We also ordered all of the crawfish in the world, but I didn't take a picture. Sorry!

Moving on from there we noticed a sex toy store. But this wasn't just any sex toy store. It's fully automated.

Yes, there are cameras. Yes, I'm pretty sure people have got caught masturbating in there.

How it works is you scan the QR code on the door with your phone. Then, if nobody is inside I guess, it unlocks for you.

Once back at our hotel I just had to check our sink for a P-trap, and sure enough it has one, being a somewhat nicer hotel. Also, there are quite a lot of filters for the drinking water.

That's it for this day. As I said, Great Walls and sex toy stores.