through the looking glass

it’s 2:30am, it’s drizzling, it’s a room, albeit a gross one, cold and stale and unwelcoming with the unheated bathroom through an open balcony, overpriced at 80 kuai. hu starts to bargain and I can’t believe it but I pull him aside. no. it’s one night he says. and tomorow we’ll have to spend half the day hunting for a better one. there were warm lights on the corner at the river. I’m going back. the couple tried to convince us (not a hard sell) that everyone’s asleep, I apologise for troubling them and walk out the door. hu thinks I’m crazy, but somehow he hadn’t seen the light we passed. we walk to it and look in. the door is closed but the lights are on, people inside. are you a hotel? no, sorry. do you know of any? how much? 80 is okay. the door opens. come in, let me call my friend. we’re in a bar, a very new bar that had just opened three days before, run by a couple guys who also run a travel bbs. also on this bbs is the owner of a new hotel (called, booked solid) and the owner of yet another hotel (this is a popular chinese tourist destination), riverfront, who happens to have one room left on the first floor and is willing to let us come see. fantastic. cigarettes are passed around, one of the owners tells us to follow him.

we walk along the river until we come to a set of stone blocks. the hotel’s on the other side. I look at them, look at the river, feel my pack on my back, and take the first step. oh my this is going to be fun. I had forgotten the old lesson of focus on the path in front, not the water below and that with my bad night vision made for an interesting crossing. but cross we did and there were passed off to another flashlight-bearing man, who dropped us off in front of a door just being swung open. we step into a cozy living room and are shown down the hall to a clean, bright room with windows along one side facing the river and a little balcony outside, two beds covered in crisp white egyptian cotton, heat, and our own bathroom complete with a gas tank for hot water. 3am, 2 escorts, 1 river crossing, 1 perfect hotel room, 80 kuai. we didn’t bargain.