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We've been pleasantly surprised by the standards of the hotels… although after Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia it's not really difficult to impress us! The rooms tend to be large, with two double beds, an ensuite, a tv, LAN internet. However, they are invariably attached to some Karaoke bar. The corridors and lifts always smell of smoke. In Fengzhen, there was a man smoking in the elevator - I have never seen that in my entire life, how crazy!? Next to the cigarette ash tray/butt bin there is a bin for spit - very popular past time in China, gross!
In China, the hotel has to be registered with the police so that foreigners can stay there, so a couple of hotels have turned us away. And we had thought that maybe it was to maintain a positive impression on tourists that the hotels available to them were of a certain standard… now I'm not so sure - staying in Wanyuan we are in a very grim place. The room has stains all over the wallpaper, cigarette burns on the floor and walls… but the bed was clean, and there was an electronic majong table in the middle of the room! Our guide spent the evening with us and taught us how to play! It was great fun - well, for me, I kept winning!
Mostly the hotels will register you with the police, but on one occasion a knock at the door announced the police to register us personally. The form was fairly simple and they just wanted a copy of the passport and visa. No problems… just interesting.
It has been cold for the first few nights, so we tend to use both duvets. The English language channel is one of the CCTV channels.
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