Beijing 5.3 - To Chengde & Rural Toilet -

On the way to chengde, we stopped at a ski-resort. Single journey from Beijing to Chengde would normally take 3+hours, so it was a good choice to stop at the ski-resort to refresh ourself and THE DRIVER before we continue the next 2hours. Anyway, this ski resort stopover was supposed to be the replacement for the boat ride at summer palace which was canceled as the lake was frozen. Only 1/27 tour members knew how to ski, so its not a good replacement. Anyway on the bus Guide-Li has brainwashed us not to Ski so that he could save some time on other journeys.

Tour Guide will always be Tour Guide, they main intention is to take your money out of your pocket into theirs. Tour guide set time frames and sometimes rushed us through historical places and tourist spots because these places wont earn them extra bucks. For visitation to shops and factories which will earn them extra bucks, we could stay as long as we like and they will smile like they had Ecstasy.

Guide li promoted an extra RMB250/person tour to few places around Beijing. After he finished his promotion talk, he straight away collect money from tour-members. For me it was half force half presude kinda offers.

Anyway, the ski-resort wasnt a 'snow' ski resort, it was actually a ice-ski resort because the 'snow' was actually made by freezing water into ice at the slope then the ice was 'blended' into 'snow' form by a modified truck.

This aint shoes for all terrain and its actually a court shoes, but I have actually fixed it myself with strings and needles. The shoes has my perfect feet moulds thus it is the perfect shoes for travel. In freezing temperature, I wore 2pairs of socks and plastic bag for protection from cold. We spend less than an hour at the ski-resort and after an hour on the road, we stopped at a rural area shop selling local made handcraft. This wasnt any con-shop, it was setup by tour agency to help people from this area to gain extra income. Local in this area were suppose to be poor. Not sure how true it is until I saw the TOILET!
This is the legendary China's toilet, where everyone who had been to china talked about. I had heard numerous stories about china's toilet which has 'make pees flow backward'. It wasn't as bad for the men to do small business but anything other than that required expertise beyond Malaysian's abilities. Those who travel to china 10-20years ago will have The Super Toilet experience, I thought those great time has pass but here was the time machine for the ultimate china Xperience.