Helper 2. Smoky room at the Long Shen Hotel

Noon of the first day

The Customs Palace of the Chinese city of Suifenhe amazed me. Of course, I haven’t been here for five to seven years. As far as I remember, before there was just a room here that looked like a large hangar, but now the Chinese customs really looked like a marble palace. Marveling at this change, I prepared myself for a long wait at the border crossing, but despite my surprise, as soon as the clock struck noon, we entered the city of Suifenhe. However, that’s where all my joys ended. The bus stopped at a building with the pompous name "Snow Empire". I was delighted; my irrepressible imagination immediately drew a picture that was waiting for me. I imagined that my room in this hotel would match the name - it would be imperial! However, as it turned out, I chose the wrong word of these two words. We entered the building, but I immediately wanted to leave. Everything in the building's lobby was scary, shabby, and creepy. After walking a few meters, we entered the elevator and went up to the fourth floor. Actually, this was the hotel where we were supposed to live. The hotel was called Long Shen. The registration began, a middle-aged Chinese woman who responded to the Russian name Katya was dissatisfied with something. When I handed her my passport, she started muttering something under her breath, then took my passport and threw me a magnetic door key. Naturally, I was outraged by this behavior. I saw this strange woman for the first time in my life and did not understand what was happening. Of course, I asked a question about the reason for such strange behavior, but in response I heard a jumble of Russian words and letters. It probably seemed to Katya that she spoke the purest Russian, but, unfortunately, I did not understand anything. The group leader smiled condescendingly and asked me not to bother. Well, something different has happened to me. Once, a Chinese woman accompanying me, in one of the Chinese cities, behaved in approximately the same way, and then it turned out that she was on her period, and it was because of this that the woman was inadequate. East is a delicate matter! Chinese Katya, judging by her age, should have already passed the threshold of all sorts of menstruation; most likely she was in menopause. Well, since middle-aged Chinese women have roughly the same faces and body types at that age, she could be 40 or 60 years old. So what did I have at the moment? Successful passage of the border, and plenty of time. My return trip to Russia was planned only for the day after tomorrow. There was enough time to walk around the Chinese city and do some shopping. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited me. I mean my snowy and frosty hotel room. The tourists who were in my group received keys to rooms that were on the sixth floor. That is, get in the elevator and go up to the sixth floor. For some reason they gave me a key to room 307, which was on the third floor. The elevator didn’t go there, and for some reason my legs didn’t go there either. Everything was confusing; to reach the third floor, you had to get lost in a maze. That is, I had to go up the stairs, then down, then up again, and somewhere at the end of the corridor my room was waiting for me. Having overcome all obstacles with the help of Russian tourists from other groups and a Chinese bellhop, I finally reached my room. Room 307 greeted me with hellish cold, devastation and the smell of smoke. It seemed like they smoked here day and night. The smell of cigarettes permeated the walls, bed linen and pillows so much that I began to choke. The furniture in the room included: a bedside table, the drawers in which were completely broken, beds, where the bed linen was in holes and stains. There was also a window from which snow was blowing and leaking mercilessly. Well, that's all. Having lowered my bag to the floor, I went back to wandering around the floors and finally came out to the administration booth, where Katya was sitting. The group leader was still there. After explaining the problem to the manager, I asked her to come with me. However, for some reason the manager was not impressed by the problems of the room where I was going to live for three days. Having given out a tirade that the Chinese woman Katya for some reason began to work poorly and that there was something wrong with this hotel, the manager left, and I... I stayed.
In addition to all the joys of this hotel room, it turned out that wi-fi was not available here. I entered the password that was indicated on the wall of the corridor of this floor ten times, but there was no result. I urgently needed to inform my family that I was already in China, I knew that they were worried and waiting for my message, but the wi-fi did not work. I asked Russian tourists to help, turned to the Chinese bellhop, climbed through the labyrinth, to where Katya sat on her throne, but achieved nothing - wi-fi did not work. I was cold, constantly sneezing from the smell of smoke that hung in the air. Finally, having convinced myself of the correctness of the Russian proverb that you can’t break through a wall with your forehead, I decided that I needed to go outside. The street of Suifenhe city greeted me with light snow and the smiles of Chinese passers-by. People I didn’t know greeted me and smiled. This is why I loveliu China! Administrator Katya and other comrades from the merchant tribe are just an ugly commercial layer. Real impressions from communicating with the residents of the city of Suifenhe awaited me ahead and they were all positive. As for the afternoon that I met in the city of Suifenhe, the arrows rushed inexorably. I had to buy a Chinese SIM card to call home. Of course, I didn’t count on such an expense, but what can I do, I didn’t count on living in such a homeless room either. It was warmer outside than in the Snow Empire room and I walked until exhausted.