I2/2: 首都机场 → 东三环北

October 11, 2024

Being as Dr. M is a fan of outdoor swimming, I thought she would be amused by this vandalized "Cherish Life, Refuse Wild Swimming" sign that has had the "wild swimming" part removed

Realizing that there's no way I'm making it to O & A's early enough that they haven't left for school yet, I dawdle around the hotel room writing journal entries and handling work related stuff until sometime past 10am. There's a guy on the Front Desk who I chat bike touring with and who—on account of his moderate degree of outrage/confusion and "you go grrl"—that I get in talking to him about how I ended up¹ at his hotel, I don't tell about his colleague from the night before trying to "No Foreigners" me.

That she knew how to register me, and that she didn't limit that registration to photos of the correct passport pages² without any form of prompting or education on my part shows that she was one of those "I'm insufficiently well paid and you are insufficiently simple" situations and if he doesn't already know he has a lazy coworker, there's nothing to be gained from letting him know.

A school event means that they won't be back until late enough that no form of transportation short of being in the kind of motor convoy where the traffic cops close the road ahead of you will be fast enough to get me from here to where Kol Nidre services are taking place. However, a photo of my bag³ is enough for the maid to find it while I'm gorging myself on Domino’s pizza⁴.

Booking another of the same brand hostel on account of their spic and span levels of cleanliness, how easy they were to check in to in Zhongguancun, the knowledge that they have washers and dryers, and the fact that—non-compliant as the existence of a "domestic guests only" label⁵ may be—their listing says nothing of the sort.

Everything in moderation, including moderation

That sure as anything looks like a modern grave in a greenbelt inside the 5th Ring Road.

So, of course, less than 10 minutes after my booking is confirmed, I get a phone call from them that's as bizarre an interaction as the previous night's Front Desk lady not realizing that the foreigner on a bicycle saying "I've got a pre-existing booking" is the same foreigner on a bicycle as someone just called her about in reference to the question "can foreigners stay at your hotel?"

My phone is currently set to auto-record all calls. This is a translation, but no other liberties have been taken.

"Hey, we're the Wohkoon Hostel at Sanyuanqiao. We just received your booking via Fliggy for a single room."
"Yes."
"Are you a foreigner?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a Chinese passport?"
"No."
"We're a newly opened hotel. We currently don't yet have the capability to take foreigners."
"Yes you do. If you can take Chinese guests, you can take foreign guests. This is national law."
"May I ask what nationality you are?"
"I'm American."
"You are American?"
"Yes."
"Will you have an American passport with you?"
"Yes."
"And it's a single room that you've booked?"
"Yes."
"Okay, could you let me know approximately what time you'll be arriving?"
"About 90 minutes."
"See you then!"

There was traffic. So I took the bottom road.

And when I arrive closer to two and a half hours later cause I had to ride something different than what I had ridden before, they have not only prepped a "how to register foreigners" cheat sheet, their lobby also has the well and truly out-of-date⁶ Beijing Public Security poster⁷ that explicitly lists foreign passports among the identity documents that can be used at check-in.

¹ This is prompted by the manager of the booked hotel calling to find out if I stayed there as I'm getting my bags on my bike. He didn't remember† telling me to cancel my original booking after I got in at the new hotel and was unhappy that the booking platform's Customer Service had sided with me for a full refund.

† Or, since it was past the deadline for a one click solution, had hoped I wouldn't bother

² Which, in and of itself, already indicates a minimum degree of knowledge about how to register foreigners

³ Kindly provided by Air China during the early stages of the Great "Fuck Lufthansa and Fuck Frankfurt Luggage Services" Saga

⁴ This was a remarkably terrible idea as it meant I wasn't hungry in the evening, had to force myself to eat anything at all, and was predictably starving by Break Fast.

⁵ Not only are these labels legally non complaint with regulations that existed decades prior to the this year's Announcement, they're also buried deep within the listings. Further to which, the search function to pick hotels that are "foreigner friendly" not only doesn't manage to list all of the ones that don't say "no foreigners," the "no foreigners" designation may have been set by the platform† instead of the hotel.

† I had an occasion last year where the hotel thought the reason they weren't supposed to take me was what it said on the platform listing. I've also stayed at a Canadian-owned B&B whose boss had no idea why she was listed "no foreigners" and couldn't figure out how to change it.

⁶ Dating to no later than 2017 on account of certain vocabulary, I first saw this poster in 2018. This hostel opened in 2023.

⁷ Funnily enough neither of last night's hotels had the Poster. Also, the poster which the guy this morning at Hotel #2 gestured at when he said "the PSB has stated foreigners are allowed to stay anywhere" was the one with the regulations on not allowing minors to check in without confirming their relationship to the adult they are with.

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,189 km (738 miles)

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