My First Chinese Toilet

July 18, 2010 Beijing
   Roughly 24 hours after leaving Austin, we arrived in China.  The highlight of the trip was a long layover in Chicago, because O'Hare is the best airport ever!  Brian didn't believe me that there's a "Laser Tunnel" (actually neon-lights, but laser just sounds cooler) and a dinosaur.

Proof!

    The first thing I did in China after stepping of the plane, admittedly slightly dazed, was go to the ladies room.  The Chinese-American girl in line behind me giggled, because I visibly balked when I pushed open the stall door and saw:

Note proximity of trashcan to space where your butt goes when you squat.  This may be the cleanest toilet I saw in Beijing. 
  Brian's parents, Bob and Malva, greeted us and took us back to their beautiful apartment on the 33rd floor.  Technically, the 30th floor.  4 is considered unlucky in China, because the word for 4 sounds like the word for death.  So, there are commonly no 4th, 14th or 24th floors.
   After, a slice of Malva's homemade apple pie, we pulled the blackout curtains in our room (all of China is on the same timezone--for national unity, probably, right?--so the sun rises shortly after 4 am in Beijing), and went to sleep.