Linying Bus Station Toilet
As I was slightly ahead with all the things I wanted to see, I had an extra day up my sleeve today. I debated between going to the Yellow River or to Nanjiecun. I chose the latter … more about what it is in a moment. Getting there involved a 2h bus ride to the town of Linying before transferring to a motor-tricycle for 3km ride … but not without visiting the loo at the bus station first as I was bursting to go. It turned out to be separate from the station building tucked near the fence. It was also the first pay toilet I’ve encountered this time in China. I paid CNY0.50 (NZD0.10) to the lady and walked into the Gents.
The Number 1 side, where the urinals appear to be, was lined with buckets as pissoirs. I’m not sure if the urinal had broken down or if this is someone’s enterprising idea to collect urea as fertiliser for their vege patch. The Number 2 side was the typical trough with partitions (probably added in later years) and no doors … I’ve got used to seeing (but not using) this now. I wanted to bring to you, my avid readers, a photo of the entire ensemble (especially the Number 1 side) but I couldn’t as there was a man squatting on the Number 2 side doing his business with his willy in full view, having a cigarette and playing with his smartphone.
Please note that I’m not pooh-poohing China at all. I am in a rather remote part of the country after all and it is a far cry from the public toilets in major cities. One only needs to compare it to another country (often described as an economic superpower-to-be), where people line up on the city (yes, major city) streets to shit before sunrise.
Stealthy shot inside Linying Bus Station Toilet
Maoville, Maoberg, Maograd
The guidebook describes Nanjiecun as resembling an average town in North Korea. It is supposedly a journey back to the puritanical and revolutionary China of the 1950s when Mao reigned supreme. The tricycle dropped me off at what seemed to be a restaurant in Linying; the driver announced that I had arrived. I was puzzled, I walked into the restaurant to find it decorated with Communist posters. I was told to exit through the back door to get the the Tourist Information Centre.
Nanjiecun seemed to be not quite a separate village but more like a special section of (or perhaps) adjoining Linying. After getting some directions, I found my self wandering along the wide and empty boulevards, lined with low-rise light industrial buildings. Communist slogans, banners and billboards are everywhere.
The cacophony of modern urban China is nowhere to be found here. It is just blissful silence without traffic, hawkers, people hoiking and spitting. I made it to the main square called “East is Red Square” where Mao looks over everything and everyone (errr, actually more like no one).
Posters of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and one other (whom I couldn’t identify) surrounded the Mao. Here, you get a mix of political broadcast and rousing nationalistic music … which is still more pleasant than the noise of modern urban China.
After some lunch, I made it back to the bus station with some time to spare. I was prepared to pay to visit the toilet again in order to bring you a photo, but the attendant was on her lunch break … so I managed to do it for free (despite a user squatting there).
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- Nanjiecun’s wide and empty boulevards.
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- Typical communist era poster … it is lightly caked with dust; not my camera’s fault.
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- Nanjiecun’s wide and empty boulevards.
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- Nanjiecun’s wide and empty boulevards.
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- The big empty East is Red Square.
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- I didn’t expect to find Nanjiecun at the end of the rainbow.
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- Mao overlooks the main East is Red Square.
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- Beyond Chaoyang Gate, the real world awaits …. see all the parasols shading the hive of commercial activity?
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- Accommodation block at Nanjiecun.
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- Typical scene at Nanjiecun.
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- Me-mao-rabilia. Hehehe!
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- There is so little traffic at Nanjiecun they’ve stopped using the traffic lights.
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- Street scene at Nanjiecun.
