Shanshan was a disappointment. I’d ended up in a hotel designated for overseas visitors. Pleasant enough. But not my first choice. I’d been asked to leave that one whilst still moving all my kit up to the room. No explanation given. And the manager too much of a coward to speak to me directly, instead leaving it to a very embarrassed receptionist to offer apologies. And directions to a more hospitable establishment.
If I’d an inkling as to why I’d been asked to leave the first hotel, that was reinforced at the second. Seemed the local police diligently enforced the requirement for proprietors to register aliens with them. Together with ensuring overseas visitors stayed only in designated hotels. That’s their prerogative of course. Just as it’s mine to suggest the whole experience doesn’t exactly engender a warm welcome. More shades of paranoia.
