One of the best parts of the China trip was that I drank beer daily, lunch and dinner. A bottle of beer = $2.50, a bottle of water = $3.
So one day I drank two beers and then boarded a bus. The plan was to drive two hours north to a fabulous tourist trap that would put Branson, MO to shame.
Needless to say, within 30 minutes I had to piss. Badly. I hated to put the other 30 people out and ask the driver to stop, so I started brainstorming. (Come to think of it, I think I had to piss the entire two week trip. If I wasn’t dealing with squat toilets and no paper, I was dealing with being out and about and no comfortable toilet for miles. I mean, kilometers. In other words, China is a mecca for people who are into watersports.)
ANYWAY, there I was on the bus with a bursting bladder. The executive director of the tour was dozing in the seat in front of me. Beau was sitting next to me.
“I have to piss, COVER FOR ME,” I hissed.
He looked confused but went along with it.
I dipped into my purse and pulled out the plastic baggie I got from TSA at the airport, inspected it for holes, then proceeded to pull my pants down.
I positioned myself over the baggie and OCD-style checked over and over again to make sure I was aiming right, then let loose.
My piss didn’t smell like urine, or even beer. It was reminiscent of… goddess water. HA! Nonetheless, it promptly began dripping on the bus floor through the tiny hole in the baggie I overlooked. NO WONDER buses smell like piss. It’s because of fuckwads like me! And homeless drug addicts.
I stopped mid-flow and went into panic mode and whispered to Beau, “It’s leaking, do something!!”
He grabbed a water bottle, which still had 1/4 water in it and gulped it down, then grabbed a paper clip and held it under the baggie, poked a bigger hole in the baggie, made a funnel and caught the flow in the bottle. My hero!
Then I wiped with tissue, and we stuffed the whole mess into the bottle and capped it. We disposed of it at the next rest area (which was like a creepy disgusting futuristic apocalyptic film - I’m talking SERIOUS POLLUTION, a thick grey haze hanging down and oppressing the lungs. I felt like a two-pack-a-day smoker as soon as I stepped off the bus and wanted to cry for all the people who had to live there) and I finished my goddamn piss.
Don’t worry, I cleaned the bus floor. I’m not that kind of tourist.
I hope this post made you want to pee. Jesus my eyes are turning yellow just recounting it.