Come to Leshan for a comfortable trip at the can’t-miss Grand Grand Hotel

## **Leshan Grand Hotel: A collective hallucination about "decent"** ### **Lobby: Specimens of Success Studies from the 1990s** Pushing open the revolving door of the Grand Hotel, time seemed to suddenly turn back twenty years. A huge crystal chandelier hangs in the center of the high-picked lobby, with dust on the lighting creating a subtle halo of light under spotlights. The dark red marble floor was polished to shine by countless pairs of leather shoes, the wall behind the front desk hung a photo of a certain leader of Leshan City inspecting, the smile in the frame had turned slightly yellow. The receptionist at the front desk was wearing a dark blue uniform with Kim Chan-chan's badge on her collar. Her makeup was as sophisticated as she had just walked out of some “Hotel Service Etiquette Manual,” with a precisely calculated arc at the corners of her mouth—not appearing overly enthusiastic, and just staying on the passing line of a professional smile. "Sir your room is at 1218, the elevator is on the right hand side." His Mandarin had a distinct Leshan accent, a small flaw that instead relieved me. ### **Guest rooms: A misunderstanding about "luxury"** The carpet in the hallway smelled faintly of mothballs, the pattern of European curly grass that can never go wrong. The gold numbers on my room door sign were a bit peeling, and the lock cylinder made an old metallic rubbing sound when the card was inserted for power. The room is about 30 square meters, and the decoration style is "neoclassical county town style" - the edges of the imitation mahogany furniture are glued with gold wire, the bedside soft package is made of artificial leather, embossed with intricate peony patterns. The TV is an old model from 10 years ago, and the remote requires a hard poke with a fingernail to react. Most stunning is the restroom: a full set of faux marble tiles, a plastic bath curtain with a Versailles motif hanging next to the Jacuzzi. The hot water needs to be left out for three minutes before it comes, during which the pipe makes a sound similar to bowel sounds. The 1998 edition of the Leshan Travel Guide sits on the nightstand, with a speech from the hotel’s general manager printed on the title page. I flipped through the yellowed pages of the book and found that the ticket price for Mount Emei was still 50 yuan. ### **Service: Ice and Fire Two Heavens** I called at 9pm to ask for mineral water, and the front desk vowed to "deliver it immediately". Half an hour later the doorbell rang, but the waiter handed over half a bottle of a certain mountain spring left over - "Sorry sir, the new mineral water truck is still in the warehouse". At 6 a.m. the next morning, the hallway suddenly rang with the harsh sound of a vacuum cleaner. Opening the door to see the cleaning lady pushing the machine in a fighting stance, she turned a blind eye to my displeasure: “The leadership stipulates that all rooms must be cleaned by seven o’clock.” The keychain hanging around her waist gurgled, like a special medallion. ### **Breakfast: Magical Realism Buffet** The restaurant is located on the third floor, with a bronze plaque of "four-star standard" hanging in the pick-up area. The scene presents a spooky sense of fragmentation: on the left is the Leshan specialty snack area, with tofu brains and beef tofu steaming hot; The most amazing thing is the omelet counter. The chef wears a snow-white top hat and holds eight omelet molds in front of him. How mature do you have to be? "Fully cooked," he nodded, then removed the pre-fried eggs from the incubator and put them into the mold to reheat. ### **Magic episode at check-out** The system suddenly crashed during checkout, and the little girl at the front desk was so anxious that she was sweating on the tip of her nose. The manager paced over and pulled out the calculator from the drawer: "Room fee 368, deposit 100, find you 32." He tore off a handwritten receipt, the official seal snapped the cover - this sudden retro operation was more real than all the hotel's deliberately created "luxury". As I walked out of the revolving door, the concierge suddenly stepped forward: “Do you need a fight, sir?” Before I could answer, he blew his whistle and three taxis on the road heard the sound. At this moment, I suddenly understood the survival philosophy of the Grand Hotel - it clumsily imitated the style of a big city hotel, but at the critical moment, it revealed the unique Jianghu spirit of Leshan people. ### **Afterword** In the back row of the ride-hailing car, I flipped through the hotel photos in my phone. The imitation European furniture, the outdated decorative paintings, the effort to maintain decent details, suddenly became cute. This old hotel, which opened in 1996, is very much like the middle-aged relative in our county town wearing a suit and tie - despite the fact that it can no longer keep up with the times, it still stubbornly maintains its last dignity. And that clumsy decency is perhaps more honourable than the refined hypocrisy of those standardized hotel chains.