Funniest Thing for July

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is JOHN LUDEMANN of Palm Desert, California:

It was back before the construction boom of world-class hotels in China. We were in Shanghai, staying at the original JingJiang Hotel, the dowager queen of Chinese hotels. It was where Richard Nixon stayed and where he had the meetings with Chou En-lai that led to the opening of China, so it was definitely a top-level hotel.

We had checked in and were taken up to our room, a jump back in time to the 1930s in equipment and decor.

I decided to take a shower and freshen up after the flight from Los Angeles. The first thing I noticed was that the exhaust fan did not work, but I went ahead with my shower. Afterward, I called down to the desk to report the broken exhaust fan. The desk operator said someone would be sent up right away to check on it.

An attendant arrived about a minute later. He went into the shower, checked the fan and confirmed that we were right: “The fan does not work.” He thanked us for reporting it and left.