taco bell
so i'm in baton rouge on business. my first impressions of the hotel when i arrived last night were quite positive. it remains a nice enough hotel, but the location and services now strike me as quite bizarre. it is conveniently situated next to the offices of the american outfit, and inconveniently situated for anything else at all. there is no bar or minibar; hoping for a beer after i got in i asked in reception and was met with a blank shrug. i'm now waiting for my collegue to arrive and take me to new orleans, effectively trapped here. i asked what there was within walking distance. the answer: nothing.
the hotel also doesn't serve food, so i just walked 15 minute down the dusty freeway to the only place selling food nearby, a drive thru taco bell.
i always make a point of eating the local food when travelling. if there's something on the menu that's unfamiliar, that's what i'm having. deep fried insects, piles of unidentifiable raw things, tripe soup, other insects, etc, no problem. but nothing had prepared me for taco bell. at least with normal strange food, you can usually narrow it down to animal or vegetable. i think the taco bell product is synthetic enough to qualify as "mineral". if i was in a space rocket, submarine, or nuclear bunker, it would be explicable. otherwise, not.
why someone would build a hotel in the middle of fucking nowhere beats me, but there appear to be other people staying there. i'm a bit scared to find out what their stories are, but they seem happy and well adjusted and not in the least bit peturbed by that fact that if their cars broke down they would starve to death*.
also, i'm posting to livejournal because the free internet access the hotel offers (a good thing) has filtering software. it blocks facebook on the grounds that it's a social networking site, but allows livejournal. also, it allows warrenellis.com, which i think is proof if further proof were needed that filtering software is stupid.
*i'm obviously discounting the taco bell as a potential food source. i would rather eat boiled shoe leather and grass than go there again. AFTER i got back the woman in the hotel who directed me there advised me against the "beef", which is evidently what i ordered. presumably the chicken is more realistic.
the hotel also doesn't serve food, so i just walked 15 minute down the dusty freeway to the only place selling food nearby, a drive thru taco bell.
i always make a point of eating the local food when travelling. if there's something on the menu that's unfamiliar, that's what i'm having. deep fried insects, piles of unidentifiable raw things, tripe soup, other insects, etc, no problem. but nothing had prepared me for taco bell. at least with normal strange food, you can usually narrow it down to animal or vegetable. i think the taco bell product is synthetic enough to qualify as "mineral". if i was in a space rocket, submarine, or nuclear bunker, it would be explicable. otherwise, not.
why someone would build a hotel in the middle of fucking nowhere beats me, but there appear to be other people staying there. i'm a bit scared to find out what their stories are, but they seem happy and well adjusted and not in the least bit peturbed by that fact that if their cars broke down they would starve to death*.
also, i'm posting to livejournal because the free internet access the hotel offers (a good thing) has filtering software. it blocks facebook on the grounds that it's a social networking site, but allows livejournal. also, it allows warrenellis.com, which i think is proof if further proof were needed that filtering software is stupid.
*i'm obviously discounting the taco bell as a potential food source. i would rather eat boiled shoe leather and grass than go there again. AFTER i got back the woman in the hotel who directed me there advised me against the "beef", which is evidently what i ordered. presumably the chicken is more realistic.