By Mikala Reasbeck

A local expat, who wishes to be referred to simply as Tom, assaulted an ATM machine while drunk, and his little fit resulted in detainment, shame, fear and a little bit of camaraderie.

After assaulting a Bank of China ATM on October 25, the American was arrested on November 4. Tom spent two weeks behind bars in Beijing, eating prison food. He slept under threadbare blankets and was 13th in line to use the prison toilets, all without knowing whether he would be doing so for two more days or two more years.

Tom, who was intoxicated and forgot where he put his bank card, tried but failed to get any cash from an ATM on Chaoyang North Road on the morning of October 25. Convinced that the machine took his bank card, Tom hit and kicked the machine, causing damage to the tune of 9,800 yuan ($1,441).

Tom was held in the jail's international wing, a section reserved for foreign offenders. Half the inmates were foreigners, but the others were Chinese white collar criminals and one Chinese teenager facing a rape and murder conviction. Tom found surprise and delight at the "celebrity status" he earned as an American.

He expected a foul attitude from the others, but found that they were dying to practice their English. "I'm part of the Crusade," he said. "I'm the bad American." Instead, they offered him everything they had. A Nigerian offered him a packet of instant coffee. A Korean lent him a book with some of Barack Obama's speeches, and a Russian inmate asked Tom to explain it.

During free time, the Russian asked Tom if he would like to play chess.

When Tom said that there was no board and no pieces, the Russian pulled out a set he fashioned from stale bread.

"I couldn't figure it out. How did he make the dark pieces? I finally asked him," Tom said. "And do you know what he told me? Soy sauce! The horses even had little ears!"

Despite the kindness and ingenuity of the other prisoners, Tom says his time there was "an effective deterrent" against future wrongdoing.

"I met some interesting characters there. You won't meet them at the Rickshaw."

He added, "I knew I did something wrong and it's a punishment."

The nightly two-hour suicide watches were not made more palatable by being handed a hard-boiled egg every other day. Although they were offered boiled water twice a day, Tom had no cup, so when it came out boiling hot, he had to cup his hands and try to drink it.

In light of his harrowing debacle, Tom warns other foreigners that might "go crazy" to be careful: "We're lucky as foreigners here. Our money goes a long way. We can be successful here. Let's be good guests and hope we'll have good hosts."

Tyler Roney contributed to this story