  We give a simple example of a countable metric space $M$ that does not embed
bi-Lipschitz with distortion strictly less than 2 into any Asplund space.
Actually, if $M$ embeds with distortion strictly less than 2 to a Banach space
$X$, then $X$ contains an isomorphic copy of $\ell_1$. We also show that the
space $M$ does not embed with distortion strictly less than $2$ into $\ell_1$
itself but it does embed isometrically into a space that is isomorphic to
$\ell_1$.
