25 Hours on a Chinese Train

On our last morning in Yangshuo we said a rainy goodbye to our first guide Lydia.  The girls had grown quite fond of her and I think she of them.  She used to be a nanny and she was having flashbacks.  We recovered from our initial concerns about her tenure on the job as she did great managing through our visa challenges.

Yes the post says 25 hours.  25 hours and 975 miles.  Not 25 hours as a function of time zone changes, but a real 25 contiguous couped up clock hours.  We could have taken an upgrade to the 4 personal private sleeper compartment, but choose to travel with the masses and get a taste of authentic Chinese train travel.

Our area was about 6 feet wide and about 10 feet high and contained 6 beds hanging off the walls and 2 seats adjacent. No door and 11 other compartments just like this one in the car, it was quite the cultural experience.  First on the list was the seat snipers.  These are folks who purchased seats, not sleepers and are waiting for someone in a sleeper to get off the train.  So it is not only you in your tiny compartment area, but also these folks.  It was loud, hot and slightly chaotic.  For some reason the was lots of loogey(sp) hocking.  We had unsuccessfully attempted to shut down some outlaws who were smoking in the car.  Once the cacaphony quieted it was a symphony of snores and flatulance all night long.

In the middle of the night one in our group got very sick on some bad lunch noodles. The kids and I almost went with him to lunch, that would have been a mess?  Instead we had some really nice wontons which we dipped in soy and vinegar.  That went well until one slipped out of my chopsticks and splashed into the dip.  I then added the odors of soy and vinegar to the growing collection of other smells on my body.  I am getting used to just feeling sweaty and dirty all the time.

The train bumped and bounced around all 25 hours sometimes rather abruptly as the ladies will attest to when utilizing the bathrooms.  When that happens it takes a quick response time to keep from sitting on the bathroom floor.  The thought of which totally grosses me out.

As I stared out the window I would spot villages that were tucked into the hills and looked as idyllic as they could given the circumstances.  A good number of them had one or more tall smokestacks belching out some foul looking smoke.  The Chinese people are suffering under the effects of their industry as we did when we had our industial revolution.  One has to imagine that the demand from the global economy for inexpensive goods and China's willingness to accommodate has concentrated the side effects of pollution in their homeland.

Images in the 2013 Chendu folder.