Today we waited around until I got word that my bag was on its way, and good to their word, it arrived at 10:55AM. However, as soon as I inspected it, I realized that some hidden emergency cash, and nearly all of my electronics had been stolen – including a flash disk with all the back ups of my identification documents. This prompted my third hysterical breakdown in as many days – and resulted in Ulises and I filing all sorts of reports to reinforce our now compromised data (Correy – remember how I made fun of you for your ID Insurance…payback time). This put a huge damper on our day, and instead of trying to head out to see the Forbidden City before we left Beijing, we ended up trying to relax before heading to the train station for our train.
We ate a quick meal at the train station, and headed to our seats at boarding time. Now as I mentioned in my previous blog, there are four types of seats on the trains in China:
-Soft Sleeper (4 cots to a private cabin with a door that locks)
-Hard Sleeper (6 cots to a cabin, which is open door)
-Seats (regular old assigned seat)
-Standing (yup, this is exactly what it sounds like)
For seats, there are 90 in each carriage, with 10 extra that aren’t assigned, so the first group of Standing Room Only folks might have a shot at a seat if they are there early enough. Ulises and I arrived to kick out the ladies in our seats, plop our bags on the overhead rack, and settle in. The seats are arranged in fours, facing each other, with a small table in-between. The table contains: one steel tray for trash and spitting, and whatever food items the first folks who got there were able to put on it before you sat down – in this case 6 freeze-dried noodle soups and two bottles of water.
I sat back and started to read my book, when I noticed movement out of my left eye. Roaches, and not just one or two, but a whole clan of tiny ones and mid sized grossies. I began the task of shielding us from the roach invasion, but after killing nearly 20 of them, I just gave up.
As Ulises was sitting in the outside seat, he did not have to deal with the roach army invasion along the train wall. However, he did have to deal with the Standing Room Only folks. When the journey began people were up and walking, eating noodles, playing music on their phones, smoking, etc. As the journey wore on, people were tired, and trying to sleep. Those who did not have seats simply sat in the aisles to try and get some rest. This would have been fine if the people had not been blocking the way for everyone, including the soup cart man. This required that every time someone went by, the folks in the isle had to move – repositioning armpits and knees into whoever was sitting on the outside.
Added to this craziness was the fact that people kept taking our picture. At first it was kids, then adults walking up with cameras on their chests and snapping as they walked past, and finally people coming from other parts of the train to take our photos. I can hardly imagine how many pictures were snapped of me drooling while dosing for the 30 minutes or so that I slept on this 14-hour train ride. It’s not like I look that much like Beyonce – but I’m guessing that they don’t get many westerners taking the seat option on the train. It boggles the mind as to why.
After an extremely long, cramped, and uncomfortable night we arrived in Pingyao – to a place that was so nice they even gave us a room to shower and sleep in until ours was ready. Thank God!
Today we took it easy, after napping away most of the day, we took a leisurely walk around Pingyao, checking out the few English language guide books they had in stores, and trying to pick one to buy so we could be our own tour guides as we explored the town. Tomorrow it is off to see the sites of Pingyao
No comments:
Post a Comment