Well I made it! This is the first official post of the blog I keep promising I'll write. I've never had a blog, but that's mainly because I've not had much to say that I think people will have any interest whatsoever in reading. But now I live in China! So, I don't think that excuse is going to fly these days.This is a photo I took in Shanghai the day after I arrived in China. This wasn't the day I landed. It was raining that day. Also, I wasn't really in a picture-taking mood that day because my one objective of getting to the train station and getting on a fast train to Baoji (where, 17 short hours later, I would be able to unload my very heavy backpack and take an already much-needed shower) was proving to be more difficult than I had imagined. It was very easy to get to the train station from the airport. My friend had given me detailed instructions, signs were in both Chinese and English, and I met a few very helpful people at all the right times. The difficult part was going to be getting AWAY from the train station. Although I spoke zero Mandarin at the time beyond "hello" and "thank you," the woman at the ticket counter was able to convey to me that my train was full. And that the next train was full. And that all the trains to Baoji that day were full. So I resigned to buying a sleeper ticket on the slow train (23 hours) for the following day and ventured out to try my luck at finding a place to stay for the night.
The first thing I saw walking out of the train station was a KFC and a Burger King. They love KFC here. Also, on a side note, Pizza Hut is way different here. It looks like an Olive Garden on the inside and they serve pasta and meat dishes and desserts, on nice plates. The pizza tastes exactly like it does in the U.S. though, so, i mean...draw your own conclusions.
As I said, it was raining. Which sucks when you are carrying a heavy backpack and unsure where you're headed. There were no covered places to sit where I could look through my Lonely Planet guide for a cheap hostel near the train station. I did find a shopping mall entryway with an overhang and made do with that long enough (before being chased off by a mall security guard taking his job a little too seriously...they really are the same everywhere...) to find a hostel and locate it on a map.
Cue a comedy of errors I like to call "Rachel Attempts to Use a Chinese Pay Phone." It was a good one. You think that voice telling you, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again" is annoying? I mean yes, obviously you'd like to make a call. That goes without saying given the venue, but at least she says "please." This woman may have been saying please too, for all I know, but I had no idea what was expected of me. After hanging up and trying again, and again, I figured I'd just show up and hope a bed was waiting for me.
A few hours of wandering in the light rain and one white-knuckle Shanghai motorcycle taxi ride later I arrived at a wonderful little hostel where I treated myself to a private room and a hot shower. I slept like a baby knowing that the next day would find me on a train to Baoji.
The next day did indeed find me on a train to Baoji...without a seat. There was a mix-up at the station (my own fault) and I traded my 23-hour slow train sleeper for this 'mystery ticket' on the faster train. I thought I would at least have a seat. How can they sell you a ticket for a 17-hour train ride without guaranteeing you a seat? As my friend Hugo put it, "They'll sell you anything." Twice I was offered a seat, for an hour or so, by sympathetic men (I was the only Westerner on the train, and I think they could smell the exhaustion towards the middle of the night), but for the most part I stood, leaned, or crouched. As it started to get light I had my first impromptu English lesson in the area between the train cars with a few fellow hard-luck travelers. Everyone seems keen to learn a little English here, and most people are quite friendly. It really does make a situation like that bearable. I was about 12 hours in, gazing around longingly at the lucky seated few, (think standing on a crowded New York subway...for 17 hours...) when I thought of the name for my new blog...Welcome to China, "Standing Room Only."
All that having been said, it's two weeks later, and I love it here. I think I was lucky to have had to stand on that train. Since then, (knowing now how NOT to get stuck without a seat) not once have I complained about a train or bus ride, no matter how long. I'll write about my amazing trip through Tibetan Sichuan in my next post, so I hope you'll keep reading! ^_^ Until then, live well!
