Tuesday, April 25, 2006
April 24: Leaving Beijing
Accomplishment #1: I found the Beijing Photo Mall
Accomplishment #2: I managed to catch the correct train to Xi'an
The Beijing Photo Mall is by far the most incredible place to buy photography gear I've ever seen. This place is huge: a big building packed with small photo gear shops. Moreover, everything is dirt cheap. The Fuji Reala I bought (in good quantity!) was about 1/3 of what it costs in Canada. 'nuff said.
Riding a Chinese train, on the other hand, is a memorable experience. My ticket was a so-called "hard sleeper" ticket, the best value in town. What this buys you is a bunk with a suitably hard mattress, in a more or less open train wagon. I took the ubiquitous internet advice and bought a ticket for a middle bunk, since the bottom is used for sitting and the top is dangerously close to a big ugly loudspeaker.
The Beijing West train station, like most things in China, is enormous. Think of Union Station and multiply by six. Of course, this makes sense given that Beijing holds 13mm people and train is by far the most economic way to travel around China. Once inside the cavernous building, things are simple: the waiting rooms are well-marked (by train number) and there's food around in case you want to buy something.
I found my bunk on the train. As soon as I get there, a Chinese man with broken english asks politely if he can exchange his ticket for a nearby middle bunk for mine. I think "hmm" and accept the trade. It turns out it was for the better. My bunk-neighbors were:
- One fat super-loud Chinese guy who wanted to broadcast his cell phone conversations to the entire wagon
- Four mid-30s-looking Chinese professionals, at least two of whom work at a chemical company of some sort in Shanghai. I got Terry Wang's business card, which claims that he's an engineer, and yet he claims to be in marketing management.. Hmmm
Anyway. I stick out like a sore thumb in a Chinese train. To be more precise, I stick out like a white backpacker with a giant amount of gear (and my "dead sexy piolet") on a train full of Chinese middle class. I'm a curiousity more than anything. The guys I was sharing the train with were incredibly eager to practice their English and teach me Chinese words. Do I remember these words? Somewhat. Not really. I need to write them down, I think. Also, it seems like the Chinese are hugely intrigued by my Rough Guide to China - it was immensely popular and a real ice-breaker.
Peculiar things about Chinese trains:
- Every so often one of a seemingly endless number of attendants will come by with a shopping cart and loudly advertise whatever they are hawking.
- The public announcements by the PA system are in both English and Mandarin. Unfortunately, the English version is much shorter. I feel like they're holding out on me.
- Train bathrooms are not Western-style bathrooms. They are Turkish-style squatting toilets. I've never imagined I'd want to squat down in a moving train... but what can you do? There is also no toilet paper in the bathrooms.
However, all in all the train ride was pretty good. I passed out like a light at 10 PM, only to be woken up periodically by the loud snoring from the middle bunk opposite mine. GRRR!!!!!!!! I finally hauled myself out of bed at around 6 AM, as the train was coming in towards Xi'an.
The final weirdness: as we arrived in Xi'an, I heard the loudspeakers play a Chinese version of a song from the Sound of Music. And I can assure you that it wasn't Julie Andrews singing it....
