China IX - A to B in China

China is enormous. I spent 6 months in South East Asia. If you look on a map South-East Asia is merely a thumb nail against China. I am only in China for a month so I have had to cover alot more ground much more quickly. China is geared up for long distance travel. Unlike America China doesn't rely on cars or aircraft instead trains make up the backbone of long distance transport. It is estimated that at anyone moment there are 10 million Chinese on the nation's railway network.


A Chinese train station is like a European Airport. They are huge. When you enter the station your bags are x-rayed (though they don't search individuals). The next stop is the waiting room for your train. The waiting rooms are pretty big and yet they manage to get packed. Everyone is herded into different queues for their trains before the gate is opened and the crowd surges through. As with any crowd situation in China pushing and shoving is the norm. It doesn't matter what delay is up ahead someone behind you will be trying to push passed.


All the trains I have been on in China have been full. I've tried booking trains and not been able to get on them, even a few days in advance. I have travelled on hard seat double decker trains where they squeeze a large number of people in with relative comfort. The hard sleepers are carriages with bunk beds in three levels that face each other in pairs. In one carriage there are 60 beds. It is not a good place to swing a cut. The bottom bunks become a bench for eveyone while there are a couple of fold down seats in the aisle, but you do have to avoid getting your knees and elbows whacked by all and sundry who move pass.


The squat toilets onboard are pretty abysmal. I wouldn't fancy squatting over one with the slippery floor and the train juddering about. The smells on board can be strong from the number of bodies and the food that the Chinese eat. Dried fish snacks are very popular. While alot fo the facilities are very new the old habits of the Chinese diehard. In the scrum waiting for the gates to open for the overnight train from Guillin to Wuhan there were plenty of guys wretching and spitting on the shiny floor. In the brand new Wuchang train station (in Wuhan) I saw a woman pick up her baby and suspend the baby mid-air over a bin while it did its business. The walk to the toilets was obviously too far. Chinese children come ready equipped for such situations with chapless pants (in South-East Asia children often don't wear any clothes on their bottom halves).


Chinese trains do not have vendors going up and down the carriages like you find in Thailand. There are food and drinks carts that go up and down the train regularly (apart from on the T28 from Xi'an to Beijing). It does seem though that some of the attendants on board have taken it upon themselves to make some extra money. A female attendant on the train from Wuhan to Jiulong had a shopping basket full of tat that she attempted to sell to everyone.