Travel Journal 1

January 30, 2013  -  Wednesday

5 degrees, feels like 2 degrees at 8:00 AM in Changchun (northeast China).

I showered.  We packed and made arrangements with Julie (our Vietnamese neighbor) to watch our stuff until Rie arrives.  One last check of email.  We took the 306 bus to the train station.  I listened to an older gentleman sitting near the station entrance and playing an unusual stringed instrument;  he had a small speaker system that projected his music quite well.  He played it with a bow.  Few people paid any attention to him.  However, one young woman got down in front of him and looked him in the eye and then put a few yuan (yuan = Chinese dollar - equivalent to 17 cents American) into his can.  He nodded his approval.  After enjoying his music for a while, I also went over and knelt down, looked him in the eye, put a five yuan note in his can and applauded him.  He nodded his approval, quit playing and – with a smile – shook my hand. 

Randy, Jessica, and Hannah arrived shortly after and we found our way into the train station.  We found seats and Jessica broke out containers of fried rice that she had made!  It was a wonderful lunch!  After an hour, we boarded our train with some chaos. 

The train is made up of twenty sleeper cars.  Each car has eleven small compartments with three bunks on each side and a very small table between.  Everyone sits on the bottom bunks.  There are also fold-down seats in the narrow aisle way;  you have to be careful because when you get up, they fold back up to the wall!  It would be easy to reach for something and then sit back down on the floor!

We notice over and over again the differences in a communal culture.  This close living is no problem for the Chinese. Americans would find these arrangements bothersome and inconvenient.  We sat on the bottom bunk while a woman slept on the same bunk.  While Randy, Jessica, Debbie and I played a complete round of Phase Ten, neighbors looked on with curiosity (seeing so many foreigners was obviously intriguing)!  We tried numerous times to share our food, however we were repeatedly turned down. 

It will certainly be interesting when nightfall comes and we all climb into our bunks for some sleep!  Meanwhile, people move about quite freely.  They go to the end of our car where they can get boiled water.  The bathroom is also at the same end of the car.  Between the cars is a section where they are allowed to smoke;  we struggle to keep our door closed to keep the smell of the smoke out of our area! 

Debbie and Jessica have planned well.  So far, we’ve eaten my chocolate candy, Randy’s home-made whole-wheat crackers, apple slices, carrot sticks, celery sticks with peanut butter, and cucumber sticks with Jessica’s home-made dipping sauce. 

Others seem to have brought ready-made noodle packs that just require the adding of boiling water. 

The view so far has been similar to Changchun:  wintry, foggy, snow-covered, flat, and pretty much barren.  We’ve stopped several times, but only for a short while.  A few people board and we move on.  We played several rounds of Monopoly Cards and then went to bed.  They turned the lights off at 9:30 PM.

January 31, 2013  -  Thursday

Well, that was one of the longest nights of my life!  Between the humming noise of the train, the vibration, and the rocking, added to a backache and my usual night interruptions – I was glad to finally craw down from my shelf at 6:00 AM.  That was much longer in bed than I ever spend!  It was good to stretch and stand for a while. 

Throughout the night, the bullet trains would pass us going the opposite direction.  We would feel a tremendous force of pressure as they did so.  Our train would rock and you could feel air rushing through our cabin.

I decided to use the squatty potty before business got too strong.  Quite an experience!  You go into a small room with a lockable door.  It has a tiny sink and a depression in the floor with a hole that drops out onto the tracks.   That’s right, you read accurately.  There are tread marks on the sides of the hole – I guess to give you a target and better traction.  Then there’s a bar on the wall to hold onto to provide some balance.  No TP – it’s a bring-your-own situation.  Then, when you’re finished, there’s a spigot on the wall that runs onto the floor and down the drain.  Viola!  You’re finished.  While I was using the potty, a bullet train passed us and I got a rush of zero-degree-air in a vulnerable position that was quite a shock!!!!   It was a WOO HOO moment!!!!

Our bunks are on the front end of the car.  We get a ton of traffic because the toilet and the hot water boiler are just outside of our cabin – also the smoking area L.  We are waging a constant battle to keep the door closed because cold air enters (and smoke) (and smells) when it is left open.  Unfortunately, most people leave it open!

Probably our greatest problem, however, has been a five-year-old (we've nicknamed him 'the terrorist') who is pretty much unrestrained by his mom.  He intrudes on our space and is quite intrusive while we are trying to play cards.  Jessica has been pretty stern with him, but he is unrelenting.  Randy and Jessica tell us that children are largely unrestrained in China.  For one thing, in most cases children grow up in single-child homes.  However, there seems to be a general concept of letting children be unrestrained as they grow up.  The remarkable thing is that this seems to transform itself as they grow into their teens!  Randy and Jessica indicate that teenage rebellion is almost unheard of in China.  As these unrestrained children grow up, they remarkably become more respectful.  Hmmmm…  Maybe we’re going about it all wrong in America???

It’s 7:45 AM and there is now LOTS of traffic in the cabin.  People are using the restroom and getting hot water.  The battle over the door is in full scale, now!  The view out our window reveals a flat countryside that is still snow-covered and cold.  It is very foggy!  I’m coming to think that all of China is constantly foggy in the winter!  Hannah is up!  So is the terrorist!  He keeps eyeing up my laptop with great curiosity!  Time to get a cinnamon roll for my breakfast! 

Actually, we had orange slices and pomello (our favorite Chinese fruit that seems to be a cross between a mellon and a grapefruit);  also Randy’s crackers, celery sticks with peanut butter, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks with Jessica’s sauce, and then cinnamon rolls.  We played several rounds of Sorry Cards and then had some of my chocolate for a snack!  Randy, Jessica, and Debbie took naps.  Hannah and I played Rush Hour and some word games.  Then Hannah did some reading while I journaled.

Both yesterday and today have been gloomy, gray, foggy days!  It’s depressing.  Looking out the windows makes me long for home!  I have so many options at home;  here my options are seriously limited.  My sitter is sore from this long trip and hard bench seat.  I’m tired of being cramped in and bumped around so much.  Debbie and I love travelling in America;  we have enjoyed our trips so much!  So comfortable and so free!

We’ve rolled through many major cities.  The construction business is booming here as high-rise apartment building complexes go up everywhere.  The massive migration from the rural areas to the cities is changing China! It seems that they develop a model for an apartment complex and then build ten or twenty identical buildings all in a row!  This seems to be happening in every city.  We also ride past small villages where the buildings are all brick and look to have been constructed in the 1930’s or 40’s.  These villages look cold and unwelcoming.  You don’t see lights on or even smoke coming from the chimney’s.  How different from the cozy, friendly look of New Middletown in the winter!

In Changchun, the streets are filled with cars, buses, trucks, taxis, hand-pulled carts, bicycles, motorcycles and electric bikes.  However, in some of the large cities we’ve passed, I notice that they have a separate, blocked-off lane for carts, bikes, motorcycles, and electric bikes.  This appears to be safer that what I see in Changchun! 

We arrived at our destination – after lunch and more card playing – at around 4:55 pm (a 37 hour train ride).  The name of the city is San-Men-Xia;  it is about one-quarter the size of Changchun.  We quickly met Jessica’s sister and then waited for bus 13 to take us to her apartment.  Her name is difficult for us to pronounce so Jessica suggested we car her R [she is the second-born of her family and R is the way the number two is pronounced in Chinese].  She and her husband have a beautiful, spacious, three bedroom apartment overlooking a tributary of the Yellow River.  It’s a scenic location.  The river offers a nice path that appears to be a place where many dogs walk their owners.