(written on 13/07/09, posted on 17/09/09)Night train tonight booked this time through the hassle-free but slightly more expensive hostel option. So it's check-out and off to left luggage at the station before getting the bus up to the Terracotta Warriors. I'm accompanied by French Man who later on today is checking out to go and stay with someone he's hooked up with via http://www.couchsurfing.com/.
It's 38 degrees and my backpack actually doesn't feel any lighter despite offloading stuff yesterday. And it's a very sweaty kind of heat. Phew! The Terracotta Warriors are amazing although I get a sneaky feeling they were man-made and then 'discovered' as a tourist attraction. It's amazing to think they could have been underground for that long when they are so huge. There are three aeroplane hanger size buildings that cover them.
So it's a lovely but hot day. I'm back at the station and am trying to source my backpack - there are three unmarked left luggage offices and I can't remember which one has my bag. Of course no-one speaks English and I don't speak Chinese so there are lots of humorous gestures going on. French man is highly amused by all of this being that he's a seasoned traveller. I get the feeling things like this just don't happen to him. Anyway, I wave goodbye and go to wait in the rugby scrum that is the waiting room. People sitting on bags, peasant type farmers staring openly at my 'yellow' hair and lots of chowing down on instant noodles. Every station has a mini-kitchen with boiled water available that is drinkable as the stuff that comes out of the tap isn't. This is also used for super cheap but delicious pot-type noodles that contain about 80% less additives than our version.
Each waiting room usually has two trains that people are waiting for and the waiting room number does not correlate with the platform number. Confusing, I know. The platform number comes up on the display board half an hour before the train is due to leave and this is when the scrum gets anxious and starts to really move. Elbows time. I get on train, all smiles again and I'm faced with three men and one woman in my compartment. I may have given the impression so far that Chinese people openly stare, which they do, but it is mostly open curiosity, like these four are definitely doing.
Once the train moves off out comes the guidebook and the language section is pilfered for questions. I exercise my five items of vocabulary and learn at least two more. I'm really enjoying this. We communicate well due to my (not so great) drawing skills but mostly the woman's English and an internet enabled phone. We amazingly cover topics such as jobs (two of the men are unemployed as they can't find work), family (they all have big families), difference in our countries (countless) and travelling (me planning lots, my companions not).
It's a fantastic three hour 101 on Chinese culture. Although I'm slightly embarrassed by the fact I'm off everywhere and they are not. I'm also ashamed by their sense of family, society and their patriotism. By comparison us Westerners are all a bunch of weirdo loners! I go to sleep on my bunk understanding a little more about Chinese culture.
It's 38 degrees and my backpack actually doesn't feel any lighter despite offloading stuff yesterday. And it's a very sweaty kind of heat. Phew! The Terracotta Warriors are amazing although I get a sneaky feeling they were man-made and then 'discovered' as a tourist attraction. It's amazing to think they could have been underground for that long when they are so huge. There are three aeroplane hanger size buildings that cover them.
So it's a lovely but hot day. I'm back at the station and am trying to source my backpack - there are three unmarked left luggage offices and I can't remember which one has my bag. Of course no-one speaks English and I don't speak Chinese so there are lots of humorous gestures going on. French man is highly amused by all of this being that he's a seasoned traveller. I get the feeling things like this just don't happen to him. Anyway, I wave goodbye and go to wait in the rugby scrum that is the waiting room. People sitting on bags, peasant type farmers staring openly at my 'yellow' hair and lots of chowing down on instant noodles. Every station has a mini-kitchen with boiled water available that is drinkable as the stuff that comes out of the tap isn't. This is also used for super cheap but delicious pot-type noodles that contain about 80% less additives than our version.
Each waiting room usually has two trains that people are waiting for and the waiting room number does not correlate with the platform number. Confusing, I know. The platform number comes up on the display board half an hour before the train is due to leave and this is when the scrum gets anxious and starts to really move. Elbows time. I get on train, all smiles again and I'm faced with three men and one woman in my compartment. I may have given the impression so far that Chinese people openly stare, which they do, but it is mostly open curiosity, like these four are definitely doing.
Once the train moves off out comes the guidebook and the language section is pilfered for questions. I exercise my five items of vocabulary and learn at least two more. I'm really enjoying this. We communicate well due to my (not so great) drawing skills but mostly the woman's English and an internet enabled phone. We amazingly cover topics such as jobs (two of the men are unemployed as they can't find work), family (they all have big families), difference in our countries (countless) and travelling (me planning lots, my companions not).
It's a fantastic three hour 101 on Chinese culture. Although I'm slightly embarrassed by the fact I'm off everywhere and they are not. I'm also ashamed by their sense of family, society and their patriotism. By comparison us Westerners are all a bunch of weirdo loners! I go to sleep on my bunk understanding a little more about Chinese culture.
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