The Largest Annual Human Migration

On Friday, Jan. 18th we found ourselves back in Hong Kong with goal #1 being, change Stephanie’s tourist visa to a work visa. After crossing the Shenzhen/Hong Kong border at Luowu, we headed straight for the visa office where Cody kept our packs company outside (they’re not allowed in the PSB, FYI) for two hours while Stephanie waited for her #, handed in her paper work, and crossed her fingers. The visa wouldn’t be processed until the following Monday, which gave us the weekend to once again explore Hong Kong. After some extensive searching at the various hostels in both Mirador and Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road, we got serious and ended up, once again, at the New China Hotel in Chungking. Only this time we took full advantage of the fact that the Mansions has what is possibly the highest concentration of Indian food vendors in China, a welcome change. Our next move was heading outside of the city to Lantau Island via the Tsuen Wan - Tung Chung metro lines. Tung Chung also connects with Disneyland, Hong Kong, and it was pretty easy to tell which of our fellow passengers were headed there. Once on Lantau, we bought a day-long bus pass and boarded an express that wound, up, down, and around the mountainous coastal landscape, making stops at the island’s prominent sites.. Here we finally encountered our first giant Buddha, and found a perfect ocean-side view of the golden sunset.

Monday arrived, and with Stephanie’s spanking new Z visa in hand (valid until October), we headed to Shenzhen and crossed back over into mainland China. At the border crossing, we located an 8hr sleeper bus to our next destination, the south-eastern coastal city of Xiamen. There isn’t much hope for rousing games of gin rummy, or sketching the passing landscape on a sleeper bus, one can really only make a valiant effort to sleep. All of the seats are replaced with horizontal beds that are packed so tightly (three beds across, with two aisles running between), that the hollow metal wedge that serves as your pillow, also houses the feet of the traveler lying behind you. This arrangement was fine with us as our trip was scheduled from 8pm to 4am, prime slumber hours. The beds were moderately comfortable, we were provided with an ample amount of pillows and there was a restroom on board. It was this fact that we couldn’t figure out whether to praise or curse. While the midnight relieving was appreciated, the stench from the bathroom a few hours into the ride could have woke the dead. Never have we been so thankful for the air-purifying qualities of cigarettes, and the individuals who frequently choose to light up in confined spaces; elevators, tiny restaurants, and most importantly, sleeper buses.

We arrived in Xiamen, in the Fujian province, before the sun had broken over the horizon, and because of this the city was in its pre-dawn calm phase. Granted, there was a pack of taxi cabs getting their morning pep-talk, but for the most part, Xiamen was calm. All this changed as we arrived at the train station. As we approached the Xiamen train depot at 4:30 a.m. a few thousand people were already waiting in line to buy tickets to head home for the lunar New Year’s celebration. It has been described as the largest annual human migration on the earth, with over 180 million people taking trains, planes and busses from the cities where they work to their home towns and villages, often very far away. As we had been warned of the abundance of travelers ahead of time, we were ready for a battle to get train tickets. We waited for about 4 hours in line, chatting and enjoying some hard-boiled eggs and soymilk found at the many line-side snack shops, and at the end we held two “hard seat” tickets from Xiamen to Zhengzhou, Henan. The people right in front of us in line were unable to acquire any tickets, and apparently we got some of the last on our train. This train was scheduled to take 29 (!) hours and the grand total (for two tickets) was 210 RMB (US$28.76).

Once we completed our ticket mission, we headed off to get a glimpse of the ocean. Xiamen is a costal city, and besides having a lot of seafood in the restaurants, they also have some nice seaside spots. We made our way to Gulong Yu, a very historic island about a 5 minute ferry ride off the coast. Here we found a place to stay- the Bay View Inn- and ended up paying for four nights at an average of about 100 RMB (US$13.64) a night. Gulong Yu is a beautiful little island with some nice beaches (even in the winter, provided you’re willing to acclimate your feet to the chilly water before playing in the surf) some interesting colonial architecture, and a laid-back feel. Our main criticism of Gulong Yu was that it felt pretty removed from mainland China in that there was a complete lack of street-side food vendors which we have grown to love. Quick note: the ferry to get to Gulong Yu is Free! Hooray! But, as all good things must end, the only way off the island, the same ferry, is 8RMB (US$1.10) to return. We spent a few days making our way around the island, including a trip to the Fantastic Xiamen Aquarium. The entrance tickets to the Aquarium included a complementary sea lion/dolphin stunt show and a wide array of marine life. Quite impressive were the gigantic sea turtles--touchable, mostly due to lax guest supervision-- eagle rays, sturgeon of all shapes and sizes, and a walk through fish/shark tunnel. The ‘your-head-on-a-scuba-diver’s-body’ photo spot at the end of the tour was just the icing on the cake.

The weather in Xiamen was pleasant; nice in the sun, and a little chilly with the evening ocean breezes. This destination ended up being the end of our non-layering as we were soon to be heading north to Henan province for some old fashioned Wisconsin-style winter weather.

We felt pretty lucky, and admittedly a little savvy as we clutched our “oh so hard to obtain” train tickets at the Xiamen train station the afternoon of Jan. 26th. The train station was absolutely buzzing with people, with everyone appearing to know where they were going, except for us of course. Our method of showing our tickets to important-looking-people then following their outstretched finger quickly paid off, and we soon found ourselves in the waiting area for our train along with about 3,000 other future passengers, holding either hard seat (the tickets we had) or standing room tickets for the 29 hr ride to Zhengzhou in Henan province. Everyone was standing in misshapen lines separated by waist-high metal fences. Somehow we were the first to enter a newly opened line and found ourselves at the very front of the crowd, waiting for the 8 or so gates to be opened and the boarding race to begin. A surge of energy passed through the crowd as everyone picked up their parcels, ranging from huge bags stuffed with comforters, to gifts for family in Henan. We followed suit, unsure of what we were about to witness. Suddenly there was a tap on Cody’s shoulder followed by some frenzied gestures and orders from one of the train attendants. Maybe it was our blonde hair, our overly-abundant “thank-yous”, our unrelenting effort to maintain a true line, or the fact that we were the only 'laowai' in the room, whatever it was, we were spotted, and the attendant beckoned us forward until we were standing outside of our metal gate. We looked around sheepishly as 6,000 eyes stared at us wondering why we were being let on the train before everyone else. Our protests were futile as three other yelling attendants joined the cause. Feeling unworthy, and a little embarrassed about our western privilege, we slowly sauntered toward the train, beginning the walk down the platform from car 15 to car 4. About two cars in, we heard a low rumbling. We glanced over our shoulders and realized that the race had officially begun. We were soon overtaken by the thousands of other passengers vying for prime luggage space, for those with hard seat tickets, and stool space, for those with standing room only. Our slow trudge turned into a full out sprint as we joined the other passengers in the race to car 4. It was then that we realized the train attendants may have ushered us to the front, not because they wanted to provide us with a luxurious experience, but because they took pity on us foreigners who had no idea what we were getting into. Its nice to give the underdog a head-start.

Once on the train, we met our bunk mates, five dudes and a young couple with an adorable little baby. Our hard seat tickets bought us a space on a flat-backed bench that resembled a nurses-office cot and faced another identical bench. The train was completely packed, with any free space (aisles, overhead luggage racks, between-car corridors) occupied by "standing room only" ticket holders. We ended up sharing our four-person bunk with five people. Everything was peachy as we left the station. We easily ate up the time trying to make the baby laugh, talking with our bunk-mates, and reading. It wasn’t the most comfortable, and sleeping was next to impossible, but the time was passing slowly but surely. Though we were pretty antsy by hour 25, we were comforted by the fact that we were only four hours away from our destination and were content to happily embrace the loopy exchanges that occur after that long without sleep. Around hour 33, things started to get ugly. The temperature dropped as we headed further north, and after the second loss of power (hr 37), we realized we really had no idea when we would get off the train. Around hr 42 we hit a wall. As Cody battled the ice chunks forming on the inside of his window, and Stephanie vied for position with her pointy hipped neighbor, the space on our bench seemed to get smaller, the restroom at the end of the car seemed to smell worse, and somehow, the baby became less cute. We were fussy with a capital F. Finally after 49 nearly sleepless hours, we arrived in Zhengzhou, left the train station, and never looked back.

Welcome to Zhengzhou. And “au revoir” to the miserable hard-seated torture rack that served as our transport over the previous 2 full days. After we stumbled off the train grumpy and sore-assed, we spent the next full day trying not to sit on anything and sleeping for more than the allotted eight. After we had recovered, we checked the news and quit our whining. Apparently a large block of southern China had been hit by a monstrous snow and ice storm, the worst blizzards in the past five decades, which crippled rail traffic and affected millions of holiday travelers, some 400,000 of which were stranded at a single train station (Guangzhou)! (For further reading: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/ap_on_re_as/china_snow) As it were, we managed to escape the proverbial burning room right before it collapsed without so much as seeing the fire. The only hint of the inclement weather was our frequent stops on the tracks for hours at a time when the train would apparently lose power. It was a bit of amazing luck on our part getting out of the south right before the storm, and will make us cherish our New Year's celebration all the more.

Zhengzhou is a large city at over 6 million people. The weather is a bit chillier, and we spent a day perusing the glove/hat/mitten shops and ended up with a good arsenal to combat the chill. A friendly feature of Zhengzhou is the abundance of food vendors who line the street corners and sell snacks ranging from a cup of dark warm sweet tea (everything drinkable comes in a plastic-sealed cup pierced with a huge straw) to sesame seed crusted breads that resemble pizza crusts, 1 and 2 RMB, respectively. The general attitude is pretty positive as everyone here seems to be on the same page as far as winter living goes. Kind of reminds us of the Midwest…

A 1.5 hour bus ride brought us to Kaifeng, a charming walled city with an interesting history (in the 11th century it was the largest single city in the world…) where we currently find ourselves. Tomorrow we will meet with a friend and head out to the country side to spend Chinese New Year with a large Chinese family.

We can’t wait. Thanks for reading!

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