The Train Ride to Kunming

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Left Shenzhen yesterday for Kunming. I took the train to Guangzhou and then caught the next one-- 25 hours. I had requested the the top bunk. Unlike India, there are only 6 beds per compartment. Nice to have fewer people in such a small space, vying for sitting room. I met a man in a pink shirt whose name I never did get. He and the other man I met first were very interested in my phrasebook. I think they both studied English but remember little.

I was hungry and noticed people kept appearing with ramen. I asked them where I could buy some. Pink Shirt man said car 6, which I repeated back to be sure I understood. Then he just decided to take me. All they ahs was beef ramen. And with Chinese nooodles, that means there's actually beef in it, unless you want it plain and flavorless. The kitchen man spoke a little English, too, and was able to tell me that all he had was beef and spicy beef. I ended up buying what I thought was dry fruit but ended up being sunflower seeds. Not only can I not eat them without making a mess, they arne't filling. I explained to Pink Shirt man that I was a vegetarian. Kitchen man had also tried to sell me a chicken leg and a pig's foot AFTER I said I didn't eat meat.

After I spilled my seeds all over the floor, Pink Shirt man asked if I would like some seafood ramen. My face lit up. He also gave me a slightly mushy mango. It was divine. Another woman in my compartment gave me 2 lychees and some seedless grapes, which I haven't seen since I got to China. She spoke no English.

The men in my compartment also helped me with little things like getting my luggage on the rack (it's as high as the top bunk, which is taller than me). Fro some reason they make you turn in your ticket to a woman with a binder who then gives you a plastic card with your bunk number on it. At the end they swap them back with you. I'm guessing they do this for a few reasons: 1. It gives someone a job. 2. Tickets get lost and torn, etc, and you need it to get out of the station. 3. This way they can more easily make sure everyone gets off at the correct stop.

Trains in China are nice. They play traditional music during daylight hours. It's like being in a movie with the landscapes rolling by and the music lulling you to sleep with the gentle rocking of the train. Here are some things I saw looking out the window enroute to Kunming:
laundry drying
green mountains
chicken farms with birds running free
misty mountains
a brown river
rice fields with wandering paths
men with lights in tunnel alcoves
people washing trains with brushes and soap
orange tiled roofs
a really small building--not sure if it was a shrine or a home
a small town, man and daughter riding their motorcycle through it, a flagpole at the center
10 by 10 meters yards of chickens
deep valleys
a lake so big I thought it was a river
new being built behind the old

You can learn a lot on the train.

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Comments

[The train attendants]

3. This way they can more easily make sure everyone gets off at the correct stop. -------------------------------- This is correct. The train attendants will wake up the passengers ahead the correct stop during night.