08NOV06 Day One on the "Sky Train".
It was 9:30 p.m. and dark when I joined the mob swarming onto the train at the airport-like Beijing West Railway Station, not far from Tiananmen Square. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it is the largest railway station in Asia. It was expanded in 2000 and can now handle 300,000 passengers daily.
When it was first built it suffered from a leaky roof. To further complicate matters, it was built on mud and is currently sinking. According to locals, the building was poorly built due to corruption and bribery, and is expected to have a greatly shortened life due to its poor construction.
Once aboard, there wasn't much to do but show my ticket to the conductor (much to my annoyance, he didn't even bother to ask for my "Tibet Permit" which I had spend considerable money and effort to secure!), find my compartment and try to get some sleep. I was in soft-sleeper class, the most luxurious accommodation, with four bunk beds to a compartment. (Hard-sleeper compartments have six less-comfortable beds, second class has sit-up-all-night seats and "hard class" is often standing room only.)
I had a lower berth -- the top ones looked like hell to climb up to -- with a flat-screen TV (Chinese programming only) and a socket for the oxygen hoses that would be issued later. First thing I noticed: There is no place to store luggage. I shoved my bulky duffel down to the end of the mattress and curled up with my knees against my chest.
My roommates were a Chinese couple from Xining, and they stayed up all night chatting and watching TV. I was outvoted two to one, so the compartment's light stayed on. The were quite friendly in fact and very knowledgeable about Lhasa and Tibet having spend many years there themselves so in the end, and in spite of the night light, they proved very helpful in planning various parts of my trip. They would depart the train the next day upon in arrival in Xining, affording me the luxury of the entire sleeper car to myself!
Each rail car on the "Sky Train," as the Chinese call it, has a trio of sinks, a hot-water dispenser and two bathrooms -- one Western, one squat. They were all open and spotless when we boarded, but it didn't stay that way for long. As far as I could tell, they quickly locked the western toilet leaving only the Asian squat-style toilet open - presumably so that the service staff would only have one toilet to maintain! Word to the wise: Bring your own toilet paper.
Tai chi and Budweiser
I awoke next morning to the sight of the green Chinese countryside rolling past my window. There were a few interesting vignettes of rural life -- a man in a Chairman Mao suit riding a bicycle, corn laid out to dry, a sod-roof house with a satellite dish, piles of coal lumps tucked into corners and against buildings -- but the scenery was only mildly captivating. The sky was filled with a yellow-brown haze as we passed through series after series of industrial towns. During a stop in Lanzhou -- said to be one of the most polluted cities in the world -- Chinese men and women stepped off the train to perform tai chi on the rail platform.
In the dining car, which was outfitted with white tablecloths and silk roses, it took a while to interest one of the servers in bringing me a cup of tea and Chinese breakfast. The menu, inexpertly translated into English, offered such delicacies as "steamed weever" and "potherb mustard shrimps and bean crud." The most popular beer for sale, oddly, was Budweiser. At 10 RMB I was easily converted from my westcoast micro-brew ways to the "king of beers".
The dining car was filled with a mix of Chinese businessmen and upper-middle-class Chinese tourists. Later, a quartet of Tibetan Buddhist monks in burgundy robes stopped by, and a couple of Americans. I met Guido, an ex-pat Italian graphic designer, currently based in Paris but travelling in Asia, who had with him such a mass of electronic devices and wires to connect with his Powerbook that I immediately knew that I had found a kindred spirit! We hung out there sharing photos, travel stories and technical know-how until it was time to return to our compartments.
It was 9:30 p.m. and dark when I joined the mob swarming onto the train at the airport-like Beijing West Railway Station, not far from Tiananmen Square. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it is the largest railway station in Asia. It was expanded in 2000 and can now handle 300,000 passengers daily.
When it was first built it suffered from a leaky roof. To further complicate matters, it was built on mud and is currently sinking. According to locals, the building was poorly built due to corruption and bribery, and is expected to have a greatly shortened life due to its poor construction.
Once aboard, there wasn't much to do but show my ticket to the conductor (much to my annoyance, he didn't even bother to ask for my "Tibet Permit" which I had spend considerable money and effort to secure!), find my compartment and try to get some sleep. I was in soft-sleeper class, the most luxurious accommodation, with four bunk beds to a compartment. (Hard-sleeper compartments have six less-comfortable beds, second class has sit-up-all-night seats and "hard class" is often standing room only.)I had a lower berth -- the top ones looked like hell to climb up to -- with a flat-screen TV (Chinese programming only) and a socket for the oxygen hoses that would be issued later. First thing I noticed: There is no place to store luggage. I shoved my bulky duffel down to the end of the mattress and curled up with my knees against my chest.
My roommates were a Chinese couple from Xining, and they stayed up all night chatting and watching TV. I was outvoted two to one, so the compartment's light stayed on. The were quite friendly in fact and very knowledgeable about Lhasa and Tibet having spend many years there themselves so in the end, and in spite of the night light, they proved very helpful in planning various parts of my trip. They would depart the train the next day upon in arrival in Xining, affording me the luxury of the entire sleeper car to myself!
Each rail car on the "Sky Train," as the Chinese call it, has a trio of sinks, a hot-water dispenser and two bathrooms -- one Western, one squat. They were all open and spotless when we boarded, but it didn't stay that way for long. As far as I could tell, they quickly locked the western toilet leaving only the Asian squat-style toilet open - presumably so that the service staff would only have one toilet to maintain! Word to the wise: Bring your own toilet paper.Tai chi and Budweiser
I awoke next morning to the sight of the green Chinese countryside rolling past my window. There were a few interesting vignettes of rural life -- a man in a Chairman Mao suit riding a bicycle, corn laid out to dry, a sod-roof house with a satellite dish, piles of coal lumps tucked into corners and against buildings -- but the scenery was only mildly captivating. The sky was filled with a yellow-brown haze as we passed through series after series of industrial towns. During a stop in Lanzhou -- said to be one of the most polluted cities in the world -- Chinese men and women stepped off the train to perform tai chi on the rail platform.In the dining car, which was outfitted with white tablecloths and silk roses, it took a while to interest one of the servers in bringing me a cup of tea and Chinese breakfast. The menu, inexpertly translated into English, offered such delicacies as "steamed weever" and "potherb mustard shrimps and bean crud." The most popular beer for sale, oddly, was Budweiser. At 10 RMB I was easily converted from my westcoast micro-brew ways to the "king of beers".
The dining car was filled with a mix of Chinese businessmen and upper-middle-class Chinese tourists. Later, a quartet of Tibetan Buddhist monks in burgundy robes stopped by, and a couple of Americans. I met Guido, an ex-pat Italian graphic designer, currently based in Paris but travelling in Asia, who had with him such a mass of electronic devices and wires to connect with his Powerbook that I immediately knew that I had found a kindred spirit! We hung out there sharing photos, travel stories and technical know-how until it was time to return to our compartments.
posted by Ants at 8:02 p.m.
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