The Nightmare from...well, China

As some of you might remember, we had planned to visit Luoyang as the first stop on our Spring Festival journey, but we couldn't get train tickets. A few weekends ago we had a four-day weekend and decided to take the train to a bordering province, Henan. Unfortunately, the school tried to keep us in the dark about our time-off. The students had let us know about a "sports meeting" (think elementary school field day) that was taking place on Thursday and Friday. All of the classes were to be cancelled. As soon as we heard about it we asked our contact person who's only reply was, "I don't know, I'll check." This daily routine went about two weeks and wasn't broken until about the day before we wanted to leave for Luoyang, when he finally chose to let us know that indeed, we didn't have classes. Begrudgingly, we thanked him while muttering unkind words about him as we walked away.

It wouldn't have been a big deal at all if it were not for the difficulty of getting to Luoyang, only one daily train leaves from Qingdao, and that train hits a lot of rural spots in-between. So, the day before I got us tickets to the train, the worst available - hard seat. We'd heard nightmare stories about hard-seat car train rides, but usually they took place around the overcrowded traveling of Spring Festival. The ticket lady made it seem like it would be easy to upgrade to a soft-seat or sleeper. So, somewhat optimistic we left for the train station and boarded. The train had an odd schedule, it left Qingdao at 2:00 pm and got to Luoyang around 5:00 am. But the worst thing we noticed was the name "hard seat" was quite literal. We remained optimistic because of the possibility of upgrading. Nonetheless, the hard seat, was more of a bench with an upright back and minimal padding, and about 3.5 feet wide. Check out the video below. The sun was still shining, and we were in pretty good spirits.

As you can see, car #14 was pretty crowded. It wasn't bad enough that all the benches were full, but China insists on selling standing room tickets. So, at all times, someone is standing over your shoulder. When people get off at a stop, usually more people get on. So, as the ride progresses, the cars get more jam-packed. We knew this happened, it's just that we didn't expect all this chaos on a Wednesday night!

At times, people even sit in the middle of the aisles. If you look toward the back of the picture, you'll see a bunch of guys just standing in the the thruway. That is the designated smoking area, though it usually just ends up wafting in the car.

Things went from increasingly bad to unbelievably worse when the students next to us allowed a family to sit down. The family was very, very backwoods (or backfields) China, and everything about them resonated it. I think we all expected the family to be getting off at the next stop, but it turned out they were there for the long haul. As the students realized this, the family began migrating their way toward the bench opposite us. And then...they slept,

And slept,

and slept.

What is that last picture of? Well, as you can see the little boy was sleeping on the bench with Dad. The mom decided to sleep UNDER the benches on the disgusting floor, with, yes with her 4-week old baby. From the picture, you can also see just how much room we had under and between the benches. The mom stayed down there for around 6 hours, which meant Kendall needed legs about 15 inches shorter. The smells, sounds, and aggravation made sleeping nearly impossible as it got later. This all led to a very unhappy and miserable Darbie and Kendall.

This all might seem pretty trivial, but there are more stories that would only frighten you. Did I mention how we were basically dehydrating ourselves so that we wouldn't have to experience the bathroom? During Spring Festival, when trains are even more packed, many people where diapers or strategically use bags and bottles. Yuck!

So we're NOT saying never take a Chinese train, just never take a Chinese train hard-seat for more than, oh 6 hours. Anything else, and you're asking for an exercise in patience, will, and sanity.

We actually did get to Luoyang, and we'll have that story next (it's a little better).

DB & KM

P.S. Beware! Immediately wake yourself up if you see this in a dream...