P e r a m b u l a r e

Watching The Train | by Samer Farha

No, this wasn’t the Orient Express, but it was an over 1000 mile journey by train from Hong Kong to Beijing. Why? Well, why not? Trains are a romantic way to travel. They provide a glimpse of scenery you normally wouldn’t see, regardless if it is a trip to Baltimore or to Beijing. And a train is probably the best mode of transport for a long trip. Sure, the flight would have been around four hours, but it would have been cramped and annoying.

This trip is scheduled to last a little over 24 hours, and I knew there would be some challenges. For one thing, I couldn’t really figure if they had a food car nor what they might serve on it. They do, and they serve various traditional Chinese fare, and some Pringles. Beer and soda are readily available, too.

I got my tickets from chinatripadvisor.com. They were helpful, and they delivered my ticket to my hotel the day I arrived. I didn’t know to ask, but you certainly should, about the sleeping accommodations. The “deluxe soft sleeper” is deluxe only in comparison to the other accommodations. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice room and the bunks are wide and reasonably comfortable, but they are not what I would call “soft”. It turns out you are assigned the bunk when you get the ticket, so make sure you ask for a lower bunk if you can’t climb up.

When I got to my cabin, I saw there was a woman there, already. I was hopeful she’d speak some English, seeing as these were the expensive seats. The only English she spoke was “bye bye,” which she said after the train had departed and she found another empty cabin to move to. That was very nice of her, as I now had a private room. With my own toilet.

Around 7:00p, I decided to go investigate food options. Apparently, they are happy to take your meal order over the phone and bring it to your room, but I can’t speak Chinese, so I had to go find the food car. Not far to go, as it was next door. I wasn’t sure how things worked, as it isn’t like a cafe car on Amtrak — there are seats and table service here. Eventually, with the help of a very nice man who translated for me, I ordered the “beef with pepper and chilies” and hoped for the best. The food, with the exception of some seaweed soup, was quite good — and not just by train standards.

Night falls pretty quickly on the train. It seemed that one moment it was bright and then darkness. That’s probably the overcast and hazy nature of summer here, leaving you with no twilight to speak of. Sleep comes easily on a train. The rhythmic rocking, the recurring noise, the slight vibration, they all help to gently easy you to sleep. The loud kids and the mechanical “click, click, click” from next door didn’t help, at all, but it wasn’t too bad.

Waking up to a hazy sky with rolling fields of corn everywhere has got to be one of the best ways to wake up. The haze is pervasive, though. It’s not just a big city thing, it seems. Something so serene watching the world go by your window while listening to some chill out music.

As you might imagine, there’s a lot of poverty and decay alongside the train tracks. Farmland and warehouses, too. Looking out on rows of simple brick structures which people are living in makes me quite thankful for the luck that put me somewhere else. And yet, the people I see going about their business from the window, they don’t seem to be any more or less happy than the people running around the subways of Hong Kong or Tokyo. Or Washington, for that matter.

We’ve made a fair number of stops along the way, though I can’t figure out what for. I don’t see people getting on or off. Just rail employees and police wandering around. Each stop is usually around a half an hour, and that adds up. For a through train, it does take it’s time. I’d think that a high speed train would be mighty welcome here. Assuming for a moment that it is exactly 1000 miles, we’re averaging around 41 miles per hour. If they eliminated all the stops and added a train that goes 120 MPH, the trip would take around 8.5 hours.

Breakfast time comes and goes. I am a late breakfaster when I can, and on this train, you can’t. I walk over to the dining car and they tell me to come back at 11, as there was no more food. At 11, they tell me to come back at noon. Finally, at noon I decided the best thing to have was the “fried ham crab with egg cake.” Most of you would recognize that as an omelet, complete with chives and everything. Served with rice and a soup of some sort, it turns out to be a filling meal.

I’ve been passing the time watching some episodes of Top Gear’s 11th season that I downloaded when I was in Tokyo, and editing some pictures. The haze outside has gotten worse as we approach Beijing. Two and a half hours out, and visibility is not even 100 yards. It looks like fog, but it isn’t.

When I arrived at the train station, I caused lots of commotion by apparently being the first to go through immigration with an Olympic pass as the visa. They were overjoyed, taking pictures with me and offering me bottled water. I was like a celebrity for a moment.

Getting from the train station to the apartment was a bit challenging. If you think NY City cabbies drive like maniacs, you need to spend some time on the Chinese highways. Holy crap. Internet access here is a bit limited, but I’ll try to post some more when I can.