The Train Kept-a-Rollin...

So here I am, on a Chinese railway train rolling across the country. We have now left Beijing, and are headed towards Shenzhen, 27 hours and thousands of miles away. We jut passed Nanchang and the Yangtze River, about halfway, so I figured this would be a good time to catch up on all this writing.

My buddies Cliff and Colin in their spacious and luxurious Chinese train beds.  This was us at the beginning of our 27 hour trip.  Those smiles faded quickly.

This train is the most cramped and compact thing I have ever experienced. I am on top bunk, and I literally cannot sit up. The roof of the train is about 18 inches from my bed, and we are stacked that way 3 high. All the loud, obnoxious Meiguorens (Americans) are on top, and all the Zhongguorens are on the bottom two. Many of them have screaming children, which further complicates the situation.

Leah attempting to get something out of her bag.  The bed to roof space was about 18 inches or so.

We have made friends with a young Chinese girl, Liu Ma, who was thrilled with my camera, and she took some of these pictures. Then we taught her "go fish," but of course had to play in Chinese. "Bu you san?" "Bu you..."

Cliff and Carrie with Liu Ma.  She and the fellow on the bunk behind kept us entertained by teaching us Chinese.

This train ride is a really great detox... we have now left Beijing and I can clear my mind and get ready for Shenzhen, which may be a starkly different place from Beijing. Well... only 10 hours left to go....





oh, and also, new weird things I have eaten recently:



Jellyfish - Like cold, see-through spaghetti. Not quite my thing, but still edible enough that I could choke them down if I had to.

Thousand Year Old Eggs - I have no idea how they make these, but they are horrible.  It is an egg that has soliidified into this greenish, weird gelatinous texture.  Really pretty awful all around.


Pork Liver - Very spongy and kind of dry. Not especially exciting...a little bland.

A thousand-year-old egg.  More like brown, crappy jello.