Hard sleeper class on the train to
Kunming, looking rather like Alcatraz
Sharing a snifter of Cape Breton ten
year old malt with Eric and Ellie
When
we woke this morning I think we both had trepidations about what the
next day would have in store for us as we set off on our first
Chinese railway adventure. A taxi dropped us off at the train
station well in time for our twenty three hour trip to Kunming. We
saw more Western faces in the half hour we waited for the train than
we have done in most of our time in mainland China. Even so the
majority of passengers were Chinese.
Our
bags were scanned airport style as we entered the train station and
we then went up to sit in the waiting room. There is something about
Chinese public buildings that seems to create the need for large
cavernous rooms with very dim lighting. The electricity they must
save by not lighting buildings during the day must enable them to
keep up the bright and garish neon displays that are a feature of
every Chinese city we have been in. There was no hustle and bustle
of vendors trying to get you to buy last minute wares, much to
Stef’s disappointment as he was hoping for a spot of breakfast
before we got on board.
With just ten minutes to go before departure they finally
opened the doors and everyone streamed down and onto the platform.
We found our carriage and before we were settled in our little cabin
we were off and the mental clock was ticking down the next twenty
three hours. We had opted to travel in style and went for a soft
sleeper cabin. These are small compartments with a door you can shut
to keep out the noise and smells from the train. Bunk bed style
benches are on each side of the cabin and there is barely enough
space for two people to stand let alone all four occupants of the
cabin. A lace tablecloth, antimacassar style covers on the seats and
carpet add a few creature comforts and the atmosphere was greatly
improved when we found the volume control to turn down the endless
stream of Chinese music blaring away in the cabin.
Our biggest concern had been that we would have to spend our
time on the train in the company of spitting, snorting, throat
clearing, slurping Chinese people, although it may have enabled us
to get more of an insight into the local culture and customs,
assuming they spoke English. But the sounds they made are pretty
disgusting and they spit wherever they are irrespective of who else
is around and about and it was not a prospect I considered with
relish. To our great relief we saw Western faces and spent the
journey in the company of Ellie and Eric who have spent the last few
years living in Sydenham, not far from us in South London.
They were good travel companions and time went by quickly as we
shared travel tales and experiences, talked about home and mused
about how odd it was to be spending Christmas Eve in this way. Stef
went for a wander to have a look at the rest of the train. One way
was the dining car, which seemed to be endlessly full of train staff
counting bits of paper and having little interest in serving anyone.
The other way was the hard sleeper carriage. Open “cabins” with six
beds in the space we had for four. Some were empty, others were full
but even early on in the journey unpleasant smells were starting to
brew. As we left the train we saw the cheapest carriages, hard
seats. Not good for a journey as long as this one.
In some ways the most enduring memory of that trip will be the
smells on the train. Whilst in theory being close to the dining car
has benefits if you are hungry, in practice it was probably a bad
deal. Every time the train stopped the air became full of a stench
which was a combination of sewers (toilets were stand up holes in
the floor leading directly out onto the track) and burning cooking
smells. Frequently throughout the journey we had to shut our door
because of the stomach churning smell of burning cooking oil and
vinegar. It was the sort that goes right up your nose and makes you
cough, not great for me and Stef as we were both coughing away quite
beautifully under our own steam.
A couple of times during the day a woman would walk up and down
the train pushing a trolley full of food. For about £1 you got a box
full of rice and another with chicken, vegetables, pickles and a
fried egg. Despite the unpleasant smells that came from the kitchen
the food was pretty tasty and very filling and thankfully had no
nasty side effects.
The landscape we passed through was pretty boring and
unremarkable and with not much to see, a feature that is following
us around China. We passed some rice fields and in others sugar cane
was growing (it looks like bamboo but the cane is a purpley black
colour). The earth has now changed from very sandy soil to being
bright red clay like soil. We spent some time catching up on our
diaries, much to the bemusement of the Chinese people who walked by,
and we read for a little while.
If there is ever a case for someone to look at a journey and
see how it can be improved, this has to be it. The trip was
scheduled to last for twenty three hours but we arrived about half
an hour early. One frustration though was the number of times we
stopped. Often the stops were at stations and people got on and off.
Unlike India though there was no frantic activity on the platforms
with vendors racing to the windows to try to sell you bites to eat
or liquids to drink. The longer stops though seemed to be in the
middle of nowhere. Sometimes another train would go by in the other
direction but often we seemed to stop for no reason at all. I think
that if you chopped the stopping time out of the journey you could
probably halve the overall journey time.
By evening, boredom was starting to set in and we agreed that
it was time for games. Packs of cards came out of bags and we spent
an hour or so playing rummy, Shithead and Slap the Queen (not sure
if this is what it is really called but we cannot remember the name
Ellie and Eric gave it). The rules for the games new to us are set
out below. Stef was on a winning streak and each time we switched to
a new game he seemed to win.
We made our little cabin as festive as we could. Ellie had an
advent calendar Christmas card which went up on display accompanied
by a couple of satsumas and Stef’s little Canadian Mountie Moose,
who, with a red jacket on, performed admirably as Santa. We still
had with us a miniature of single malt whiskey that we had bought in
Cape Breton on the East coast of Canada and it provided a welcome
tipple. With no glasses to hand, four bottle tops made do as shot
glasses and we had a festive toast or two.
As the night wore on, yawns circulated around and a little
after ten we all crashed out. Surprisingly the beds were pretty
comfortable and were long enough. As I lay on the top bunk reading
my book I was trying to work out if the very deep breathing sounds
that verged on light snoring were coming from Stef or from Eric.
Stef was the culprit.
Rules for the card games we learned from Ellie and Eric
Slap the Queen This one is so easy you can teach the Indian
guys who take you on a two night camel trek how to play.
Remove one queen from the pack and discard it. Deal the rest of the
cards out to the players. Each player looks at their cards and if
they have any matching pairs they discard them. The player to the
right of the dealer starts. They turn to the player on their left
and take a card from that player, discarding any new matched pairs
as they go. The next player then takes their turn and so on. The
object of the game is to discard all your cards. The loser is the
person who is left with the remaining queen.
Shithead Best played with two packs of cards.
Three cards are dealt face down in front of each player. A card is
then dealt face up on top of each of those cards. Each player is
then dealt a hand of five cards and the remaining cards form a stock
pile. The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards. At
the start of the game each player has the option of changing any or
all of the cards face up in front of him for cards in his hand. Play
starts by a player putting a three onto a discard pile. In turn each
player has to place one or more cards of a higher value onto the
discard pile (aces are high). While the stock pile lasts, players
must replace played cards so that they have five cards in their hand
(if they have more than five cards they do not need to pick up from
the stock pile). If a player cannot go they have to pick up the
discard pile. There are two “wild cards” in the game. A ten clears
the deck so those cards are removed from play. A two reduces the
value of the discard pile back down to three so any card can be
played. Once you have finished all the cards in your hand you can
then play the cards face up on the table in front of you. Once those
cards have finished you play the cards face down. Obviously there is
luck involved here as you do not know the value of the card you will
play until you turn it over.
