Trouble on the Train

Ali, Matt and I arrived in Ping Yao at 7:00 in the morning and were confronted by lots of hostel and restaurant touts. We headed straight for the old city which is surrounded by a completely intact 6km Ming Dynasty wall (claimed to be the last remaining in China). Within these walls we found ancient temples and courtyard houses. Antique shops lined the many small cobbled streets were we spent the early hours of the day just wandering around. We stumbled across Wen Tao, the master of Jian Yi Yuan Garden and the ancient art of paper cutting. We all purchased some art and I took a photograph of the artist in her gallery-like shop. After buying a book on Chinese paper cutting only days earlier in Beijing, it was nice to see actual pieces being cut by a master. It was unbelievably hot today. We met Yonghong, the annoying woman who tried to sell us a room at her hotel at the station earlier this morning. She finally persuaded us to come in for tea. We met her husband Jipu who peeled a pear for each of us. I don't usually like pears, but this one was particularly good. Two hours later we were still sitting at their table chatting and eating Yonghong's delicious home cooked food. She made Shui Jianbao (fried pork-filled bread) and fried beef with potato. Yonghong and Jipu were extremely helpful to us and in return we offered them some helpful tips on how to get their hotel noticed and published in guide books.

There were so many people transporting merchandise and bulky belongings. I saw pedicabs piled high with boxes, building materials and even furniture. People on bikes managed to balance their steering as they carried towering tiers of shoe boxes tied together with string. We couldn't believe our eyes when a rickshaw cycled towards us with the biggest bale of hay attached to the back of it. It was so big that it almost touched the sides of the walls. We dived out of the way to avoid being trampled. He wasn't going to stop for anything.

We sat in the stifling station for two hours as we waited for our train to arrive. Ali went to try and upgrade our tickets from standing (yes... standing) to 'hard sleeper' (soft-sleeper is out of the question). She returns. No joy. Hopefully we can upgrade on the train. Ali then left the station to try and wash her feet with a bottle of water outside. I can't remember if I've written about this before but the amount of people starring at us is unbelievable. It's almost like we're aliens from another planet. You'd think they had never seen white people before. I used to just smile back at them but now I'm getting a little tired of it.

So we finally get up from our sticky seats in the fly ridden waiting room that reeks of poo. Me and Matt get first position in the queue at the departure gate so that we can negotiate a better seat on the train (we were told this is the way to get beds or soft seats on the train if none where available at the ticket office). Just before we went through the departure gate, we were approached by a man who claimed to work for the trains. He offered us an upgrade on all our tickets. We 'semi-agreed' keeping our wits about us and let him lead us down the platform away from all the other people. Not quite sure what was about to happen next, he asked us for "souvenir coins" from other countries. We all chipped in (except me because I threw all mine away as they weren't worth much and started to weigh me down). Just minutes later the train pulls in to the station. As the windows on the train passed by, nothing but fear ran through me. The amount of people hanging out of the window was alarming. There wasn't enough space for them to stand never mind sit. Once the train stopped, our friend escorts us to what looks like the restaurant carriage and started bargaining with the attendant. With what looks like not much success he continues to usher us down to the next carriage along - one of the dangerously over-occupied ones. As I walk along the side of the carriage, trying not to look at the hundreds of starring faces out of the window, I am welcomed by the throwing of cans out of the windows above. A little nervous about the next 13 hours of my life, I stepped up onto the carriage and followed Ali who squeezed her way along the car. It took us about 10 minutes to walk the short length of the carriage but it was well worth the effort. Turns out that our friend managed to get us seats in the restaurant car after all. We were allocated a whole table just for us and two meals for only 40rmb extra (about 1.75 pounds). It's not perfect (100% satisfaction would have been a sleeper carriage) but it's much better than what we would have had to deal with. Once we got settled I turned around to see what life was like in the other carriages. Their little round faces where all squashed up against the door looking through the glass at us in pure envy. We weren't the only ones who managed to buy our way into more humane conditions - several other wealthy youngsters knew about this corrupt operation and took advantage of it. There was a mixed crowd in the carriage. Most looked poor, a few were rich kids, and the rest seemed to be train staff and attendants or officials. I put my head on the table to try and get some sleep. With some luck I'll wake up and we'll be in Xi'an!

...I thought that was going to be the ending for today's entry. I was wrong. Just minutes after I put the pen down and my journal away, a guy who was being detained at the end of our carriage for bad behavior just leapt up and smashed one of the beer bottles across the table in an attempt to seriously hurt if not kill one of the 6 officials who were keeping him under control. He had previously been told to leave his seat (we figured it was because he wasn't supposed to be in this "special carriage") but for some reason resisted the officials attempts to remove him. They finally sat him down at the end of the carriage but he still kept trying to escape. It wasn't until he reached for the bottle and then 'bang, bang, smash' when I realised that he must have done something seriously wrong to risk murder charges for an escape. They tied him up at the end of the carriage with belts and rope. I had to walk past him to go to the bathroom at one point. I stepped over him with caution. I was sure he was going wriggle towards me and bite. I think it might be wise to stay awake tonight.