Train arrived Beijing 14:00 and was an absolute slog. I really do not advise people to spend over 15.5 Hrs on a hot, crowded, uncomfortable, overnight train.
As per previous post, we were sat at the front of the line at 9:30PM last night, an hour before it was to leave, tickets in hand, Miao’s mother with a platform ticket (1 yuan).
We had a huge bag of food for the journey that Miao’s mother had prepared, 2 big bags of luggage, my shoulder bag and Miao’s camera case. Getting to the carriage and luggage onto the rack was effortless, as there were very people there so far. We were a little dissappointed to discover that we didn’t have window seats, and regretted not asking about it on Saturday.
Among the entertainment Miao and I watched together was an episode of Scrapheap Challenge Series 14 on my iPod. On my EEPC we watched 80% of episode 2 of the 90′s BBC production of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth in it. I was falling asleep nearer the end, so we decided to call it a day on that.
Sleeping upright wasn’t easy, and we swapped every little while leaning on an edge of table that we had access to. The night was spent in a bit of a dozey daze, on the edge of sleeping but not really. The iPod for me was saviour here, as it provided something for my mind to focus on.
Throughout the journey Miao had a bit of a chat with 2 guys and 1 girl around us, while I spent most of my time either reading, eating or listening to BBC Podcasts on my iPod.
A definite highlight for me was visiting the train squat toilet on one occassion to find a big pile of human feaces on the floor, clearly having completely missed the hole, and no I didn’t take a picture of it, I had other things on my mind (Not Puking).
There were fans that rotated on the roof to provide cooling. The windows opened half way, from the bottom up, and provided enough wind to feel comfortable. On the often occassions when we were stopped to let faster trains go past, the windows however had a bit of a drawback. The faster trains would rip past at speed, very close by, creating a huge torrent of air to pass through the train knocking over lots of stuff.
The train conductors cottoned onto this and started making people close the windows. As you can imagine, they weren’t happy about being hot so they complied and when the conductors went away, they just opened them again (only some did).
Having arrived in Beijing we hoped on the Airport bus which starts near by the train station. It cost 16 kuai each and took 45 minutes to arrive, at which point we sussed out where the Emirates Checkin desks were in the airport. We checked the BOC branch for currency exchange, they apparently didn’t have enough GPB. There was a Currency Exchange stall but they were charging a fortune, so we’ll be doing our exhanging in England.
Miao called up a man from the hotel who runs a free bus service for people who have reservations, and we made the trip to the hotel without any problems.
The hotel cost a quite reasonable 168 kuai/night for an ensuite room with 2 single beds, air conditioning, kettle and TV. We paid 200 kuai deposite and left our ID details with them (photocopies of the passports) which is required by law for me (to be registered) and were showed to our room by a bell boy.
It was the afternoon by this time and we were exhausted so we collapsed on the bed and slept for a few hours. We just came back from eating some Chow Fan (Fried Rice) for 15 kuai at the hotel restaurant. We’ll take turns showering and then turn in for the night as we have a 3:30 AM wake up call. The flight’s at 7:40, the regulations say you must arrive 3 hours before and the hotel said that 5AM was to late to leave, so 4AM tomorrow it is.
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