Summary: I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in weeks. I didn’t realize how tired I was and how comfy the thin mattress would feel. Slept a solid 8 hours! I explored the train and saw 4 different types of cars: sleep cabins of 6, sleep cabins of 4,”the masses” seats only, dining car. I don’t know how the people in just the seats car did the 1st overnite sitting up…it’s worse than an airplane. I saw many many many beautiful sites going through the countryside: huge mountains, many different fields of crops, tiered plateaus somehow built into all the mountains, lots of green…and the pictures will paint a better description. I learned more about China/Tibet from foreign exchange students: 2 from Michigan, 1 from Holland. They were teaching me about Chinese culture…including how to use the Chinese toilets (I got a good technique now!). Pretty uneventful day as we were just enjoying the scenery, mingling with other foreigners, and living out of a bed.
Here's Day 4's Photo Album (mostly scenery)
Details:
Once I plopped down into my bed/seat last night, it was super comfy. I got tired real fast and ended up just conking out around 11 and woke up around 7:30ish for a solid 8 hours! The motion of the train and just being so tired helped me get some really good rest. A little cramped but it doesn’t matter if you’re super tired.
When I awoke this morning, I wanted to explore the rest of the train and find out what were the other accommodations like. There’s a 4 person sleeper that is slightly bigger with doors and controls for lighting. Our cabin has no door…open to the hallway. There’s 1 main dining car where you can sit down and be served. Food here is NOT good. Had my worst meal of the trip here…granted it’s still food, but no flavor, and stuff was undercooked. After the dining car I stepped into “The Masses” car, which only has seats but people’s luggages were in the aisle, and I have no idea how people could sleep and be comfortable in a huge cabin that fits everybody like a airplane. Made me appreciate my 6 person cabin a whole lot more. After an interesting breakfast, came back to my cabin where folks are hanging out in the aisle that has a very small seat and you gotta walk sideways to get by. The pictures will show you what I mean. The food carts are perfectly made with no room to spare in going up and down the aisle with hot food and snacks.
So, what else do we do on this train ride? In the cabin to the right and left of us was a tour group going to Lhasa as well. They’re all students who go to the universities in Beijing. Basically mingled with a bunch of them and shared stories, cultures, things about Tibet/China with lots of laughs. We did hit a serious topic tho…how to use the Chinese toilet. Skip to the next few sentences if you’re not into bathroom humor. Really. So the students who have been in Beijing for 10 months explained a great technique of how to use the toilet. It works great. They understood cuz it took them awhile to learn, so they were just passing on vital trade secrets. The trick is when you pull down your pants, don’t pull it down all the way to your ankles…do it right above your knee and squat. Also, toilet paper is not supposed to go down the toilet…it goes into the trash can next to it, otherwise you can clog up the toilet and everybody will be upset that YOU clogged it.It was much more comfortable going this time =)
Changing topics to more of the beauty of the ride:The scenery. Amazing. I’ll let the pictures and the brief (if any) aptions in the album do the speaking.
Lights out…time to go to bed! 1 more day of train travel…can’t wait to take a shower. Yes, I haven’t bathed nor had a fresh set of clothes since Thursday morning. I know. Gross…but hey, everyone on the train is doing it and we’re all just comfortable right now. Good night.
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