Bye to Beijing, Train to Shenzen & Hong Kong

My travel buddies and I, Sarah and Elizabeth along with Erik our new addition, all had flights out of Hong Kong so planned to spend our last few days in Asia here. Flights from Beijing to Hong Kong were horrendously expensive (upwards of $300) so we figured we'd train it for $60. We could not find out where to buy the tickets online from a website in English that did not double the price in service fees so we enlisted our friend Heshuang who is from China to help us in acquiring tickets. This is somewhere China differs. She told us there is no centralized ticket outlet and they're not available online. Tickets for most destinations do not go on sale until 10 days before departure at which time they are often immediately sold out. Fair enough, so she took us to a travel agent close to campus where we waited in line for half an hour on day 10 prior to departure. Once at the counter, we were told they do not sell tickets to Hong Kong at this location, nor any travel agent in fact and we must go to the main Beijing train station. In other words, we need to take an hour subway ride to wait in a line that is the only place in the city tickets can be purchased (this sounds incredibly painful) to find out that they are probably sold out already. Heshuang tried making some phone calls for us to avoid wasting time but the lines were busy. We paced and pondered on the sidewalk until Heshuang suggested we go to Shenzen rather than Hong Kong. It is in mainland China but only a subway ride away from Hong Kong. We got back in line for the travel agent and they did indeed sell tickets to Shenzen, although the only option left was the top bunk of the 'hard sleeper.' This is the lower class sleeping berth which has 3 high bunks/6 per room, except the room has no doors. We had hoped to get a 'soft sleeper' which has four bunks and is an enclosed room so we could have the place to ourselves. No such luck but at least we were able to get the top four bunks of two adjacent rooms. We were relieved just to have tickets purchased and the whole issue settled.

The train ride lasted 24 hours and had a few exciting moments. The top bunk is very high. One must be in decent shape to 1) lift the heavy bags to the rack up there and 2) climb the fold-up steps while lifting body weight with arms since there is no actual ladder. The top bunk does not allow for sitting unless the neck bends 90 degrees to the side and the window only extends as far as the middle bunk so it is dark, cave-like, and somewhat isolated. These are the least sought-after spots on the train. After the morning however, the tree-house nest isolation turned out to be not so bad. There were many in our car of an older age range who woke up at the crack of dawn. This would have been fine except for the loud man. He sat alone and tried to engage all in the vicinity in conversation. He looked out the window and commented to himself/everyone about the scenery (we guessed). The decibels of his vocal outbursts were far higher than necessary. Three quarters of the train car was still sleeping but his voice was like having a rooster in the car with us. When some other would respond to him on occasion, the noise level would elevate to an unbearable level and at one point the woman on the bunk below me chewed them out. Their voices were library level for a minute or two until excitement over the beautiful rice paddies elevated them to cosmic proportions.

At about 6 am , I left my bunk for a fold-down seat by the window in order to enjoy the scenery since sleeping was over and done with. There are two fold down seats per 6-person room and they are the size of a camping stool. There is a small table in between which is convenient for eating or playing cards. Only two people on the bottom bunk can sit up straight so there are four people at all times vying for the two window seats. This is the case for the whole car so wherever one can see a seat in view, it is fair game. I spied and connived that morning until someone got up and I musical-chaired the open seat. I felt tired again around 7:45 and went back to rest in my bunk. Not so fast… at 8, the music turned on. Loud, communal music for the entire train to enjoy. The music had been playing the night before but I hadn't expected it to play as a wake-up call and last the entire day, which it did. No headphones, no options, just blaring. The individual does not exist thus personal choice is a non-concept.

As a side note, it is common for people to listen to their iphone/mp3 player in public without headphones. People in the park blast that awful sound of hand-held-device speakers and our suitemate did it for a while and competed with the communal train music. Really awful.

The ride throughout the day was pleasant. We played poker, hearts, crazy eights, read, chatted, joked, and ate peanut butter (food is for sale in roving carts, but it is relatively expensive and didn't look that good). The train did not arrive until 8 o'clock at night but it really didn't seem all that long. The last hour held the most exciting moment. On a stop not long before our endpoint, a family with a baby boarded and sat in the car with Sarah. Babies in China wear pants that are split down the middle so they can micturate and defecate in public without the worry of changing diapers or making a mess. These convenient crotchless pants are standard for ages 1-4 more or less. I have seen these on babies on the street all over the place in China, but was surprised that an indoor experience would involve this same fashion. An hour before our stop, the terminus of the, the baby urinated on the floor. It ran down and puddled up around Sarah's backpack which was stowed under the bunk. This event caused no reaction whatever from the parents or anyone else - an absolutely normal event that didn't turn a head. Sarah was first speechless, then enraged. It wouldn't even have time to dry before she had to wear that pack. This is telling of sanitation and hygiene in China. The country may be developing rapidly in a material way but the aforementioned issues do not seem to move forward like the rest. A sleek facade will often have a bathroom of horrors and no one blinks an eye.

I better say a word about bathrooms. Hot water is unheard of in sinks. Toilet paper is almost unheard of as provided by the bathroom. Strangely enough, 90% of toilet stalls have a toilet paper holder but you would be overcome with wonderment if it actually had a roll of paper in it. You are to supply it yourself except in special situations like at the university. Here, there are empty toilet paper holders in each stall but one near the sink outside that usually has toilet paper. Since there is only one roll for the bathroom, when it is out - outta luck. You can try a bathroom on a different floor but sometimes, it's just a strike-out all around. There is also rarely soap except in special situations, like in a high-end shopping mall. A hand-blower might be present but it will rarely work and paper towels absolutely do not exist anywhere in any shape or form. Perhaps all these measures serve to induce environmentally-conscious behavior which is good. The squatter toilets I can understand as being preferred by those who are used to them. I cannot use them well without missing though. The one thing that cannot be justified is the lack of toilet vents (seemingly) judging by the smell of all bathrooms. Neither do squatter toilets have a pool of water that blocks sewer gases so most bathrooms are permeated by the smell of an open sewer even if they look clean. I was trying to figure out: if you are accustomed to bathrooms always smelling nauseating, if you enter one that smells like nothing, does it make an olfactory/psychological impression? Or does a non-smell where a bad smell should be make no impact because it is an anomaly of the sort that is not memorable?

Back to the subject at hand: pee on the backpack, puddles on the floor and we were ready to leave that train! Shenzen is quite convenient to Hong Kong as it is the closest mainland city to the island. When we got off the train, we followed a confusing and circuitous path to customs where we said goodbye to our summer in China. We knew Hong Kong would be different and were ready for a change. We exchanged some currency and figured out the subway route to our much-anticipated hostel in Kowloon.