Back online after a relaxing but disgusting 38hr train journey from Cunming to Xi’an. Having initially cringed at the price of the ‘tourist soft sleeper seats’, by the end of our journey we were delighted we had forked out the extra cash. We had a very comfortable compartment comprising four beds and thankfully we had it all to ourselves throughout – that was the easy part!
When we we eventually ventured from our cocoon we were slightly taken aback by the inhabitants of this, soon to be, 21st century super-power – gobbing, spitting, and flemming are just the start. Pushing and shoving and grunting can also be added to the list. The one time we ate we watched as they spat everything that wasn’t welcome on their plate right to the floor – animals. In their defence, we felt like spitting out the foot too, it was disgusting!
It is said that one in every three cigarettes consumed worldwide is smoked in China – this we can confirm without question. We hid in our cabin throughout to avoid the smoke engulfed carriages. It was almost a comedy sketch, a fag in one hand and chopsticks in the other – eating and smoking at once – something you certainly wouldn’t see back home. Everything they did was started and finished with a fag. They passed around a water pipe like it was a bag of sweets – everybody pulling and chuffing, comical really.
The majority of passengers seemed to be country bumkins, so hopefully this will not be the norm throughout China – we’ll see. The carriage windows were so dirty we could not take any scenic photos – great start!
First photo: Sam explaining to the police officer (that took our order) that he forgot to return our ten Yuan change, no doubt he was hoping we hadn’t noticed – chuffing on a fag!
