Second china train experience

The 12 hr overnight train ride to beijing actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be! For starters, the train station surprisingly wasn't as crowded as the weekend before (apparently most of the ppl returning home for cny left during friday daytime), and the trainride itself was extremely comfortable. A massive contrast to my last train experience.


At first there was a few problems getting to the train station, since every taxi i hailed down flatly refused to take me there, probably for fear of being stuck in horrendous traffic. funny thing is though, there was hardly anyone on the bus, and it didn't take all that long to get to the station (taking into account the usual rush hour traffic of course).


I had previously done a favour for one of the local chinese students at the school, and he had insisted on taking me to the station that night to ensure i survived the crowds and got on the right train. I might go into the details of this story in a future blog, but to be brief, I had helped him correct some Information technology thesis (of which i have no knowledge) he'd translated from chinese into english, which had caused me much distress. Kept telling him i was over the whole incident and that i'd already caught a train the prevous weekend, but he was adamant to make things up to me. And you know when some people are adamant (especially chinse!), theres just no way to change their mind. In the end though, he actually was able to do much more than just guide me to my train. He had a cousin who worked at the station who was able to let me into the VIP waiting room to await my train! When i say VIP waiting room i don't mean a lounge bar with gorgeous waitresses serving you complimentary wine, i mean a room with slightly less people and lounge chairs. So at least i didn't have a repeat of the jostle fest of last week :)
Seems like everyone here in china has a friend or relative working in a train station!



















The sleeper train itself was alot more modern than i thought. The interior feels somewhat like that of a comercial plane. You can choose between 2 types of berths/sleepers, hard or soft. I chose to book a hard, since i'd heard the soft berth rooms are closed off by a door to the rest of the train (not good for safety or your posessions if there's dodgy people in your cabin), and most of these more expensive soft berths are booked by rich boring snobs, or businessmen. The hard berth is not a solid rock, and i had no problems at all sleeping. It must've been the gentle rocking of the train which helped! Each hard berth cabin has 6 berths - 2 sides with 3 levels each. The middle and top berths don't have enough head space for you to sit up, so u have to either lie down on these or invade the bottom person's berth to sit. For this reason i'd reserved a middle berth. I thought that this whole train would be booked out, but there were quite a few unbooked berths. My cabin mates told me it was becauase most chinese people didn't want to pay for berths, compared to the price for seats. I don't know how they do it. sitting or standing for 12 hours overnight, with very little room to move. no thanks, i'd rather fork out an extra 200 yuan or so! Lucky for me, our cabin was only me and a young couple from xi'an. lovely people. once intro's were made we were chatting for the few hours before lights out at 1030pm.
















I knew i couldn't avoid the toilets this time around, but i was pleasantly surprised to find a relatively clean modern looking loo! it was a squat one, but wasn't too shabby at all! After discovering this, i allowed myself to drink a little more water compared to the last trip :)


So after lights out at 1030pm, i slept the whole night and awoke to find myself in beijing, finally!

After managing to find the metro station closest the train station and negotiating the metro, i finally met up with a 2nd aunty whom i'd never met before. After intro's were made, the first thing she asked me was "well how about we grab some good coffee somewhere?". At that moment my heart sang, and inside i wept with tears of joy. I knew then that i was going to have a fantastic time in beijing :)

Weird and wonderful Chinese TV

At my homestay's place we receive about 56 channels. They're all in chinese except for one CCTV channel that is all in english. For some reason we don't have this channel at our place, which is a shame cuz i feel so disconected without tv news reports. CCTV by the way are a set of channels all controlled and administered by the chinese government. I think theres about 11-12 of them. Theres also some other local regional and non-cctv channels.

I try to watch as much TV as i can to try and improve the listening skills. At my current skill level though it's pretty tough to keep up with the pace. Most shows have chinese subtitles too so at least that helps. Many of the tv series are set back in ancient times. They really seem to romanticize over that era.





The news here is quite different to the news back in oz. Every night on most news reports the first story is always about something to do with the government, whether it be a new policy, progress report, whatever. If you don't understand chinese though, looking at the pictures doesn't really help you understand the story. In almost every one of these stories the footage is simply shots of officials in meetings. Shots of the speakers sitting in their seats, giving their talks, or of officials intently scribling down notes. And seriously, this goes on for the ENTIRE report. Some of these reports aren't short either! I remember one lasting about 10 minutes and they seemed to keep coming back to the same shots of the guest speakers sitting in their chairs! Somewhere in the middle they might throw in some text or a simple bar graph, but thats the extent of the variety of footage.





looky here, another meeting and more shots of officials taking notes. What a surprise!

oh actually i lied. heres a shot of people in a house. In a house, watching a news report with footage from a meeting.









Ads focus around a smaller range of goods compared to oz. Almost every 2nd ad is either for a drug or multivitamin, or a private hospital. My teacher told me that lately the chinese ppl have put a much greater value on health, and it certainly shows in the amount of advertising!












The next heavily advertised item seems to be baby formula and milk. I don't know if the advertising has always been this aggressive or if it was stepped up after the melamine scandal last year. Certainly all the companies are trying to play the ethical note now though. I've seen some pretty corny ads. Take this one for example. I can't understand the mandarin in the ad, but i'm sure it's something like : "we swear we haven't added melamine to your baby formula....unless the farmer that sold us the milk already has" oh and look, they've even got 2 token white people here to bump up the credibility. Surely it must be safe to buy.....

Next most advertised is high grade alcohol, like bai jiu, then banks (theres like a million different ones) instant noodles in a bowl, and then kfc.

China is the first country where i've seen advertising during all weather reports! When they do the national report they'll flash up a local business ad for each city's temperature they show. This other pic i've added here just cuz it looks like they're forcasting money to be falling from the skies :)





Theres quite a few home shopping networks too. They look just as corny as the ones back home.




Theres some pretty strange items sold here. One is some sort of inflatable steam cocoon that's supposed to help you lose weight, and the other is some high tech jocks that does god knows what. From the pictures i'm guessing it's for avoiding prostate problems and increasing men's labido? I wonder if men actually buy this crap? i personally don't fancy the idea of having high power 'space' magnets anywhere near that area!






At around 1am the late night phone-in game show comes on. I thought i could get away from them here! At least the presenter here in china doesn't sound like she's on speed and 20 cans of red bull.






I've seen alot of variety concerts on too. Some of them are government run, for e.g. there was one to celebrate china's first space walk with an artistic dance movement piece complete with astronaut costumes! Theres been another one to commemorate 30 years since china openned diplomatic ties with the west. They're either showing short clips every night, or this is an ongoing celebration with new performances every night. It's been on for like weeks! The crowd is mostly composed of officials (millatary and government) and celebrities. I must say they're either not too enthused by the performances, or they really show restraint when it comes to giving an applause!







This last shot is not from a government run concert. I don't know if this guy is famous, or if it's like idol. I recongnized one character from the lyrics - 'to fly'. but you don't need to know chinese to get the idea of the song...

Stinky feet on a china train

I don't think i've ever had a more uncomfortable journey in my life!

A local friend invited me and 2 other of his friends to visit him in his hometown of luoyang last weekend. One way the trip takes about five and a half hours. Not too long, but it was a very trying 5.5 hours.

Since the chinese new year is approaching next week theres alot more commuters than usual. a friend once told me it's considered as the biggest mass migration of people in the world each year. So at the train station and on the journey itself i seemed constantly immersed in a sea of ppl. Attached is a pic of the train station from the prior weekend on a sunday afternoon. As you can see, xi'an train station isn't exactly small. Still though, the train staff have errected these massive temporary sheds in front of the station for people to wait under just because there wouldn't be enough room in the station for everyone. Unfortunately we got to the station about 2 hours before the departure time so we had to wait out in the cold for about an hour. Even if you manage to book seats it's still a good idea to queue early, since luggage space gets taken up fairly quick. Maybe it's becuase of the approaching new year, but theres constantly a massive police prescence outside the station, helping to direct the traffic of people. Most of the time they're just screaming through megaphones to not rush and push, and pushing people into a line

I don't think i've ever been pushed and shoved so much in my life. I was expecting this, but it's still pretty unpleasant. I'd often feel someone persistantly pushing up against my back and turn around to find that person wasn't being pushed by somebody else behind him/her! What is it with the mentality?! Theres zero space between me and the guy in front, so pushing me won't get you to your seat any faster! and then when you're waiting in the aisles for people to stow their luggage again you'd have these imbeciles knudging you in the back or trying to squeeze down your side to overtake you, when clearly the aisle ahead is impassable!

Many of the offenders seemed to be middle aged or older people too, so i couldn't just stand there and push them back. All i could do was turn my head and give them a scowl. It's not like i'm the only one annoyed though, as you can clearly hear and see the disatisfaction of the locals with the commuter etiquette. Because theres so many people pushing you sorta have to jump into the mass and just ride the wave of people, ensuring you don't drop anything on the floor or get pinned at doorways. Alot of the commuters like to pack their luggage using massive square heshon bags they lugg over their backs, or re-used massive rice sacks, so be prepared to be whacked in the head a few times with these.

We made sure we booked the tickets early, since they still allocate standing tickets once all the seats are taken. In my train cart there were probably at least 10 people standing. Pretty harsh ride for a 5.5 hour overnight trip. At least people do sit where they're supposed to, or move from your seat once you come back from the toilet or a smoke.

The meal of choice on train trips here is the trusty ole instant noodles in a foam bowl. They have boiled water dispensers on the train, so it's pretty easy to prepare. Otherwise there a food cart that comes around selling fruit, snacks and drinks.

Theres always some sort of sales promotion put on by the train staff, each trip being a different good. It's by no means releated to trains or ensuring a comfortable journey whatsoever though. On the outbound journey it was little counterfit-money light detectors, and the return trip was some laser light spinning top for the kiddies. Both items looked like stuff you could pick up in a cheap market. I didn't see anyone buy a single item though. Surely they could do better by selling inflatable pillows or decks of cards?

Another peril of journeying on trains here is the lack of signage at train stations. Theres no plethora of signage on the platforms to tell you which station you've arrived at (though theres plenty of advertisements!), and although there are sparse announcements over the train, if you're not fluent in mandarin like myself you have to intently listen for your city name. I don't know about other routes but on this one there was about 1-1.5 hours on average between stops, so if you miss your stop be prepared for an expensive taxi ride back or a night in some dodgy hotel in a backwater town! Train conductors aren't very approachable or helpful either. An announcment told us we were to arrive back in xi'an at 9:05pm, so we were lining up at the doors at about 9pm. Come 9:30 somebody asked one of the conductors when we'd arrive, to which he mumbled 5 minutes. So, everyone kept standing around for another "5 minutes", and we eventually stumbled out of the train at 10:05.

The other staff member that comes around is the cleaner (or one of the ticket masters). He just comes down the aisle with a little broom and gets everyone to lift up their feet as he makes his sweep. Since theres no trash bins in the carts theres quite alot of rubbish on the floor, so by the time the cleaner gets to about the middle of the cart the wave of rubish he's pushing is quite big!

I can't make any comment about the toilet since i avoided them like the plague on both journeys. Had to slightly dehydrate myself, but i'm sure i've avoided being scarred for life. Public toilets outside of trains are grotty enough, so i can only imagine what the toilet train would be like.

Although i'm hating the brutal winter here at the moment, the one upside is theres little perspiration and hence B.O. from other commuters. However, when you're tightly squeezed into a small space for a few hours with no open windows your nose starts to detect faint odours. The outgoing trip wasn't too bad, since my friends and I managed to get seats facing each other. The return trip i was by myself though, and was unlucky enough to have some feral woman opposite me taking her shoes off and sticking them on the seat beside me when my neighbour would go off somewhere. A few times she even pushed her smelly socked feet up against the front face of the seat between me and my neighbour. One time she managed to squeeze her foot into the space and i could then actually feel her trying to knudge my leg away so she could squeeze her other foot in. Naturally i held firm and gave her foot a knudge back and shot her the dirtiest stare i could muster. Of course she just acted like she didn't see my dirty look for the whole 15 seconds, but she got the message. Was a bit of a catch 20 situation though since i wanted to move my leg and avoid the scent of her smelly feet rubbing off against my jeans, but then at the same time i didn't want her to squeeze the second foot in and make it twice as stinky while i uncomfortably curled up like a ball on the edge of the seat.

*sigh* looking forward to the 12 hour overnight train journey to beijing this friday :(

The Terracotta Warriors

I didn't specifically choose xi'an for the tourist attractions, but it just so happened that the historic sight i most wanted to check out ended up being nearby - the terracotta warriors. I'd been looking forward to this trip for awhile, puting it down as one of the must do things before i leave xi'an. I must say i wasn't dissappointed.

Since another foreign student arrived about a week ago we decided to make the trip together. good thing too since we were convinced to hire the english guide and were able to split the guide's fee between us. No regrets hiring the guide, since she explained quite alot.
The sight is composed of 4 pits. Pit 1 contains the bulk of the army (about 7000 soldiers plus total horses, chariots, ect), pit 2 is a little smaller containing alot more cavalry and horses, pit 3 is even smaller than pits 1 and 2 and is the command post which is thought to house all the high ranking millitary figures, and pit 4 actually contains nothing. It's believed they never got around to filling this pit and completing the project.

The tomb of the first emperor of qin itself is in another location a few km away from the terracotta warriors. the guide told us that it's believed the emperor's original intention was to build 4 terracotta warrior tombs, each to stand guard at the 4 different directional gates into the giant mausoleum city, with the tomb of the emperor at the center. They still haven't excavated the entire necropolis of the emperor's tomb since they're still waiting for the development of adequate technology to properly preserve the contents of the tomb when it's eventually openned. You can see in the pic the sight of the t.warriors on the left, and the necropolis of the emperor on the right.

Whats really cool is every single soldier and general has a different face, and even the hairstyles and folds of the clothing or armor worn are different. that's attention to detail!
All the figures are made from soil from the nearby li mountain, and apparently only the souvenier warriors from the t.warrior museum are made from the same soil. This was enough to make me buy a small sourvenier figurine. lets hope australian customs don't confiscate it at the airport! Maybe the customs officer will think its made of synthetic material. Theres also a shop on the grounds where you can get them to image your face onto a picture of a t.warrior, or even get them to make a terracotta warrior with your face on it. scarey. guide reckons it takes 3 months to make. theres some interesting little souvenier figurines you can get. I didn't know they used to play basketball back in the qin dynasty :)

I also ended up buying the official guidebook, and had it personally signed by the farmer who discovered the tomb back in 1974. The guide told us he's not there in the souvenier shop every day, so we were lucky to catch him! He didn't look exactly like the guy in the celebrity photos so they could've put any old guy there and told us it's the original farmer. He still looks like a pretty simple guy for all the celebrity status he now enjoys. wonder if he's made alot of money? heh, maybe he just puts on the simple farmer act for the tourists, then afterwards jumps into his lexus out the back to cruise home to his penthouse in beijing!





On the bus trip home it just so happened that i was munching on some snacks i bought from the supermarket. When you see the pic you'll know why i had to try them. The funny thing is though, i later discovered that each of the little biscuits has a different print, much like the terracotta warriors! How random is that?! though i'm sure they don't have 8000 different koala prints!

B'day KFC + Food pt1

Celebrated my b'day by treating myself to kfc for lunch, catch up on all the meat i've been deprived of. This was actually my 2nd visit to kfc, so wasn't as special if i hadn't been before. last time i stuffed up my order and ended up getting small snack sized chicken wings, so this time i ensured i got the proper sized pieces.
Luckily kfc have a little mat sized english menu they can whip out from behind the counter if they see a foreigner. So the first thing i always ask for is the english menu!

Originally it was my intention to try to read and order in chinese, but if it's not too busy at kfc everyone sorta screams out 'huan ying' or 'guang ling(?) ' (welcome) as soon as you enter the door, then when you're trying to stand in the corner trying to be inconspicuous and using your dictionary, all the cashiers line up at the tills raising their hands and saying 'can i serve you sir' or something along those lines. So i feel i can't just stand there for 10 minutes to translate the entire menu and prepare a dialogue! It reminds me of japanese sushi trains where they all scream out welcome when someone enters. I've never been big on this, as i feel they just say it for the sake of saying it rather then feel all warm and cozy when they see a new customer's face. But since almost every single decent sized restaurant does it here in china i guess if the staff didn't say it people might think it's abnormally rude!

Anyway, back to the point. The cashier had to ask a few questions about my order, and i was trying to tell her i'd like 2 hot and spicy and 1 original recipe, when to my horror i found out theres no hot and spicy option! I thought i must be translating wrong, but she told me that they're all the same taste. the ones with the hot and spicy skin were actually just zinger wing or snack size. I was genuinely shocked with this. I wonder if it's different in each region? Surely kfc in sichuan province has hot and spicy. SURELY! p.s. they don't have awesome chips here, it's just fries that taste like maccas fries.

The following are some of the local dishes of xi'an and some old chinese favourites. For those who know, excuse me if i get the names wrong

Chicken feet - I don't know the proper name but direct translation is 'gee zhua zi' Now i'm no stranger to the ole chicken feet, having had it many a time at yum cha back in oz, but my homestay aunty served it to me straight up with the tailnails still attached. And these suckers were massive, much bigger (and more pale) than the ones i've had in the past. Suffice to say, i had to decline the offer. It might've been the mental image of suffocating on a giant chicken toenail that turned me off....

Yang pao rou mo - Lamb noodle soup with bread like pieces (mo). You usually have to tear up the bread pieces yourself. They say the smaller the better, but its alota work!

Jiao zi - i've mentioned the steamed little crimped dumblings in the first few blogs. Here in this part of china they can't get enough of em'. They like to dip em into a mixture of chilli oil and vinegar. The whole country observes the custom of dong zhi - on the day of the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year) everyone has to eat jiao zi, or else it is believed your ears will grow longer and you'll freeze even more in the winter cold.

I can't remember the name of this next one. but it's like blocks of soft stuff, made from corn, swimming in some very oily sauce and cucumber?

This next one is just a mixed noodle dish from one of the many small noodle houses. Notice the distinct 'garnishing' of meat! They commonly serve the noodle broth as a drink, poured into little bowls/saucers. Everytime i drink from these saucers i feel like i'm in ancient china.

The last one here is from a meal out at a 'huo guo' hot pot restaurant. It's basically steamboat, where thers the bowl of broth in the middle, and you just chuck in all the vegies, meat and tofu yourself.