Chapter II: The Lhasa Express - A Day With the Train

After our three days and two nights in Xining, we rushed to get to our train - the Lhasa Express.  From Xining, the train takes 24 hours to get to our final destination.  There are two starting points - both from the coastal regions of China - Beijing and Shanghai.  The trip from these two points takes a full three days to reach Lhasa.  Trust me, after 24 hours on a train, I couldn't imagine spending three days on this moving tin can.  I can understand why there was a Murder on the Orient Express.

I was about to murder someone on this Orient express.

The whole experience first starts in the Xining train station.  The station is PACKED, full of migrant workers heading back to Tibet.  I mentioned before that we were rushing for the train as we were delayed in a car accident, we were to board at 730pm and we got there at 710pm, just in the nick of time.  But, this is China, and we were informed that the train was delayed by 30 minutes (this turned out to be untrue, as the real delay time was almost an hour and a half.)

Xining Train Station.  Nowhere to sit except for the ground.

We got into our "Comfort Class" cabins - a tiny room with six bunks in total.  Someone had already occupied our beds before Xining, so I was greeted with remnants of hair, used tissues and what I'm pretty sure was a nose nugget on the pillow.  Having inherited my dad's paranoia on germs, I immediately changed the sheets, stuffed them into the overhead luggage compartment and made a makeshift bed out of a novel (pillow), bedsheets (jacket and sweatshirt).  


People have told me there's something romantic about train travel.  The hum of the engine, the gentle rocking back and forth, and the incredible scenery that passes you as you zoom along the track.  Clearly, these people haven't travelled by train in China.  The hum of the engine is replaced by the bodily noises of other passengers (I heard a fart from down the car that still gives me nightmares), the gentle rocking is replaced by your constant moving around in your bunk to find some proper way of sleeping, and the incredible scenery...well, yes, there is incredible scenery outside - I can't really dispute that.


Here's a quick recap of what my day on the train was like:


THE GOOD - 
You have a lot of free time on the train.  This allowed me to think and write, stare out the window and meet some interesting folks to practice Chinese with.  The thinking and writing take up most of my time.  During my trip in Tibet, I kept a journal that I scrawled out my ideas for short stories, novels and to keep a track of my travels.  I muse over some of the chicken scratch and try to decipher what I was trying to say.  You can't really blame me for terrible writing, I was always in a moving vehicle when I was jotting down my thoughts.  The views from the window in my room were spectacular as we climbed from an elevation of 3000 km above sea level to approximately 4200 km at our highest point.  The landscape morphed from tundra to grasslands to deserts all within a span of a couple of hours.  

Farmland.  Yes, people actually can grow things here. 

Canada?  No.  Tibet. 

A red river.  Both scary and beautiful at the same time.

I also had a chance to meet a new friend.  Hong was his name, but his English name was Henry.  He was travelling with his best friend (who was grumpy due to altitude sickness), and their sisters.  Hong and his best friend's sister were both in their early 20s and studying engineering in Wuhan.  I had some preconceived notions that because China's government censors everything, the youth might have been ignorant to some of the things going on in the world.  In fact, I was the ignorant one.  These guys were just as educated as we all were, and actually quite skeptical of what their government tells them.  The love Western TV and all have hopes to travel abroad.  However, traveling outside of China is a dream for them as VISAs are not given out by the Chinese government to young people, for fears that they'll leave and never come back.  Talk about overprotective parenting.


THE BAD - 
There's literally no space to do anything.  The number of times I hit my head on the luggage compartment doors as I climbed to the top bunk was countless - well, I think I forgot how to count due to the concussion I must of suffered for hitting my head so much.  The corridors were lined with people from 5am (when the lights came on - WHY GOD, WHY 5AM?!) and was packed until 10pm.  Travelling from our cabin to the dining car took a better part of ten minutes and it was only four cars away.


And this was just the sleeping cabins - I couldn't imagine what life was like in the sitting room only cars.  I snuck a peek (the cars were on the other side of the dining car) and the people looked so miserable, I was really hoping they found solace in the fact that they were going to a spiritual mecca and that this trip was worth it.  It seemed that I wasn't the only Westerner that was having a hard time adjusting - I had a tough time fitting into the bunks, I can't imagine what the six foot German guys had to deal with (they looked miserable too).

No room.

THE UGLY - 
This is summed up with two words: Squat Toilet.  Worse - a squat toilet on a moving train.  I believe you are required to hold a level four gymnastics license in order to attempt this feat.  One has to balance themselves both for the squat and to adjust themselves accordingly for the train movement all while trying to make sure their pants didn't hit the ground and that the poop coming out of your bum hit the bowl and not your pants.  It was a multi-tasking experience and thankfully, my dad reminded me to take toilet paper with me before I went because, by the time I went, someone had stolen the roll from the bathroom.  


This room was so scary, I couldn't even bother taking a photo for you to share in the disgust.  After going the first time, I made a deal with my gastrointestinal system - cooperate and we'll never have to experience that room ever again.  I ate and drank very little due to this and likely caught my cold/flu because of this.  I do not wish this experience on any of my worst enemies.  Well, maybe to my worst boss ever.  Just kidding.


Well, I learned a lot on this journey and I'll share with you some of my thoughts that I had jotted down on the margins of my notebook:


- "Always appreciate a good toilet - you'll never know when you'll encounter a squat one."
- "Train travel is fun once and teaches you the lesson of working hard to earn money for a plane ticket."
- "Chinese youth are just like our North American youth - heads down, eyes on a screen, texting away."
- "Best to bring an Ambien on any train journey - sleep is the best activity to participate in on a train."
- "With all this complaining, I'm still one lucky bastard to get to experience this trip."


And an obvious choice for a song to pair with my time on a train is Soul Asylum's Runaway Train.  The lyrics to this dark ballad points to a guy who's super depressed, likely over a lover.  My theory is that it's more likely he's been on a train from Shanghai to Lhasa for three days.  Fuck, I'd be depressed too.

UPDATE: After watching the music video, the band highlights the issue of runaway teens.  There's nothing funny about that.


Up next - my Lhasa adventures (much better than the train!)