Heading to the Train Station:
I didn't bring my backpack but my large shoulder bag. We were just staying for five days so I didn't have to bring many clothes. And the bag is big enough for my envelope with documents not to be crumpled.
We told the taxi driver to go to the North station and later we got angry that he was going to the wrong direction. We thought that he was cheating on us or that he didn't understand what we meant. But slowly we realized it was our bad. We're supposed to go to the South station. And the driver took us there. Poor guy, we almost got really angry at him. Due to some unpleasant experience we just got do tensed. But we tried to make him feel better later, we asked him if that's the South station we were at, and he was happy to inform us that yes, it is...and he was right. hahaha at least nobody felt bad when we parted. I don't know, stranger or no, I don't like feeling bad or having other feel bad especially if it's out of logic.
The day before we were leaving I was feeling sick already. I took medicine and thanks goodness it worked. I took "Contact" instead of "Tylenol cold". It's funny with "Tylenol" 'cause I really get high and feel stupid like my head is in a balloon heheh. I was not able to sleep well though. I woke up at 4:20 in the morning. I still have classes that day . Maybe I was excited and anxious at the same time. It's always like that , when I need to get a lot of sleep to gain energy, I cannot.
At the Train Station:
So we got to the station. 'Twas as expected crowded, uh, not so, actually. It's a small city and the Train station is pretty small as well. There was a strict security which is of course good. Made me feel better safe. The policeman was checking the ID's of every passenger as they got in. Shamil has been asked too but we don't have the ID their citizens have. He asked the officer if he's asking for his passport. The officer smiled and said it's OK so we got in. They didn't check me anymore.
Wow! It's full of locals (of course, who else haha). Before we entered I got myself ready already with what to expect so I won't spoil my mood and have a pleasant trip. It was crowded but we were able to get a seat. Quietly we sat close to the aircon. I am not a big fan of crowds but if I have to blend-in I can. So I did as I have to. I was still a little nervous how is it going to be inside the train but also excited. I'll be my first spending a night in the train. If there would be a bullet train in this city then we would rather take it. But it is only in the city where I used to live before. It'll be a big hassle going to another city just to take a train to another city again. The bullet train could take us to Beijing in 6 hours. While the train we took, took us 10 hour to get to our destination.
30 minutes before the train arrived they started letting people out already. We stood in line. Had a little hard time, almost got hit on the head with some artificial flowers and other luggage. Sigh, it's difficult to be small hehe. Loading was quite impressive though. It was organized. Train people were doing their duties well guiding the passengers. It was done just the way it is supposed to. The train came and we got in.
Inside the train:
We got our place. There was a couple of oldies already sitting. We said hi trying to create a comfy atmosphere. We have to keep pleasant to each other. We are gonna stay the whole night in one cabin. Our cabin has 6 beds. We got the middle. The couple said they'll be on the top. They were ok. Somebody was knocking at the window from outside. I could see a man pointing at them. I called their attention and the couple stood close to the window and said bye. It was their son probably. That was sweet. It's nice to see families when they care about each other. The others arrived. We got a grandpa with us. The other guy helped him put his things up. He was quite slow and weak I wondered why he was travelling alone. Good thing the other guys were taking care of him. That's one thing I like in here, for whatever reason, tradition, social order whatsoever, it is good to see younger ones taking care of elderly. They do it naturally. When he wanted to drink water, the other guy opposite his bed got up to help him.
I was sitting close to the window, trying to get a full view of the countryside along the way before it gets dark. I started feeling the headache. I guess it was my migraine. The pain around the eyes towards the forehead and half of the front part of the head. It was probably due to too much thinking of how to and how thing are going to be. When I got relaxed, my veins started to loosen up and it caused pain. I was soooo stupid I didn't have any Tylenol ER with me. That saves me from migraines and dysmenorrheas actually. I tried to ignore it. I have to. In a short time, it became dark already. I couldn't see anything outside anymore. People started eating. I could smell noodles everywhere. We brought noodles too but we were waiting for the oldies to eat so we will not torture them with the smell of our noddles hahaha. They slowly did. and we ate ours too. I didn't eat much. First I'm not a big fan of noodles and second I cannot eat more. I'm still full of anxiety. After eating some started playing cards, some were really bored, they keep on walking along, looking for someone to talk with, others were playing with kids. I was just observing and I remember everything I notice I was telling Shamil haha I think it was my subconscious mind jotting down what I saw. He was patient enough to listen and sometimes we discuss. It's actually interesting to see people's activity in the train. I started feeling more relaxed but the headache was still present. It was nearly 10 when people started climbing the beds and staying at their places. The older couple whose bed are the top started moving. Sham and I wondered if they'll be able to climb at all. The space was pretty small actually. Funny how people fit. We thought that maybe we should exchange. At least we're still stronger. But we also don't know how they would take it. So we just waited and maybe if they will ask then we probably not be able to refuse. But they made it there so everything went fine. I didn't wash my face (ugh) 'cause I have to do the whole ritual and I don't want to use the water in the train plus I will need sometime. I just brushed my teeth using our mineral drinking water. I thought of just washing up as soon as we get to the hotel in the morning. Oh by the way, the train was ventilated which was a very big relief to me. I could feel the wind coming from the ventilation from time to time. It even got colder at night. Thanks goodness it felt fresh with Oxygen hehe.
I went up to my bed, put bandana on the pillow (we always do that). We made pictures with our mobile phones only. We didn't want to take out the camera. The quality is not good of course but just for memory I saved it. Lights were off at 11. I would sleep shortly and wake up then sleep again and wake up again. it was very uncomfortable. The headache didn't even get better. I was hoping to wake up early in the morning to see the sunrise but it was a little bit rainy so I saw no sunrise. I got up at 4:00AM and started preparing. We arrived in Beijing at 5:30AM.
I didn't bring my backpack but my large shoulder bag. We were just staying for five days so I didn't have to bring many clothes. And the bag is big enough for my envelope with documents not to be crumpled.
We told the taxi driver to go to the North station and later we got angry that he was going to the wrong direction. We thought that he was cheating on us or that he didn't understand what we meant. But slowly we realized it was our bad. We're supposed to go to the South station. And the driver took us there. Poor guy, we almost got really angry at him. Due to some unpleasant experience we just got do tensed. But we tried to make him feel better later, we asked him if that's the South station we were at, and he was happy to inform us that yes, it is...and he was right. hahaha at least nobody felt bad when we parted. I don't know, stranger or no, I don't like feeling bad or having other feel bad especially if it's out of logic.
The day before we were leaving I was feeling sick already. I took medicine and thanks goodness it worked. I took "Contact" instead of "Tylenol cold". It's funny with "Tylenol" 'cause I really get high and feel stupid like my head is in a balloon heheh. I was not able to sleep well though. I woke up at 4:20 in the morning. I still have classes that day . Maybe I was excited and anxious at the same time. It's always like that , when I need to get a lot of sleep to gain energy, I cannot.
At the Train Station:
So we got to the station. 'Twas as expected crowded, uh, not so, actually. It's a small city and the Train station is pretty small as well. There was a strict security which is of course good. Made me feel better safe. The policeman was checking the ID's of every passenger as they got in. Shamil has been asked too but we don't have the ID their citizens have. He asked the officer if he's asking for his passport. The officer smiled and said it's OK so we got in. They didn't check me anymore.
Wow! It's full of locals (of course, who else haha). Before we entered I got myself ready already with what to expect so I won't spoil my mood and have a pleasant trip. It was crowded but we were able to get a seat. Quietly we sat close to the aircon. I am not a big fan of crowds but if I have to blend-in I can. So I did as I have to. I was still a little nervous how is it going to be inside the train but also excited. I'll be my first spending a night in the train. If there would be a bullet train in this city then we would rather take it. But it is only in the city where I used to live before. It'll be a big hassle going to another city just to take a train to another city again. The bullet train could take us to Beijing in 6 hours. While the train we took, took us 10 hour to get to our destination.
30 minutes before the train arrived they started letting people out already. We stood in line. Had a little hard time, almost got hit on the head with some artificial flowers and other luggage. Sigh, it's difficult to be small hehe. Loading was quite impressive though. It was organized. Train people were doing their duties well guiding the passengers. It was done just the way it is supposed to. The train came and we got in.
Inside the train:
We got our place. There was a couple of oldies already sitting. We said hi trying to create a comfy atmosphere. We have to keep pleasant to each other. We are gonna stay the whole night in one cabin. Our cabin has 6 beds. We got the middle. The couple said they'll be on the top. They were ok. Somebody was knocking at the window from outside. I could see a man pointing at them. I called their attention and the couple stood close to the window and said bye. It was their son probably. That was sweet. It's nice to see families when they care about each other. The others arrived. We got a grandpa with us. The other guy helped him put his things up. He was quite slow and weak I wondered why he was travelling alone. Good thing the other guys were taking care of him. That's one thing I like in here, for whatever reason, tradition, social order whatsoever, it is good to see younger ones taking care of elderly. They do it naturally. When he wanted to drink water, the other guy opposite his bed got up to help him.
I was sitting close to the window, trying to get a full view of the countryside along the way before it gets dark. I started feeling the headache. I guess it was my migraine. The pain around the eyes towards the forehead and half of the front part of the head. It was probably due to too much thinking of how to and how thing are going to be. When I got relaxed, my veins started to loosen up and it caused pain. I was soooo stupid I didn't have any Tylenol ER with me. That saves me from migraines and dysmenorrheas actually. I tried to ignore it. I have to. In a short time, it became dark already. I couldn't see anything outside anymore. People started eating. I could smell noodles everywhere. We brought noodles too but we were waiting for the oldies to eat so we will not torture them with the smell of our noddles hahaha. They slowly did. and we ate ours too. I didn't eat much. First I'm not a big fan of noodles and second I cannot eat more. I'm still full of anxiety. After eating some started playing cards, some were really bored, they keep on walking along, looking for someone to talk with, others were playing with kids. I was just observing and I remember everything I notice I was telling Shamil haha I think it was my subconscious mind jotting down what I saw. He was patient enough to listen and sometimes we discuss. It's actually interesting to see people's activity in the train. I started feeling more relaxed but the headache was still present. It was nearly 10 when people started climbing the beds and staying at their places. The older couple whose bed are the top started moving. Sham and I wondered if they'll be able to climb at all. The space was pretty small actually. Funny how people fit. We thought that maybe we should exchange. At least we're still stronger. But we also don't know how they would take it. So we just waited and maybe if they will ask then we probably not be able to refuse. But they made it there so everything went fine. I didn't wash my face (ugh) 'cause I have to do the whole ritual and I don't want to use the water in the train plus I will need sometime. I just brushed my teeth using our mineral drinking water. I thought of just washing up as soon as we get to the hotel in the morning. Oh by the way, the train was ventilated which was a very big relief to me. I could feel the wind coming from the ventilation from time to time. It even got colder at night. Thanks goodness it felt fresh with Oxygen hehe.
I went up to my bed, put bandana on the pillow (we always do that). We made pictures with our mobile phones only. We didn't want to take out the camera. The quality is not good of course but just for memory I saved it. Lights were off at 11. I would sleep shortly and wake up then sleep again and wake up again. it was very uncomfortable. The headache didn't even get better. I was hoping to wake up early in the morning to see the sunrise but it was a little bit rainy so I saw no sunrise. I got up at 4:00AM and started preparing. We arrived in Beijing at 5:30AM.
Sounds like an interesting experience. :)
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