First Train Ride

Last weekend we got a chance to go on a quick trip with our friends the Carters to Datong. Nick had been there about 5 years ago, but it was a first for the rest of us. It was a 6 hour train ride each way. It was my first time taking a train in China, so it was quite a cultural experience.

We didn't order tickets early enough to get the nicest seats- soft sleepers. So we settled for "hard sleepers". Basically it means you are on a car with tons of other people, and it is divided up into bunks with 3 levels. Tickets were cheap, about 100 RMB (or $15) each. All the bottom bunks were taken, so we ended up in the middle and top ones. It was pretty funny to see Nick trying to climb up and get into his. The train was definitely built for smaller people.

We left in the afternoon so we passed the time eating the outrageous amount of snacks we brought, playing cards in the dining car, looking out the window, and people watching. It looks pretty cramped, and I wouldn't want to spend a night on the train, but overall the time passed really quickly and my first China train experience was a good one.

I'm sitting on my bed. Nick's bed was above me. Our friends the Carters are hanging out in the aisle since you can't really sit up in the beds at all.

A fierce game of Monopoly helped Nick pass the time.

One of many small farming towns we passed by. Nick said this was the first time I was seeing "real" China.

Nick really enjoyed watching all the farmers we passed by. Most of them are still doing everything by hand. We saw so many different sheepherders and men and women out working in the fields. We couldn't get a good picture because they were a little ways off in the distance and we were moving quickly, but we saw quite a few people plowing their fields using cow driven plows. It is pretty amazing to see the farming techniques they still use here, and then imagine how they manage to feed over a billion people! They are hard workers!