30 April 2018
Tales from a moving train
From Chongqing to Wuhan by high speed rail
Right now I am sitting on a fast train but not a very fast train. For an unknown reason this one sits on only 200 km/h. It is also slower than the other trains going on this route today, most of which cover the journey from Chongqing to Wuhan in 5 hours, mine however takes 6.5 hours.
Unfortunately I missed out on buying a ticket for the faster train, or more to the point, the ticket booking service I used missed out.
Before sitting on this train and typing this, I first had to get to the correct station. Chongqing North, its connected by the subway, so easy, I thought. I left myself plenty of time in case I passed out from man flu, boarded the subway, got off at the right stop, bounded up 200 stairs carrying my suitcase and examined the departure board. Only K trains were shown (very slow trains). I thought they must show the right ones inside, so I went to the security line anyway, everyone looked poor and rural. When I got to the passport check the guy told me I needed to go to the North square of Chongqing North station, not the South square of Chongqing North station.
Confusing! And the subway does not go there, you are supposed to take a bus around the block. Not me of course, I set out on foot up a service road I shouldnt have been on, clamored over some rocks, dragged my suitcase over a wall, navigated a watermelon farm / minefield, and entered the north square via the exit tunnel for the buses. Quite the adventure.
I still had 20 minutes to spare, but I was too late to properly explore the station, instead I just boarded my train, where I am still now sitting some 5 hours later 80% of the way to Wuhan.
Todays journey was uneventful compared to the last, no one spoke to me, most people slept, every now and then a baby would run away from its owner with no pants on down the aisle of the train. There is some English announcements but they dont work, the Chinese ones go for about 30 seconds, then you get 'the next station is beeeeeep'. And thats all! Followed by 'We are arriving at beeeep'. Very convenient.
Because I sat on a train all day, here are a few pathetic pictures of the outside of the station (both sides) and the view through the train window - which never makes for great photos but the scenery was spectacular.
This is the outside of Chongqing North station, but as I explained above, it is the south square not the north square where I needed to be. Was there a tunnel connecting both sides? No. Was there a subway station at the North square where the vast majority of people want to go? No.
After an epic bag dragging struggle I arrived at the North square with a few minutes to spare.
Now for some views from the train window, the first half was mountainous, with towns perched on the mountains. I say towns, I googled one nice looking town and it had a population of 870,000 people.
Particularly good view, very clear skies in this part of the world.
The second half of the journey has been very flat so far, with an inland sea of farm land, all very green. A bit more pollution came back.
Now to see if I can get this to upload from the moving train!