TRAINing China

Travelling by train in China has some charm to it. First of all, there is the train station frenzy - I got my baptism of fire in Guanzhou (Canton). Buying a ticket is itself an enterprise that requires endless wandering around the hall that is similar in size to London Heathrow as well as determination and good elbow bump technique which would make it possible to push your way through to the only counter with an English sign above it. Needless to say, it does not mean you will be talking to an English speaking person, and more often than not, you get yourself into a lengthy negotiation using your pocket Mandarin dictionary. In the meantime, regardless of all above, there are locals who constantly push money through the hatch demanding tickets. When you eventually reach some kind of an understanding resulting in a pink card (on which only the train numer and departure time seem to be intelligible) there comes an even more exciting stage of the journey - the boarding. Chinese railway stations can fit in a population of an average European country and that in practice means a huge building crammed with countless masses laden with tonnes of luggage. Their numbers are never decreasing since once a crowd spills onto the platform, another is already storming through the waiting hall's door. Announcing the train is a signal for another elbow-punching round for the Chinese get on the train as if it was the last one ever to leave the station.
Travelling on the train is like a garden party during which private conversations spread around the whole carriage and the stewardess is paving her way screaming and clanking against her metal trolley on which there pile different delicacies. While you're there, you might as well do some exceptional shopping - vast choice is colourfully presented (in song, verse or a mini-show)goods - and buy a pair of heavy-duty socks, all kinds of toys and above all, a super plastic American commando crawling on the table giving "Fire!Fire!" commands (it has the most striking effect somewhere around 13th hour into your journey).
My Chinese railway adventure meant three days, three trains, two grey cities, lack of sleep and numb limbs. What initially filled me with resentment turned out to be an interesting experience. If I hadn't been given wrong information in Hond Kong about a direct train to Shanghai (which was fully booked for the whole week anyway) I wouldn't have visited a great Han Dynasty TOMB in Canton or climbed the seven-storey PAGODA. I wouldn't have peeped at a night badminton game on Shamian Island (Canton) or met four Chinese teenagers whom I promised to find Polish girlfriends and I would have never tried a genuine Chinese breakfast for only 10Yuan (1Euro - all made of rice) in Nanchang.
Thus, my China railway adventure is to be continued...