12 Hours...

is not really that much time at all. A blip in the grand scheme of time. That said, 12 hours pent standing on a train is an eternity. When we arrived in Xi'an we promptly went to the train ticket sales. We were not able to purchase return tickets in Beijing as they do not go on sale until 4 days in advance of departure, and then only from the departing city. When we finally got to the counter we were informed that the only tickets remaining on any of the three possible departure days were standing room only. We had kind of made up our minds that we would take whatever we got so with smiles on our faces, we embraced the knowledge that we would have to stand for 12 hours. We had hoped to secure a seat in the dining car when we got on the train or even perhaps get an upgrade.

To ensure that we were near the front of the line we arrived early at the train station. We were 20th in line or so and hoped that we would be able to get our name on the upgrade list. Crowds in China do not behave as we in the west expect crowds to. Crowds, for the most part do not follow lines, there is a lot of pushing and basic human dignity is pretty much ignored...a description which may be too civil for what actually goes on. As time went on and we stood (more standing) in line it became clear that there would be no upgrades. There were just too many people.

When the gates were open we were pushed (stampeded) through the opening and in the direction of the train. We found our car and staked out a spot. As more and more people came onto the train we were pushed more and more towards the back of the train. We had decided to wait a few hours to get good and tired before making our way towards the dining car. Finally, after about three hours of standing as well as constantly being pushed past by people making their way to the bathroom we felt it was time to see what luck we would find in the dining car. We were fortunate the a drink cart was making its way towards our car at this time. Our space to stand was about as far to the rear of the train as you could go. 10 people give or take were all that seperated us from the end of the train. When the drink cart began the long journey back to the dining car, Traci and I followed closely behind, allowing the cart to force people to stand out fo the aisle as we passed. On the way through the four cars between us and the dining car we were stared at and in one case even laughed at (a young by who was quickly yelled at by his mother). We felt like we were totally on display...which we were. Upon arrival to the dining car we followed the drink cart into the car where we were soon yelled at and told to get out. It seems as though all of the seats had been taken long ago and no one else was allowed into the car. We still had about 9 hours to go on our journey. There was no way that we were going to try and make the trip back to our spot so instead we just chose to stay right next to the dining car. We spent the next 9 hours leaning against the door, crouching down to rest our legs and taking turns sitting and sleeping the approximately three square feet of space that we had for the two of us. As the night went on it got colder and colder in the accordian-like seperation between cars that served as our home for the night.

When we finally got back to Beijing we were happy to be out of the car. Our legs were tired and cramped, we were exhausted and grouchy. When I got back to my room I fell into bed, fell asleep for 6 hours woke up to eat something and then went back to bed until the next morning, about 14 hours later. I felt that the sleep was well deserved. The lesson that I came away from the standing room only experience is that travel in China over the May holiday is probably not the best idea I have ever had. That said, even with the negative travel experience home it was a great trip, one that I would take all over again.