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We actually got a late morning call today! That’s amazing. After a
horrible breakfast in the hotel, we rode our new charter bus to the Xian
train station. Our main goal today was to take a train to Zhen Zhou.
It’s a seven hour ride from Xian to Zhen Zhou.
Since we were “foreigners”, we got to sit the “soft seats”
(that’s the direct translation from the Chinese words). Don’t ask me how
this system works. The soft seats were equivalent to the business class
of a train ride. We also got a separate waiting room than the coach
class. We had a room with rows of squishy armchairs with a random
American movie playing in the background. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a
picture of the room because Mr. Rokuskie hadn’t given me the camera yet.
*Sigh*. The waiting room was probably about 200 feet or so from the
train itself; plus, it contained obstacles such as pits in the floor and
these horribly steep stairs. Considering that everyone in this party has
a rolling suitcase, the stairs caused quite a problem. After when we
tripped and skidded up and down the stairs, we hauled our luggage
aboard, and thankfully left the most polluted city in China, and started
the long train ride to Zhen Zhou.
After those stairs, (you’re probably wondering why I discuss
those stairs so much, but you try hauling 50 pounds behind you while
trekking up a dozen flight of stairs.) the train compartment was acting
like a furnace. You could literally smell the sweat from everyone. Yes,
I know it’s gross. Anyways, Lee Lao Shi bought a pack of lichee (a
Chinese fruit with a red skin and a white center, there’s also a pit in
the center), and she shared it with everyone. It was very tasty, even if
we had trouble peeling the skin. The low mountain ranges flew past as we
progressed through our journey. The scenery is actually quite similar.
It was really all a field of crops in the foreground and a small
mountain range in the background. But, you can’t forget the smog in the
air. It really is like a perpetual fog just sitting there. So far, we
only had blue skies the first two days, the rest of the days seemed
really foggy, but it was really the air pollution. We saw the sun once
in the last six days. That’s depressing, isn’t it? I really hope the
government does something about it. The pollution is quite bad for your
health.
There’s really not much to talk about of the train ride. All
we ever did was either sleep or watch Zoolander (a couple of French
tourists were surreptitiously watching the movie behind our backs). So,
I’ll just talk about the events of my past days. I visited two of my
relatives the last few days. In Nanjing, I visited my grandmother’s
sister (my great aunt?). It was fairly amusing how my great aunt and my
grandmother sound exactly the same. I’ve never met my great aunt before;
to tell you the truth I couldn’t really understand her that well because
she has a Nanjing dialect. We didn’t stay that long because one member
of our party wasn’t feeling that well. Yesterday in Xian, I saw my
second cousin for the first time in four years. I don’t think he really
changed much. I still think he looks just like Donald Duck (sorry,
personal joke).
We arrived at Zheng-Zhou at about 6:00. We met our new tour
guide and bus driver, and went to dinner. The air pollution in Zhen Zhou
isn’t that bad, but, how good of air pollution can you get if you’re
using diesel and leaded fuel? Our dinner wasn’t as special as the
dumpling feast or the hot pot dinner. But, it was food all the same. And
once again, Abraham was complaining that his mom can make better food.
Why am I not surprised?
After dinner, we drove 20 minutes until we reached our
new hotel. Gosh, it’s the size of a palace! It’s huge! Personally, I
don’t think I’d call it a hotel. There’s even a bowling ally in the
hotel, a spa, a pool, a nice restaurant, and so forth. When we settled
in, we found out that we were basically the only foreigners in the whole
of Zhen Zhou. We also heard that there will be news reporters that will
interview us and our host families at out new sister school tomorrow.
That’s actually quite unnerving, don’t you think? |
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