Day 29 - Beijing & Datong

20.08.09

It's hard seat time! On Chinese trains, you essentially have 5 modes of travel, soft sleeper, hard sleeper, soft seat, hard seat and standing. I asked for the cheapest fare to get Datong and she wouldn't sell me standing, so I got a hard seat. I'm at the station nearly two hours early, to make sure I have no chance of missing my train and join a mass of people already waiting. As time ticks on more people arrive and they start queuing to get on the platform about an hour before the train is even leaving, I join in as I've got nothing else to do. The queue gradually turns from a line into a general mass all facing the same direction and then a general free for all once it's a few mins to go, with people pushing to get closer and what was a 50m or so reasonably ordered huddle, immediately condensed into around 15m of concentrated super eager Chinese travelers. When the gates finally open it's just pure chaos, but because I'm roughly 6ft1 which puts me at about 5ft1 taller than everyone else I join right in and make my way to the platform in good time.

Once on the train I get talking to a Chinese school student called Danny who was in Beijing studying English. She's 16, lives in Datong, her name is blatantly not Danny, but everyone seems to have a Chinese name. It's funny how everyone wants to speak to a foreigner to practice their English and when we get to Datong, she insists on helping my buy my next train ticket and then shows me around the city centre, introduces me to her family and gives me some food and tells me how to get to the Buddhist Caves tomorrow. Once again another show of brilliant Chinese friendliness and hospitality and in return all that she asks is that I speak to her and help her improve her English.