Road to Qinhuangdao!
Trip Start
Jul 30, 2007
1
22
Trip End
Ongoing
Qinghuangdao, China
Monday, October 1, 2007
Train to Qinhuangdao
the trainride to Qinhuangdao took 10 hours. I was anticipating a long, uncomfortable, hot, smelly and annoying journey. I must say, I was pleasantly surpirised! The view along the trip was amazing. The countryside, the sunset and the small villages along the way. At night we passed Shenyang and I cannot wait until I have the chance to go there. The lights and the buildings made me want to jump off the train at the Shenyang station and experience the busines, the nightlife and (so I've been told) some good shopping. However, I though it wise to stay on the train until I reached my final destination along with my American travel partner Jessica.
Jessica had a great experience during the trainride and even said that she'd never felt the sort of peace and happiness that she felt during that time and was so excited that she sent a message to her friends and family in America. The happiness was pretty plain on her face because whenever I looked over she was smiling for no apparent reason.
the family that was in the seat across from us was adorable. They were so sweet and tender with their son who was clearly a bright and well loved young boy. They were very helpful to us and helped us find our final destination at Qinhuangdao.
Arrival
arriving in Qinhuangdao was great. at this point we were quite tired and ready for a good nights sleep. We took a half hour bus ride from the train station on to the hotel that we were staying at. A word of warning to anyone travelling with an agency, make sure that you specify seperate beds. I was foresighte enough to ask what the bedding arrangements were. They told me one room with two double beds. Then I asked how many to a room, they told me four people to a room. Lucky that I clarified this before we left or I would have been sharing a bed with my friend and sharing our room with two Chinese strangers. The latter wouldn't have been too bad because we got to know many of the people on our trip and they were all friendly and helpful and never wanted anything more than a photo with the two young foreigners.
As with anything, half of the adventure was getting to our destination. Where I looked ahead to the trainride expecing boredom and discomfort I was instead met with some beautiful sights and wonderful opportunities. Every moment in life is truly worth taking in.
