Overnight train to Wuhan
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
19
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Wuhan, Hubei, China
Friday, June 20, 2008
Had a bit of a lie in this morning after last nights adventures. We were checking out of our hotel today to take the long journey to Yichang, via Wuhan. This is going to involve a 15 hour train journey followed by a 5 hour bus journey!!
First port of call today was the internet to download all of our photo's and catch up on some emails. This will probably be the last internet call for the next 4 to 5 days. Did receive an email from Geckos Adventures telling us that we now had to pay an extra £250 each for a tour that we had booked for South America! I am considering cancelling this tour and doing it ourselves coz I can't be doing with being messed around. I am not too impressed with Geckos at the moment. We had originally had our current tour (China Odyssey) itinerary changed because of the earthquake, which was understandable and fine, and we were told this before we left. However, 4 days into this current tour, we have had the itinerary changed again, but this time with no reason, which is a bit pants. It is not our tour guides fault as he can only do what he's told, but the head office is very unhelpful.
Anyway, our next task was a visit to the supermarket to stock up ready for our long haul. We then grabbed some lunch at MC Blues bar before jumping on the bus to Guilin train station.
We had a couple of hours to kill at the station so this allowed our group to discuss some of the more important topics in the world. This included the hairy armpits of the female Chinese natives, the best position to crouch in the local shit troughs and that all sex is like prostitution because you end up paying for it in one way or another! So as you can see, we are a highly intellectual group of travellers.
We had managed to have this conversation in the luxury of an air conditioned waiting lounge compared to a furnace of a general waiting room as we had paid 5 Yuan each for this privilege - definitely worth it.
Finally, after solving the world trade defecit, we boarded our sleeper train to Wuhan.
15mins into the journey Kev and myself decided to try and find a dining car to grab a cold beer. Upon finding said car, the only beer available was warm, well actually it was so warm that it was bubbling! Even a hardened drinker like myself had to refuse this kind offer!!
As we were attempting to leave the dining car, we were confronted by the Chief Police Officer, who asked us very kindly to take a seat. Immediately on the defencive we denied all knowledge of any activities with farmyard animals and all connections to any local massage parlours!! Alas, to our relief, this was not the reason for his request, he just wanted to have a friendly chat and exchange language knowledge - phew!! The secrets of Shaun the sheep and Ting Tong the Massuese were safe for another day!!
We spent over half an hour with our new friend learning new Chinese phrases and a lot about him and his family. His name was Xin-qiang Fei and he was really friendly. He spoke pretty good English, but in exchange for his lesson, we gave him a few phrases back in English. I am not sure he will have much use for the Mansfield phrases I gave him, but who knows! I have to say that this chat was a real highlight of this journey.
On the way back to our bunks, we were ambushed by a bunch of locals who also made us chat and jokke with them. Again, this was great fun. If you are ever on these types of train, you must go for a walk down them, it is so worth it.
We finally got back to our bunks at just before 10pm and cracked open our pot noodles. I had "Acid and pepper beef" flavour - it was a little spicy, but very nice. During eating we passed the 10pm mark, this is significant because it was lights out time. We had to finish our meals by torchlight - so romantic!
After eating, decided to watch a few episodes of South Park before hitting the sack.
One thing to remember on these trains is that they stop at stations through the night, so you must secure your baggage! Mind you, with our new Police Officer friend, we should be fine.
We should arrive at Wuhan around 11am tomorrow.
Comments
getting on the right side of the law!
Get your new friend to sort the Geckos tours out! Keep avin fun.
Love us xxx