09 Oh No! Hard Seat

This is Hard Seat class on Chinese trains. The only good thing that can be said about it is that it's cheap and you get to interact with the locals (there isn't much else to do). I don't want to sound like a privileged foreigner but I there's no denying that this is a very uncomfortable way to travel. It's stuffy, noisy, crammed and any other synonym a thesaurus might list for the word 'uncomfortable'. The only people who travel this way are those who cannot afford anything better (the average Chinese) and those who couldn't get anything better (us). Although not exactly benches, the seats are hard, small and broad upright with minimal cushioning. But I knew that anyway. I was forced to board a Chinese train with a hard seat ticket once before for an overnight trip from Yichang to Xian in central China. On that occasion I lasted about an hour into the journey before I was, thankfully, able to upgrade to Hard Sleeper class, my preferred (and usual) class of travel on Chinese trains. Although over twice the price of Hard Seat, Hard Sleeper is still good value and infinitely more comfortable, ensuring you get a night sleep (see the upcoming entry from Hohhot for a picture of hard sleeper class). Unfortunately, as I had feared, an upgrade wasn't available this time. We boarded our train at 7pm and left it at 1pm the next day, 18 hours later. It was a long, long, long night. It was an experience and although not enjoyable I guess I'm a hardened enough traveller by now to suffer a bit of uncomfort. Plus, there was some light entertainment on the train to help pass the time. See the guy crouched over in the bottom left of this picture? Well as we were leaving Weihai he was swigging out of a bottle of the 56% proof spirit I introduced you to earlier as if it were water. He was sitting across from us and I remember saying to Henk that he'll be a mess in a few hours time. Sure enough, as the contents of his bottle diminished so did his ability to stand, to be civil and to stay out of strife with fellow passengers. He even managed to have a small altercation with the Henkster! That is something I'll never forget but I doubt he remembers any of it. He later clamed down and for a few hours that night we actually had a fun time trying to converse with him though Liana, the friend of Liang Wei who, along with her brother Sean, were taking turns looking after us on the train. Needless to say the following morning he was very quiet, as you can see in this picture. Poor guy. Hard seat carriage on a Chinese train is no place to have a hangover. Especially a 56% proof hangover. As for our state of health? Well, we were obviously glad to get off the train and after repeated promises to each other that we will never again do a journey like that we found ourselves staying surprisingly alert for the whole of the following day, our first, in Beijing. On the train from Weihai to Beijing, Shandong province, Eastern China. February 7th, 2006