Chalk & Cheese

Day 39: Wuhan (CN) – Guilin (CN). After almost 40 days into our adventure Karen and I had already learned a tremendous amount from our experiences. We had learned about travelling; learned about different people and cultures and learned about ourselves. I already knew for instance, that when our journey was over I wanted to continue living my life by the 'Travellers Philosophy', and that philosophy states “If it isn't working for you then change it and if changing it is not within your gift, then you shouldn't have been worrying about it in the first place!”. Today, proved an excellent application of our learnings.

After the frustrations of the previous day; the herding, the commercialism, the crowds and the cold we decided to change what we were doing and go back to what we knew best – travelling simply, independently and magically. Chalk & Cheese.

Chinese trains run four classes of accommodation and to help us get 'back to our travelling roots' we opted for a 'Hard Sleeper' (2nd class) ticket for the 15 hour journey down to Guilin. With this class, the carriages are arranged as an an open dormitory with about 70 bunk beds, giving us a chance to get to meet some new people on the way. We were soon taking to Lou-Lou a 25 year old Chinese lady who was making the trip south for a 'girlie' weekend with some of her colleagues from work. Seeming as genuinely interested in our story as we were in hers, one of the things she wanted to know was how my almost 6 foot frame was going to fit into the 5' 6” Chinese bunks! (the answer to that was it didn't and I slept all night with my ankles and feet hanging off the end of the bed!)

Stopping at Xianning, the station platform was awash with people trying to board a train bound for Shanghai. From our carriage window we looked across into the standard Hard Seat carriages of the train, jammed packed to overflowing – the lucky ones who had actually managed to secure one of the seats; but most people standing;, animals, birds in cages; it had the lot! “How long will those people have to stand like that”, inquired Karen. “To Shanghai”, Lou-Lou responded, “About 22 hours”. Never again will I complain if I can't get a seat between Kings Cross and Finsbury Park!