Tania in China

Fri, Oct 21: Off I Go!

This morning I am checking out of the hotel, so I scramble this morning to finish packing, take my small suitcase and laptop over to work, go back to my room and drag my big bag down to the bellhop, then to the front desk to check out. I am surprised to find out that they are giving me a rebate on part of the charge for the month's access to the internet - I assume because I have only used it for two weeks. We make some decent progress at work, and soon it is time to travel.

My train leaves at 5:54pm, and I am told that they only allow you onto the platform to board the train for the time period between 30 minutes and 15 minutes before the leaving time, so I figure I would leave work around 4pm. I arrive at the train station at around 4:40, and I am actually much too early. The train station is not what I expected at all. It looks quite new, and more like a small airport than a train station.I quickly find the "soft seat" waiting area, my ticket is checked to verify that I have bought the higher class ticket, my bag is x-rayed, and I try to find my bearings. The room is huge with 40 foot ceilings - I was expecting something much smaller, since I am told that the "hard seat" waiting room is 3 times the size of this. I try to find information about my train, and after touring the room finally decide that a board behind the information desk is displaying information about the trains currently boarding, and what track they are on. Everything is in Chinese characters, but thank goodness that train numbers and the times are in Arabic numerals. I find a seat, pull out my China tourbook, and settle in to read - I now have about an hour before my train.

At about 35 minutes to go I decide to visit the bathroom to be ready to board the train. I walk into the bathroom, enter a stall, and find that this bathroom has only Chinese toilets. For those of you who don't know, and Chinese toilet is basically a porcelain basin embedded in the floor with a footpad on either side! I may be trying to experience the Chinese culture, but I am not ready for this... I can understand how this might work in the men's bathroom, but it seems to me that it involves a pretty keen sense of balance on the women's side not to end up with a mess! I quickly back out of the bathroom, recalculate the amount of fluid I plan to drink on the train, and decide that I can wait to get to Shanghai if I have to. Now it is getting close to a half hour before the departure time, so I show the girl at the desk my ticket, and she tells me to wait.

I am still waiting 20 minutes later, and getting kind of nervous. Two hoards of people have headed up to the tracks after announcements have been made in Chinese, but neither is my train. I don't want to end up sitting in the waiting room while my train leaves without me. I pull out the tourbook to see if they have anything to say about "Chinese trains always being late", and find a section talking about sitting in the soft seat, and that at least your seat is reserved. Reserved seat? Nobody told me about a reserved seat! I pull out the ticket, and find two number that could possibly be a car and a seat number, so I decide to follow that theory and see where it leads. Once again I show the woman at the desk my ticket, and once again she tells me to wait. Well, at least my train hasn't left yet! Maybe 5 minutes later my train shows up on the board as being on track number 1, the doors to the track open, and I get ready to board.

There is a sign telling us which end of the train is car #1 and which is car #12, so I head towards the front since I think I am in car 4. There is no train yet - just many, many people. Several trains pass through without stopping, including a full freight train; that is something that I never saw during my year of travels through Europe. About 10 minutes later the train arrives and everybody pushes their way on. This is the way in China - if you try to be polite, respect people's personal space, and keep orderly, you will be left behind. There is one poor employee checking everybody's ticket at they enter, and I join the crowds since I need to put my bag in the overhead, find seat 63, and settle in. Half the seats are facing one end of the train and half the other, so I hope fervently that I am not going to be sitting backwards for the whole 3 1/2 hour ride. It turns out I was, and I really dislike riding backwards! I would say the train is compareable to the coach-class seat on the train from Windsor to Toronto. Very comfortable, but certainly not luxurious. The train is full - it looks as though every seat is taken.

We take off about 15 minutes late - much better than I thought we would, and immediately everybody begins eating dinner. An employee brings a kettle with hot water through the car so that those who brought containers of Ramen Noodles can make their food, and there are at least 4 different food vendors passing back and forth with premade meals, drinks, snacks, and even cups of melon cubes. The crowd is lively - not at all like American passengers who settle into silence shortly after starting a trip - these people where talking, playing games, singing, and even listening to DVDs on laptops without headphones. You could barely hear the announcements over the PA because of the sound. Luckily for me there was a scrolling electric sign that kept us up to date on what was the next stop, what time would be arrive, and how long were we stopping for. It also listed the time as well as the train's "velocity" - which for the physicists out there I would assume meant speed, not velocity! ;-)

I find during the trip that my "bobbing" problem isn't bothering me at all; maybe the swaying of the train is counterbalancing the bobbing! But I am afraid that all this riding backwards is going to make the bobbing even worse... We make 4 stops along the way before arriving in Shanghai 3 1/2 hours later, all the way in the dark so I didn't get to see much. I did finish the whole section about Shanghai in my travel book, so have some ideas about what I am going to do this weekend. We all pile out of the train, and head down the stairs, then down the hallway, then up the stairs to get out. Things here are not all "handicap accessable" like in the states, there are some pretty steep climbs here! As I approach the exit, I find we need to show our train tickets. I have to pull over to the side to go digging through my backpack for the ticket - thank goodness I didn't throw it out! I find it, then follow the crowds outside.

The signs (in English) in the train station point to where to catch a taxi, so I head out the door and walk about 100 yards, then the next sign seems to be pointing to how to get into the other end of the train station, so I have missed something. A whole bunch of people are heading down a flight of stairs, so I go, too. There I find the underground taxi stand, and queue up to catch a cab. It is about a 15 minute wait, but soon I am off to the hotel, added by the hotel address written in Chinese for me by a co-worker. This little piece of paper comes in very, very handy throughout the weekend! We head for downtown, and I gawk at the skyline. The downtown is densely packed with skyscrapers - it looks like New York, only outlined in neon. Every building is either edged or covered in it's own light design, and the effect is very futuristic and striking. Even the highway overpasses glow blue from lights edging their lower edges. The traffic heading into the city is horrible - especially considering it is already 10pm. I have no idea where we are going, but all of a sudden we are at the hotel.

I am staying at the new Le Meridian in Shanghai - in fact it is so new that they haven't even had their official opening yet, so it was about $60 cheaper than the other nice hotels in Shanghai. It is still expensive - with all the taxes and charges and such I am paying about $200 a night, but I figure I am here to see China, right? Why not. The bellhops are super attentive, grab my bags, and escort me to the check-in desk on the 11th floor. The whole hotel is very modern and chic, so sometimes it is hard to figure out where to go or how to get somewhere... The front desk clerk starts to check me in, then says "Oh my goodness, I just noticed you are a Platinum Starwood member!" Let me escort you to the Royal Club check-in on the 46th floor. So, I am whisked away to the elevator and into the Royal Club. The club is all white marble and chrome and 5 story high windows facing The Bund and the Pudong section of Shanghai (I promise a quick tutorial on Shanghai tomorrow!). I am sat in a leather lounge chair to await my check-in with a perfect view of the Pearl Tower all lit up, and an employee brings me a bottle of Evian with a glass with ice. Boy, I could get used to this! I am told that they have upgraded me to one of their standard suites, and a desk clerk personally takes me into my room.

I walk into my room and all I can say is wow. Wow -- wow. It is gorgeous, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the lit-up skyline. The desk clerk walks me through the whole suite, and shows me where everything is and how to turn it on. It is a good thing she did - I never would have figured out some of the stuff if she hadn't told me! There is a 42" flat screen tv that can be rotated to be seen from the couch, from the bed, or from the bathtub. There is an immensely deep bathtub, and a separate shower with a "rain forest" showerhead mounted in the ceiling. There are two terrycloth robes that may have been the best quality I have ever felt. There is a coffee maker and real coffee, not just the instant like in Nanjing. I am so overwhelmed that I just wander around the suite taking pictures and saying "wow" and giggling. I really wish my Mom could have been here with me - she would have loved it!

I wander around unpacking and looking into every nook and cranny. They have such little amenities like supplying sizzors and tape and a stapler on the desk - I have never seen that before. I finally settle down around 11 and watch my huge TV from bed, and am asleep by around midnight. I had better get some sleep, I think I have a couple of busy days ahead of me!

posted by Tania @ 3:02 PM