China and her Trains

The china trip went well. Just an easy-going getaway without any drama.

My host was very, very nice and good but like i had always felt - she just wasnt my type.

The weather was fantastic. Shanghai was pleasant, but not as advanced as I had expected. The bullet trains blew me away though. I remember we took a slow train from Shanghai to Beijing and it was awful - but a nice experience of being in a crowded Chinese train. I must have seen the scene in a movie before because when i looked at the people in there i felt like i was in a movie. Across my seat, a guy sat quietly eating a hamburger with a frown. Two young men -buddies- sat next to him (and directly in front of me) and looked at me funny. They were ugly, like typical chinese from the countryside. There was very little leg room, and not enough space to place my luggage we were all squeezed. I kept wondering what i would have been like, and what i would have been doing, should my ancestors never leave china.

From Jiaxing the next day we were to catch a train to Hangzhou, so i was expecting roughly a similar kind of rough ride. The train station was new, although we had to pass through some poor roads to get there. Imagine my surprise when standing at the platform, and a state-of-the-art bullet train suddenly pulled in. My jaw almost dropped. The train was new, it had computerised digital dispaly and pretty conductors, and it travelled at a cool 350 km/h. CRH - the world's fastest bullet train, and i was in it. wow.




Hangzhou was alright but didnt feel that special. It was crowded and misty, and really was just one huge lake garden.

Jiaxing was just like a any other chinatown in South-east Asia. Walking on the streets one day, i felt like we were in Saigon.

A notable place was the ancient, reconstructed i think, water-town of Wuzhen near Jiaxing. The place was so pretty i find it hard to believe that it could be real. It look like a huge movie set, so i thought many period movies would have been shot here. If they were to put some people there walking around in ancient chinese robes it would have been an unbelievable sight.



Overall, China feels like and interesting and safe place, but there was nothing that special about it. One thing is certain for me - as bad as things may be in my country i don't think i would ever want to move to China. There are just too many people.