Once at the train station we all grabbed some lunch, at various places depending on what took our fancy. We were all a bit nervous as we were heading on our first night train and we weren’t sure what that would look like. We knew the night trains were 3 bunk beds high, with 6 all together in open booths. For those that get a bit claustrophic we were panicking a bit and had to be calmed down. Despite being part of a tour, the travel was via standard public transport tickets. Therefore we weren’t guaranteed to have seats/beds together either. Sally handed over our tickets and said our good byes to Sally who had been a lovely and fun guide for Yangshuo before heading in to the train station to figure out our first major journey.
We boarded the train about 5 o’clock, the train station being relatively straightforward to navigate in terms of finding the right platform. The tickets had certain car numbers and bunk numbers, which indicated which position on the bunk beds there were. There were 3 levels of bunks, which were portioned off as 2 sets (6 bunks each). We managed to find our bunks and thankfully we were all on the same car but not all together. We managed to squeeze our big bags under the bottom bunk or around the small table that was in the middle of the 2 sets of bunks. The top bunk gave you the security of not having anyone leer over you or be able to see you as well but meant you had to get up and down awkwardly without standing on anyone. Plus it also had the least headroom so you had to really lay down on it. Each bunk had a thin matress, duvet/sheet and pillow. This is where silk sleeping bag liners come into their own, to make it at least feel as if you have a bit of protection.
The most potent thing about this train in particular was the smell of smoke. Several older chinese guys the other end of the car spent the entire journey smoking, filling the car. Everything smelt disgusting. Some of the girls attempted to say something to them at one point where they laughed and smoked more. The worst one of all also had silk satin pyjamas on and kept leering and sniggering at us. No one felt comfortable with him there. When we all eventually dared to find the train toilet we had to push our way past him too. The train toilets were not the best but definitely not the worst. Everyone waited until they had to go, however we quickly worked out for following journeys try to go as soon into the trip as you can, as they definitely just get worse. They were of course squat toilets too, just peeing out onto the tracks- and everyone thinks travelling is glamorous.
Thankfully we all had our bunks together. This meant that we could congregate around a bunk area- several to each bunk and some on chairs in the passageway so we could chat, play random logic games and eat snacks we had picked up in the local supermarket to try (corn snacks, durian sweets, choco pots, toffee sweets, apricot snacks). We generally had a fun evening and it was definitely an experience that bought the group together. Everyone enjoyed the games, with them being annoyingly frustrating but fun. This went perfectly with also having some beers. At several different points a lady with food items would come around and when we were hungry we had some nice train food. When it came time to go to sleep we all attempted. I didn’t sleep well, everyone being a bit apprehensive with strangers walking around and with our bags on the floor. Everyone had their valuables with them on their bunk but it didn’t make for comfortable sleeping position. Dave ended up swapping his higher bunk for ones of the girls on a lower bunk who didn’t feel comfortable with the chinese guys being able to see her a bit too much. We did manage to get a bit of sleep though to varying degrees, napping a bit in the morning too. When we were properly awake we had some breakfast and all talked before arriving in Chengu at around 11am. Definitely an experience and thankfully not half as bad as expected.
Alex
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