I am currently on a business trip to China. It is my first
trip to China and I had some reservations about coming here from all of the
stories that I have heard regarding the climate and the pollution. One thing
that I heard was that the sun did not shine during the work week of Monday
through Friday because of the industrial pollution. The sun would be a little
visible during Saturday and it would clear off very nicely on Sunday. By Monday
the factories have started back up and the sky is dark again.
My experience has been different. The sun has been out every
day since I have arrived. It has been a little hazy at times, like Southern
California when the haze is bad. There was one day that it rained so I did not
expect to see the sun that day.
I am finding that there is a certain smell to the air and
that it varies city to city, I guess based on the industry near the city. I
also have acquired a bit of a head could. I feel some sinus drainage and it is
not very enjoyable. But other than that, I have not found too much different
versus other countries in Asia.
I arrived on Monday and stayed in a hotel in Shanghai on
Monday night. On Tuesday we traveled to a different city for working on
Wednesday. I guess since we had the entire day to travel my guides decided it
would be good to try to use as much of the day as possible. We rode on a low
speed train for 7 hours. I think the train might have been pulled by a goat
instead of an actual train engine.
The accommodations were not too bad. There were four of us
and we were in a compartment with four beds. There was a door and a light and a
window to the outside. The only issue I had with this whole situation is that I
did not want to sleep on the train. Indiana is 12 hours different from China.
Since we were travelling during the day, I needed be awake during the entire
trip or I would not sleep at night when I needed to be asleep. OK, I can do
that. I had two different books, my laptop where I could do some work (no
internet access), and an iPod with movies, music and podcasts.
About half way through the trip, the children in the next
compartment are getting restless and start running up and down the hallway
screaming. So we shut the door. We had been leaving it open, I was not sure why
but I found out soon. The air conditioning on the train only seemed to work in
the hallway and once we shut the door the compartment became very warm. That
made it a little more difficult to stay awake.
About six and a half hours into the ride, I had to use the
restroom. I walked one way down the train for 4 cars and didn’t see a bathroom.
I turned the other way and found one back in the next car. I open the door and
it is basically a stainless steel lined pit. I start going and I realize that it
is very loud in the bathroom. I can hear the wind much more clearly than in the
rest of the train or in our car. I look around and there is no window in the
bathroom. I can only assume the noise is coming from the hole that I am peeing
into. So if I’m reading this correctly, when you go to the bathroom on a 7 hour
train ride you are actually peeing on the train tracks.
For the return trip back to Shanghai, we took a taxi to the high speed rail station and then took the high speed back. This trip took 3 hours this time... the train topped out at 188 miles/hour. In the comfort of an air conditioned cabin. No beverage service... but that's OK. No screaming children either.
Next time you are walking down the train tracks in China, I
hope you don’t step in something and become instantly grumpy…
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