Kunming - China
7/2/05
We arrived in Nanning, coming from Guilin, quite late, around 10 p.m. The first thing we did was to try to find a bus going to Kunming from the same bus station where we arrived, but there was none.
Then we took a cab to the train station and, gosh, it was much more far then we expected, Nanning is a huge city.
At the train station we found tickets for the train going to Kunming, but only in the standing car, all the soft-sleeper, hard-sleeper and seats were taken, but because we really didn't want to wait we went for it. The train was scheduled to leave at 1 a.m.
7/3/05
The train from Nanning to Kunming.
I don't know why they do that, but they do. The passengers are not allowed to wait on the platform, there is a waiting hall instead. Upon the announcement of the train arrival, some 10 minutes before the train reaches the station everybody lines up on the door that gives access to the platform.
The staff only lets people in the platform when the train arrives, and when it arrived it looked like they were opening the gates of Woodstock (in Portuguese: o estouro da boiada). The line was completely forgotten; everyone rushed to the door like if they were running for their lives.
Perhaps that is only the type of ticket we bought? The cheapest kind … I don't know.
We just let them rush and waited until we could walk without being pulled-pushed by the crowd. We were the last ones in the car and were standing by the door; it was literally impossible to move any inch further. There were thousands of passengers. People were being squeezed out through the windows. In such conditions it is impossible to keep it clean, the thing was filthy with food, papers and all kinds of stuff on the floor. It was impossible to move, there were people everywhere, kids sleeping on the floor, families sitting on their luggage…it is just indescribable! We could even not move to sit down with our backpacks.
There was one hope though, we knew it before we boarded. In China, it is possible to upgrade your ticket. Within 20 minutes of ride, the conductor brought us to the dining car where we could seat, although we had to buy a tea but it was more then ok in the given circumstances.
He didn't even ask anything, he knew we would go for an upgrade and came back 10 minutes later with a paper with the price written on it. We paid him and moved to the hard sleeper car. From that point on it was fine. We had a bed and just woke up in Kunming.
Kunming has 4 million people and it is a neat city. They are trees and flowers along the sidewalk. One thing that caught our attention right away was the silence. Somehow the city's traffic is very quiet. There are hundreds and hundreds of absolute silent and clean electric bikes being used by the commuters.
But its charm is under threat from relentless modernization.
The fascinating wooden buildings have almost completely disappeared.
But as a modern city, Kunming is a great city. The city lies at 1890 meters and it has a mild pleasant climate.
After checking in the hotel we walked to the Flower and Bird market, in little streets just behind the major department stores street. Within one block of distance there is a big difference from the modern large avenues with high pre-made buildings and the narrow streets with tortuous houses. Kunming is also famous for it bakery and pastry shops, so we stopped at a pastry shop and tried some delicious Chinese treats!!
We arrived in Nanning, coming from Guilin, quite late, around 10 p.m. The first thing we did was to try to find a bus going to Kunming from the same bus station where we arrived, but there was none.
Then we took a cab to the train station and, gosh, it was much more far then we expected, Nanning is a huge city.
At the train station we found tickets for the train going to Kunming, but only in the standing car, all the soft-sleeper, hard-sleeper and seats were taken, but because we really didn't want to wait we went for it. The train was scheduled to leave at 1 a.m.
7/3/05
The train from Nanning to Kunming.
I don't know why they do that, but they do. The passengers are not allowed to wait on the platform, there is a waiting hall instead. Upon the announcement of the train arrival, some 10 minutes before the train reaches the station everybody lines up on the door that gives access to the platform.
The staff only lets people in the platform when the train arrives, and when it arrived it looked like they were opening the gates of Woodstock (in Portuguese: o estouro da boiada). The line was completely forgotten; everyone rushed to the door like if they were running for their lives.
Perhaps that is only the type of ticket we bought? The cheapest kind … I don't know.
We just let them rush and waited until we could walk without being pulled-pushed by the crowd. We were the last ones in the car and were standing by the door; it was literally impossible to move any inch further. There were thousands of passengers. People were being squeezed out through the windows. In such conditions it is impossible to keep it clean, the thing was filthy with food, papers and all kinds of stuff on the floor. It was impossible to move, there were people everywhere, kids sleeping on the floor, families sitting on their luggage…it is just indescribable! We could even not move to sit down with our backpacks.
There was one hope though, we knew it before we boarded. In China, it is possible to upgrade your ticket. Within 20 minutes of ride, the conductor brought us to the dining car where we could seat, although we had to buy a tea but it was more then ok in the given circumstances.
He didn't even ask anything, he knew we would go for an upgrade and came back 10 minutes later with a paper with the price written on it. We paid him and moved to the hard sleeper car. From that point on it was fine. We had a bed and just woke up in Kunming.
Kunming has 4 million people and it is a neat city. They are trees and flowers along the sidewalk. One thing that caught our attention right away was the silence. Somehow the city's traffic is very quiet. There are hundreds and hundreds of absolute silent and clean electric bikes being used by the commuters.
But its charm is under threat from relentless modernization.
The fascinating wooden buildings have almost completely disappeared.
But as a modern city, Kunming is a great city. The city lies at 1890 meters and it has a mild pleasant climate.
After checking in the hotel we walked to the Flower and Bird market, in little streets just behind the major department stores street. Within one block of distance there is a big difference from the modern large avenues with high pre-made buildings and the narrow streets with tortuous houses. Kunming is also famous for it bakery and pastry shops, so we stopped at a pastry shop and tried some delicious Chinese treats!!
posted by Adriano and Angie | 7:43 PM
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