5.30am wake up for my train to Jinan! Took a taxi to the station which cost me Y8, same journey took me Y5 the day before… apparently the night fare is different!
It was one of the worst train journeys of my life. The train was full of… I’m going to say it, filthy people! There was no seats when I got on so I had to sit on my backpack in the hall way. I should have asked for a bunk! A fight nearly breaks out near me an hour into the journey! I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I think I heard cursing of each others provinces! The police on board the train manage to stop the fight!
Half way through the train journey there is a mass exodus of people from the train, so I get a seat for the last four hours. Every so often I ask some one what stop we are at. I can’t figure out what they are saying but I hear the town Suzhou at least two times for different stops!!! I finish my book. Lots of thoughts enter my mind. I look around and see all the dirty people with dirt on their hands. In contrast, I have ink from my leaky pen! I listen to my iPod and whack on some Black Eyed Peas. Probably one of the oddest mix with the dirtyness around me. Yep, I have mentioned the word dirty and dirt a lot in these two paragraphs. All I can think about is how dirty everything is!!! Why do some people just look unclean? My iPod dies and I still have 3 hours to go!
Chinese comedy is blaring out the train Tannoy system. It’s not bad. A little like the Two Ronnies! A lady tries to make convocation with me. I can’t be bothered! I watch an old man with a can of spam. He is dumbfounded by the key contraption used to open the can. He spends a good ten minutes… it was great watching him! He finally gives up and eats an egg instead! I look at my boots. They are dirty! Even from the rain yesterday. Normally, the rain will wash my boots as I step in puddles back in the
There is an announcement over the Tannoy. “Is there a doctor on board the train? A child is sick in train carriage number six”. I see a moth on the train and wonder where it must have got on board from. It must be far from its mates! Karl Pilkington… you are a genius! We go past Taishan (my next destination)… it is huge!!! Bloody massive thing. Then a girl sitting next to me vomits into a pot noodle box.
You can tell that I had fun on this seven hour hard seat journey... I slowly went insane! Mental note: no more hard seat long journeys… buses are the way forward!
I arrive in Jinan and a lady ushers me into a taxi. There are already two people on board. I’m just fed up and ask her to take me to my hotel. She takes me to another one which turns out to be cheaper. She scams me off of Y20 for a distance I find out I could have walked. The bitch leaves me her number to take me around the area. Like fuck I am going to call her up! I chill the rest of the day and use the internet. The sun comes out… first time I’ve see the sun since I arrived up north!!!
Miles walked: 58.425m
Steps taken: 48,665
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