Waking Up On the Train to Ant U
When the sun came up I saw it outside the train window – Everywhere – Snow.
Last night on the train, I shared an open compartment of 6 beds – 2 bunk beds three high. The beds were small with just enough room for me. I shared the compartment with three young men in their twenties, an older gentleman in his 60s or 70s, and a woman in her 40s. In the next compartment there were 6 men ranging in age from 20s to 50s. In the compartment on the other side there was a young family with husband wife and 3 year old son plus another women and another man. The car contained beds for 66 people.
There is no privacy. All the while sleeping, I felt and heard the stopping and starting of the train as passengers were dropped off and pick up at stations along the way. The sounds of the train blended in with the snoring and occasional farting of the passengers. The bed felt like sleeping on a piece of plywood. The padding which I would not call a mattress was very thin. To save space I assume.
I awoke at 1am and lay in bed sleeping off and on. Then I awoke at 4am and climbed out of bed. Getting in and out of bed on the ladder at the end was an adventure in itself. Fortunately, I still have flexible and strength to pull myself up and into bed. There was no lower bunk available when I bought my ticket. The lower bunk has more head room, costs more but fills up faster. The top bunk on the third level has less head room, is more difficult to climb in and out of, costs less, and fills up last. I was lucky to get a middle bunk.
There are 11 compartments for 6 people each or 66 people in each car. It reminds me of the scene from Battle Star Galactica where the fighter pilots visited the refuge space ships - many people living a small space. My bed was about 15 square feet and I shared common area of about 20 sq feet with 6 others. I paid more for this extra space. The lower cost cars included only a chair and about 5 or 6 sq feet per person for 24 hours.
At 4am for about an hour I practiced Yoga and meditation in the slender aisle way between the end of the bed and the wall of the train car. I found out later that my Yoga practice woke up the older gentleman in the lower bunk and he was wondering what I was doing. I thought the yoga practice was quieter than the snoring and train noises. But maybe he was the one doing the snoring.
After Yoga, I meditated for about 30 minutes then climbed back to bed for a 2 hour nap. When I say climbed I mean climbed. I had to climb the ladder to get back into my bunk bet. The small chair I am sitting in as I type this diary has no back so I do have to practice sitting up straight and support my spine with my back muscles.
We have a sack full of food – instant noodles, bananas, oranges, chestnuts, and round bread that we bought at street vendors in Beijing. Many of the restaurants and food vendors prepare and cook their food outside even in the winter. I really like the small round bread. It is like Hard Tack prepared for backpacking but softer and tastier. The size of this round bread is somewhat smaller than the palm of my hand.
The sun came up about 6 am. The first town where the train stopped after sunup is Jilinxi. Several passengers disembarked at Jilinxi. Now we have a little more room. But the chair where is seat is as hard as ever and no back for the chair has arrived.The train arrived in the city Antu, our final destination, about 1PM. I have arranged to stay in a small apartment in this Chinese mountain town. At left is a picture of the Antu train station.
Living in Antu, China
The Apartment
The apartment has a living room, kitchen, toilet, and two bedrooms. It has running water and electricity but no air-conditioning and heating system. There is a shower in the bathroom but no walls around the shower so the entire bathroom becomes the shower. The bathroom has a western style toilet. The bathroom arrangement is very similar to the bathrooms I experienced in India. The apartment heating is similar to a room in a house I rented when I worked for the railroad in Durand, KS. In the middle of the winter in the 1970’s there was no heat, lots of extra heavy blankets, and flannel sheets.
Tonight for dinner I was invited to a local farmer’s house. We shopped at the food market to buy food for dinner. The food market is a very large building with many vendors, much like a large indoor flea market. Even in the midst of winter there were many choices of fresh fruits and vegetables, many types of noodles and bread, everything editable from a cow, pig, bird, or fish including pigs hoofs and fish eyes. There were package goods and bakers making fresh breads and noodles. There were white and brown chicken eggs, blue ducks eggs, and a small spotted egg but no one knew the English name of the bird that laid them.
The farm house where we ate was just on the outskirts of town and walking distance of about 1 kilometer from the apartment. However, we took a taxi because of all the food, The Taxi cost was 5 Yuan or about $0.80 USD.
The farmer’s house was a very old house with no running water indoors. It had one light bulb in each room with exposed wiring. The house is probably very similar to the farm houses in US many years ago before indoor plumbing and electricity. The heating system was very unusual. There were two rooms that were used as a combination living room, dining room, and bed room. Between the two rooms was a hall way that led to the kitchen on the left and another work room on the right. The kitchen included an indoor manual pump for water. Heating was provided by burning wood. Ant U is a mountain town so it is very cold with lots of snow this time of year.
The husband of the house had died last November. The hosts for dinner was the mother, a daughter, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren – on girl 14 and one boy 6 years old. The husbands had taken jobs in the other cities and one as far away as Singapore. Each of the two living/sleeping rooms was primarily a raised platform made of concrete covered with vinyl. After you walked into the room, you took off your outside shoes and put on your indoor shoes. Then you sat on or stepped onto the platform with socks only. Underneath the platform was a smoldering wood fire that heated the rooms. The wood burning stove heated the kitchen.
For dinner, the vegetables were washed and put into bowls in the Kitchen along with the meat and noodles. I offered to help but my offer was vehemently refused. In the living room with a TV and bed, a small short round table was set up. We sat on the floor of the raised platform around the table while the food and a Crock pot like appliance with water inside was plugged in and placed on the table. When the water was hot enough the food was placed in the water for cooking. Also, seasoning was placed in the water. Basically we prepared beef, vegetable, noodle soup with Chinese seasoning at the table for dinner. Also, included was cooked duck and rice wine. All of it was very delicious. Only two people, the 14 year old granddaughter and the daughter, could speak limited English. But I enjoyed every minute.
The houses are very well insulated with thick concrete walls. The cold from outside is not felt on the inside. Only a little heat is needed to take off the chill but it still cool inside. Everyone wears at coat or heavy sweater inside the house and inside the market.
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