China Day 8 - Xi'an to Jingmen by Train (En-route to Zhangjiajie)

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous post here.

19 Jan 2016
Xi'an Railway Station, Xi'an China

And so dari Terrocotta Museum balik hotel naik bas lain. Not as cosy as the one I took earlier that morning. Journey pun macam lagi lama (longer route). Apapun, selamat sampai hotel before check out time. Alhamdulillah.

Jea pun sudah ready when I got back.  And she had half-recovered from the mild fever. Double Alhamdulillah. Lepas aku packing lebih kurang, off we went to the train station. Before tu sempat singgah bank & withdraw duit sebab poket si Err makin nipis. Pinjam kad Jea, I didn't bring any card with me (hatta IC pun). Bijak kan??

Hard Sleeper (2 pax) : CNY 512.00 (RM 152.00 per pax)

Destination : X'an - Jingmen

Duration : 13 hours

Bought from Ctrip

# Xi'an Railway Station
(please take note, the station for BULLET TRAIN from Beijing is different)

# Tu dia anak gajah, sikit bengkok badan si Jea

# Haritu sampai Xi'an awal pagi, so tiadalah keinginan mau ronda station. Dalam kepala, mau cepat sampai hotel jak

# As usual, memang yang ramai tu locals juga. Train ni memang salah satu main transportation for the Chinese pasal tu train system diorang very the vast (systematic, well organized). Hence the price fare *sobs*

# Waiting hall

# Train attendants helping the elderly with their bags. Ada yang bawa karung guni somemore ok (filled with potatoes & other agricultural produce)

Kali ni naik train jam 4pm. We're gonna spend the whole night on the train. This time Jea managed to grabbed the hard sleeper seats for us. Panic kau sebab weeks prior this trip, almost all seats were sold out. After few times trying, akhirnya dapat juga. Kalau sudah rezeki kan. Pengsan lah kalau dapat hard seat as the journey will take approximately 13 hours. 

# How the hard sleeper carriage looks like. Lebih kurang carriage kami naik Beijing-Harbin, only yang ni macam a bit old. 

# Each compartments memang open macam tu. Kalau yang train Beijing-Harbin tu at least ada dinding yang cover those triple-bunk beds

# And tilam kali ni firmer that the Beijing-Harbin (belum habis comparing kan)

# Masuk carriage, terus panjat katil. Ntah apa yang letih sangat kau Bie

Mengalah sama Jea, was supposed to have the middle berth tapi sebab minah tu still unwell I took the upper berth instead. Still, unaware of the consequence later that night. 

Right after departing, I went to the washroom to get changed. Didn't take any pictures of the water dispenser & toilet / washroom as they look the same as in the previous train we rode. Jama' atas katil jak, tabahlah kena duduk+bend 40' sebab memang ndak boleh duduk tegak. Then, dinner. 

Later, sempatlah chit chat sama mamat sebelah katil. He's from Beijing, and he speaks good English although having learnt it only in the university. He never get the chance to go outside of China. Tapi gigih practice his English skills; every time jumpa foreigner he will try to talk to them.

Actually...I was already sweating & starting to feel nausea & dizzy. Signs of claustrophobia. Yes, you read that right. Confined place suffocates me. And maybe, he noticed that hence he started talking to me. Just to get me distracted. Alhamdulillah it worked. We talked about a lots of things, well it's literally more to him 'explaining' about China & its people. Me = listening side; which I enjoyed because I got to know a bit more about the Chinese i.e why they are always in hurry; something I've been pondering ever since I arrived in China. He wished me good night after seeing me yawning few times. Not that I was sleepy honestly, but that's me being me. Memang sejenis habit menguap bila malam+atas katil walhal bukan ngantuk betul pun.

Anyway, I can't remember what time I drifted to sleep. Sebab sempat edit gambar bagai lagi malam tu. What I know, I woke up in the middle of the night. Panic attack! I remember vividly how I crawled to the end of the bed, and mouth breathing. I was gasping for air. Heart pounding. 

Turned out, the train was stopping at one station....and the air conditioner was turned off. I was already starting to have stomach cramped & headache (train stopped for about 10 minutes), and already thinking of calling Jea out loud when I heard the engines started. Fuh! Just in time. Else memang confirm berdrama di tengah malam di bumi China. I was back to breathing normally soon as the train starting to move slowly. What an experience betul lah. Masa tu memang terus bagitau diri sendiri, no more upper berth after this Bie. Aku rasa soft seat tu way better than upper berth. Kalau lower or middle tu boleh compromise lagi, tapi upper memang big no-no lah. Rasa ceiling train tu hempap aku. Huhuhu alhamdulillah nothing serious happened. 

I went back to sleep not long after that. Super sound asleep. We arrived Jingmen Station 30 minutes passed 5am. 

20 Jan 2016

Jiangmen, Hubei China

# Stairs, rarely jumpa lift or escalator di platform

# Luckily we opted for backpack. Imagine turun naik tangga menjinjing beg AF tu. 

# Jingmen Station (arrival hall). Don't ask me where the heaven this place is. Jea in-charged of this route, aku ni mem-follow ajo.

# Entrance to departure hall

Nasiblah memang sudah aware pasal ketiadaan heater di train station di China ni. So awal-awal body sudah embrance segala kesejukan (winter+dawn...tabahlah wahai badan). Ambil wudhu' dengan air sejuk bedi, alah bisa tegal biasa. Alhamdullilah dapat Subuh dengan tenang sebab next train kami in 2 hours time. Sempatlah breakfast lepas solat tu.

#Sila lah rajin study information board ni. Insha Allah memang accurate & up to date 

# Awal pagi lagilah so berpeluang lah tengok train station ni sunyi. Only few locals & tourists like us waiting for their train.

Sempat juga aku terlelap while tunggu train. Boleh baring kuak lentang sebab tiada penghadang between seats tu tapi seats adalah sejuk (steel oii).

So untuk next destination, I'll continue in next entry. 

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim