on a Chinese train
my first train ride in China (from Beijing to Datong) was great fun! only tickets for the cheapest of four classes (which is called “hard seater”) were available, but at least we had seat reservations because the train got really stuffed as you can see here. together with an over 70 years old couple form the States, we were the only foreigners on board. but after the first of seven hours we got to know our neighbours well – even though only one spoke a few words English.
besides experiencing the atmosphere on a typical Chines train ride, it was very interesting to watch the landscape from the window: power plant after power plant, highways, factories, other railway tracks with coal trains on it, construction sides and so on… From this very first trip outside of Beijing I got a good picture of what the Chines economy is capable of! amazing!