Linfen to Linyi

I was very happy that I had a travel partner. Without Freddy I don’t think that I would have made it to Linyi. When traveling public transport it is very important to be able to speak the local language. Freddy was also on his way to Shandong Province, the same province in which Linyi is. He was like my angel that went before me and made the road flat and easy to travel. The journey to Linyi is a long and gruesome journey. This I didn’t know. I thought you get on a train and it takes you there. Mmm… sometimes I think I live in my own very idealistic world. Only thing is, if it was idealistic and everything worked out so perfectly, what would I be writing about. I constantly tell the people around me that when I am in China I am Chinese. I want to travel like the local people, I want to eat what the local people eat and I don’t want any special treatment because of the color of my skin. They cannot always understand this, but I want to experience the culture of the country, not like a tourist but like a local. This will probably never be 100% possible, but I can do my best and try.

We got in the taxi at 12:00pm at Linfen University towards Linfen train station. The first train we had to catch was from Linfen to Hengshui. This was a twelve hour trip. Back into the train wagon with 60 beds. This time this experience felt much different than the first time I was traveling. Maybe because the people in our cubicle were cleaner than the group I traveled with the first time. I sort of prefer the first time traveling as I was able to sleep. We had two really loud girls and another loud guy in our division of the wagon. Chinese people can’t whisper, but this we realized a while ago while playing Chinese whispers if you can remember. Neither me nor Freddy closed and eye while lying on our beds for about 9hours. I was actually relieved when we got of that train. By that time I was annoyed and irritated by the two loud woman. We arrived at Hengshui station at 00:15am

Hengshui station was cold!! From here we had to travel to Heze where I needed to catch a bus to Linyi. Sitting in the waiting area waiting for the next train we didn’t even try to close an eye. We were no longer tired. The next couple of hours on train weren’t too much fun. We only got tickets to stand. Yip… it was about 3-4 hours to Heze and the trains were so busy that there were no seats. 2:10am we boarded the train to Heze. This was an experience. You need to understand that there really weren’t any places left on the trains. Everyone boarding running for a place to stand, the train conductors pushing you into the train with all he has in him, no place to go in front of you as people are blocking the way. They don’t care about babies or old people… they are all the same and need to get into the train, and quickly.

This train was cold. Me and Freddy standing with another 20 people between two train wagons with a great big wind blowing right on us. Hypothermia goes through your mind every once and a while, your toes dead and numb because of the cold and standing. You can understand that we were happy to get off of that train at 5:40am the next morning. Sleep deprived and our feet killing us we exited Heze station. Taxi drivers swamping us to take their taxi. Oh, how glad I was that Freddy was there. Freddy haggling for a good price, me freezing and shaking, not really caring how much I pay as long as I get out of the cold. In the taxi, Freddy happy, and me defrosting we headed towards Heze bus station where I had to catch a bus to Linyi. This bus station was the coldest station yet. I couldn’t stay there; I needed to go somewhere warm. Opposite the road we spotted a place that served noodles and hot soup. I didn’t waste any time to go there.

My bus was leaving at 7:30am. After the meal, we made our way back to the bus station. A quick toilet run and a photo later(a guy just came up to me and asked if he could take a photo with me) I boarded the bus. With another cold wind blowing right on me in the bus I started longing for a nice warm bed. With no heating on the bus, it didn’t make the trip any more bearable. Two stops and four and a half hours later I arrived at Linyi bus station at 12:00pm. It was officially twenty four hours later since I started traveling and alas I was at my destination, well not totally. Another 10minutes in a taxi got me to my new home assisted by Daniel, my new host. We went for some food, and after two beers I went straight to bed.

All that stuff I said about being a local in this country, I realized is more difficult than I thought. My Western upbringing has made me soft and made my life easy, comfortable and convenient. This whole trip to Linyi was a great experience, but I don’t know if I want to do it again. If I do it again, I will make sure it is summer. I can endure everything, but when it is -10 and the cold moves into your body, there are not many things that will make your body heat return back to normal.

(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)