Rail your way through China

Even though we live in times of amazingly cheap budget airlines, trains remain the preferred mode of transport for a great number of people. Some destinations are better seen in full view from the train window rather than being glimpsed at from the airbus (And this is of course if you are lucky enough to get a window seat and an on-demand clear view) - this is when the transitory route becomes an attraction itself, when the purpose of the journey is not final destination but the journey itself. Sitting on a train, daydreaming your way thought landscapes and cities, listening to the melancholic monotony of the rail tracks is somewhat a classical approach to traveling in times of high speed and lack of time.

I am talking about traveling here for the mere purpose of traveling, exploring, enjoying and backpacking. But the trains in Mainland China serve a rather different purpose- they provide the people of China with an affordable and relatively fast option to transit thousands of miles in their homeland from the highly urbanized areas in the South and North East to the rural and still underdeveloped zones of Western China. During the Chinese Lunar New Year (January-February, in 2010: February 14) some 150 million passengers use the railway services to visit their relatives, millions of migrant workers return home by train, respectively direction East-West creating probably the largest channeled movement of people on the planet.

The expanding railway network also attracts and caters to foreigners: groups of backpackers, families with children on a long vacation, lone travelers. Falling into the last category, I happened to participate in this amusing and sometimes tiring train ride across the Mainland. The 2475 km between Hong Kong and Beijing was around 400 Euros by plane compared to the 80 by train (one-way). And it is a journey worth embarking on. In case you value comfort and privacy like me, there is a Soft Sleeper option, with 4 hard beds, excellent if you travel with some company. My only company though was the view outside- spectacular vistas of mountains and rivers, rural and urban landscapes. Within 24 hours the might of the Chinese economy enfolded in front of my eyes- massive factories, workers residential areas, mining sites, infrastructure development, endless agricultural fields (and this is when in my utmost excitement the camera batteries fail me big time).

Walking around the coaches, one is constantly bewildered by the variety of locals using the rail – from mothers with newborns to 90+ chain smokers. Yes, chain smokers. I almost panicked at the sight of a old lady who took the 30 meter stretch from her bed to the smoker's area in 25 minutes in order to smoke 2 cigarettes within 5 minutes. It is however, relatively clean, well-maintained, soap -and-toilet-paper-facilitated and safe. Of course, you need to take care of your belongings and bring your most valuable stuff with you to the bathroom, but in general there is no real danger of theft. And the guards are everywhere.

Sitting at the window in the cafeteria, sipping on a San Miguel (Where was the Tsingtao in those most precious moments of solitude?) on the 20th hour of this full-day trip upon return to Hong Kong I couldn't shift my mind from the idea of how I just crossed a whole continent, the distance between Madrid and Helsinki without even crossing a single border (of course until the customs in Hong Kong). I have seen landscapes unknown to any other country – awe-inspiring, mysterious and saddening at the same time. I talked to locals on their journey back home, met ABCs (American Born Chinese) enthusiastic about their first visit to China, shared drinks with fellow travelers, played with cute German toddlers and had some of that second-hand chain-smoking into my lungs eventually. How could you capture such moments on a plane? You simply cannot.