Day 35 – October 22 – Hong Kong - Shanghai

I took the Cathay Pacific red-eye from Delhi to Hong Kong. The flight was okay. The plane was older than all the other Cathay Pacific flights I had been on, I guess this route is not a priority for the airline. I did sleep, a lot, though.

Upon arriving, I went through Hong Kong customs, which is a breeze. Really no problems at all. I booked it to the post office inside the airport, where I was able to ship that carpet home for a very cheap price. It was only about $40 to ship a 9 kilo package. Hopefully it will get to the US. They said it could take up to two months, which is fine. I will just be getting back to LA in two months.

I took the airport express to Kowloon Station, where I transferred to a shuttle bus which took me to Hum Hung station, the main train station in Hong Kong. There I bought a train ticket to Shanghai. This is not what you could really call a high-speed train in the tradition of the Shinkansen in Japan or the TGV in France. No, this is more of a put-put train. It only leaves every other day for Shanghai since the train actually takes 18 hours to travel between the two cities. I splurged and got one of the “soft-sleeper” cars with only four berths rather than the cushion-less option with six berths. I did not want to be the lone man with a family of five sharing the same room. That just doesn’t sound positive. So I boarded the train and found out that I was only sharing the cabin with a middle-aged Chinese woman who spoke no English. We were cordial to each other. I smiled, helped her with her bag, and she nodded back. We both got ourselves situated, and she went out to explore the train. I got more comfortable, taking off my boots and using the extra pillow and blanket from the empty bed to create a makeshift chair on my bed so I could read and type. When she came back, she lay in her bed for about four minutes before exiting, again. She came back quickly, sat down, faced me, and said “excuse me, your shoes… smell… terrible.” I freaked out. Dear god, my boots smell that bad that she had to exit the cabin, ask a stranger who speaks English how to translate, and then deliver it with such… vitriol? I quickly grabbed them and stashed them above us in a small closable compartment in the wall. She nodded, satisfied, and went to bed. In my own defense, she had the smelliest food I have ever had the displeasure to whiff, and her own shoes smelled pretty horrible themselves.

So, that was how the train ride went. We didn’t speak to each other, we just both watched the scenery speed by, going from the sea to hills and mountains. It was a nice ride, no major starts or stops. Next stop, Shanghai.