First Time in China

There are many things that I only did for the first time in China. One of them was riding on a China Railway High-Speed Train (CRH). When I arrived in Shanghai Pudong International Airport last 2008 I was so amazed with the train that went so quickly from the airport to a distant place. I wanted to be on that train but my instruction was to take the airport bus to Suzhou which is really convenient for someone who is Chinese illiterate like me. 
I met two other foreign teachers, Mokom from Cameron and Randy, from Canada. We became good friends and they showed me around Suzhou, Venice of the east. I told them that I really wanted to try riding on a high speed train. I was so excited when Randy said that he would be meeting friends in Shanghai and I was welcomed to go with him. I was only thinking that it would be a fun ride, just like my first plane ride. I have never imagined that for 35 minutes from Suzhou to Shanghai I would only have enough space for my two feet. The train was so fully packed that I couldn't see the floor. We were not lucky to get a seat since we just bought the tickets on the day of our trip.

I also noticed that the authorities would only open the gate five minutes before the departure. Most of the passengers were pushing and running to get on the train. I just let them pass but Randy told me, "that kind of walk won't work here in China, see everyone is running." I quickly followed him. He told me that I should take note of the information on the ticket. I should remember numbers such as train number that starts with D for the bullet train, coach number and seat number.The train is very long with 16 coaches and we should go to coach 10. There were only few people running so he decided that we should use the door on coach 5 and just walk through. When we got on coach 5 we couldn't walk through since every little space was occupied so we just stayed on coach 5 instead of 10. I noticed that the attendants didn't care if the passengers were on the right coach number. I learned that lesson when I was on my own. It seems that if you did not have a seat, and are standing, you can stand in any coach, as long as there is room.

One lesson that I didn't learn, was to push people away especially in line to buy a ticket. Some of the people don't know where the line is and would just go directly to the counter. Inserting in a line is an issue and it seems that it's acceptable in China. I was in line at the only English Speaking counter in Shanghai. There were at least five people who were able to cut in front of me. When there was only one person in front of me, the counter closed because it was already 12:40PM. So I had to transfer to another line which took about 30 minutes and ended up not getting a ticket and I didn't know why. On my third attempt at least I was able to say "Suzhou" properly I guess. I started to fall in line at 11:50am I got my precious ticket at 1:20PM and my train departed at 2:21PM. Good thing that Starbucks is just around the corner. A cup of coffee made me feel a little better.

Train ride is nice since it's faster than our jeepneys in Cebu, but I would rather be on a jeepney than being on a queue for ages, pushing your way while boarding, running to get on the train and standing until your destination. A day trip like this would take me a few days to get my energy back. If this is their way of being "Globally competitive" as my friend said, then so be it. TIC (This is China)