The experience began in the train station. The building was very large, but there were still more people in it than it was designed to hold. The benches were numerous, but it was impossible to get a seat. Even if one opened up, you would have to beat several people in the race to get to it. Our group of 18 resigned to standing around or sitting on our luggage.

Boarding was announced all of 20 minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. The train was a large one, and must have held several hundred people, who all tried to get on at the same time. The pushing and shoving that I have come to expect of China ensued, for the entire 15 minutes that it took us to get through the line. I kept having to resist the urge to scream out, no matter how hard you push, we will all leave Beijing at the same time.

Finally we made it onto the platform. After walking a bit we found our car, and got into another line to get on (this one, thankfully, involved far less pushing). Slowly, we shuffled to our bunks. On the left, the train held about 25 or 30 compartments. Each compartment was open on one end, and had six bunks, three stacked on each side. There was enough head room to sit up on the bottom bunk, but not the top two, and a built-in table under the window completed the compartment furnishings. Each bunk came with a set of linen - on the ride there mine seemed clean, but on the way back, there was a large and suspicious-looking stain on the sheets. The other side of the train had an overhead rack for luggage, a narrow table under the window, and two small chairs that folded against the wall.

As soon as we boarded, everyone began preparing for bed. All the passengers on the train settled down, and within an hour the lights were turned off. In the darkness there was nothing to do but try to sleep. The car was called a hard sleeper for a reason - the mattress was about an inch thick. Sleep was a long time coming.

It seemed that as soon as it was light, the Chinese family I was sharing my compartment with began waking up and moving around. I’m a light sleeper, and I had the middle bunk, so there was no way I could ignore someone walking back and forth in front of my head. I gave up trying to sleep and got up. To my surprise, it looked like at least half the car was up and about - it was 5:30 in the morning. After a few hours the train pulled into Qingdao station, much like the one in Beijing, if a little smaller. I had survived my first train ride in China. It wasn’t an unpleasant experience, but it was very different from anything I was used to or expected.

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