My life have undergone quite a change during this couple of months. New job, family turmoil, meeting old friends in unlikely places — that sort of thing. So naturally I had to travel a lot, and this is an epic about me and international train travel. Now, how do we start?..
Once upon a time there was a train... Nah, forget it. I ain't no fairytale person. So, what happened went like this...
It was the end of this April. I had to go to Russia and — feeling an urge to save money and needing to bring a lot of things with me — decided to take the famous train K19, which runs from Beijing to Moscow. The tickets were ordered and I went to Beijing, knowing not of all the adventures that were lying in wait for me there. The fun started just as I entered the Beijing railway station (the Beijing station, not that abomination called Beijing Western Station). First of all, they... No, Terrance, they did not do that to the pigs!... They made us go to the 2nd floor and stand there in the middle of the long walkway, obstructing it. I don't know why they would not let us into that special "Waiting hall for International train passengers" which is on the 1st floor and is meant to be used by said passengers - just as it was always done before. They must have got a thing against Russians... a not-so-well-hidden grudge or whatever.
Anyway, there we were standing like a bunch of idiots, Russians and Chinese alike when it hit the fan. Along came the guy named Wang Yubao, the Deputy Head of Passenger dept and an epic dickhead, who announced that we're allowed to take only 35 kg with us and that everything above this limit must be sent separately ("I guess it'll be impossible now, time being 10:45pm Saturday", he said with a smirk) or left at the station for anyone to take. Now thing started to get interesting as weight regulations were never enforced, and I mean never.
From that it turned into bedlam. Some girls had to leave most of their things just there on the floor or risk staying in Beijing with nowhere to go, no money and expiring visa. Some Chinese guy had to call his relatives to come and get his bags as he was not allowed to take them. Another Chinese guy was trying to get the stationmaster to stop this insanity. The stationmaster agreed that it was stupid but was not willing to take any action. And I had like 70kg of baggage and no way some jerk was going to make me throw it away.
Luckily there was a friend from Guangzhou who was willing to help... so some luggage went to him to be taken back to Guangzhou. This left me with a 32kg luggage, a bag of food to be eaten on the train and a backpack with my laptop. Naturally the jerk wanted me to leave the laptop behind (and said it aloud in plain Chinese) and when I refused they just won't let me through until the train departed.
So... I said everything I thought about them. Loud and clear. In Chinese. It did not help. The jerk looked like he was having an intense orgasm. You just can see his thoughts: "I was the boss here! I did show them!". And then he just left, happy as... well, as some very repulsive and very happy thing. As I said before, an epic dickhead.
Naturally I tried to return the ticket. Whoopie! Turns out you have to do that in 3 hours after the train left. Ticket office won't take it back 'cos these tickets are sold by and shall be returned to the China International Travel Service office nearby... which works from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. So it's catching the train before it crosses the border or throwing the ticket away and buying a plane ticket. And then they tell me the price for the plane ticket... the same as the price of the goddamned train ticket! My plan to save money failed from the very beginning!
To make the long story short, I had to buy me a plane ticket to Harbin and fly there to catch the train. Did get there on time and nobody said nothing about my luggage... and the journey was uneventful and pleasantly boring from that point. That weight check hysteria must be strictly a Beijing thing. A capital city thing. Jerks...
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