Indecisive Chinese train journeys

Photo: Train station of Shanghai, China - 15/11/10

A matter of being flexible in China too. While in a touristic town full with canals and many interesting views, I met an English chap, Ed, who at his turn met two Chinese tourists. The four of us spent the day walking around in the city, and the next day Ed and I where leaving for the train station. Ed taking his train back home to a town outside Shanghai, ready to go back to work teaching English, me catching another train to my next destination.
Ed, being able to speak quite some Chinese, helped me getting the train ticket, and after lunch he left to catch his train.
While I was waiting for my train, I was browsing through the lonely planet and re-reading where I was going, what I planned before. Suddenly I realized that I might not want to go to the little villages I planned to go. I didn't feel in the mood to go to these little villages, which probably are beautiful in the summer as per the lonely planet, but in the winter, well suddenly I had a very depressing image in my head with poor looking people doing hard work carrying heavy stuff etc. Outside the cities, everybody in China is only carrying heavy-heavy stuff on their shoulders or on their back. Suddenly I decided to look what I could do instead, and decided to continue straight to Hangzhou! So I went back to the ticket office to try and change my ticket. In body language I imagined it to be very easy, just show my ticket, and, with a hand wave say: 'Chengdu - Jingtan, no! Chengdu - Hangzhou, yes!' It worked before with a 'changing' motion of the hands. But the the lady started talking Chinese to me and I got lost in her question mark expression on here face. Clearly she tried to confirm something, I could just play bluff and agree with what she said, but what will I agree to?? Many times I just agree, but in this crucial situation I felt it wouldn't work because she might not believe me agreeing, and on the end I might end up agreeing to stupid things. But then there was a guy next to me waiting in the growing queue behind me and trying to get his ticket. He speaks very little English but hardly being able to explain what to the situation is like from the other side of the glass separating the ticket buyers and the ticket sellers.
On the end, with a piece of paper he explained that they don't know what is the price of a ticket from Jingtan to Hangzhou, hence they could not change my ticket. Butttt, he told me, I could go to the train and tell the ticket inspector what I want and then it should be fine. That gave me new hope in my recent refurbished plans so I
went back to the waiting hall and found myself a new seat.
While waiting in the waiting hall, the guy, who bought a different ticket himself, suddenly appeared in front of me giving me a paper with Chinese writing and saying to me: 'give this to the train'. I understood that on the paper was written what I want.
At the train, with big smiles from everyone seeing me, a big nose, a dabize or a handsome as the locals refer to me, asking for questions. Everyone has to laugh seeing me without Chinese spoken language, appear in a place where no or hardly foreigners come. But when they saw the paper, an ok hand-symbol was given and I could go and find my bed. I tried to ask how much money I should give but she didn't understand my gesture and send me away to bed number 17. She didn't understand me and didn't speak about the price, but at the same time she didn't give an expression of doing a favor, so it should be normal business I guessed, someone must come back later. And indeed, a young girl working on the train, who couldn't stop looking at me each time she passed my bed(about 50 times during the 10 hour trip, but so did pretty much everyone else on the train) approached me with a colleague and a ticket machine selling me the ticket to Hangzhou. I had to pay another 130 yuan(€13) for 7 extra hours on the train:)

Photo: Hangzhou, China - 10/11/10

And I'm glad I took this decision! Hangzhou seems to be very pretty with the huge west lake! Tomorrow more exploring, possibly on bicycle!

Photos and more China stories will follow soon!