CHINA: 31 Hours (Beijing-Chengdu)
Assuming you hit the play button at the top of the screen, you should be listening to the song 31 Hours by Kanye West. Do you hear the sample? The singer distortedly croons "Hey, hey, hey, 30 hours". In reality it's a sample from Arthur Russell’s 1986 track “Answers Me", and the lyrics don't actually say that, but Kanye, as many artists do when using samples, altered it to better fit the theme of the song. But that's besides the point. When we came to the decision that we were going to take a 31 hour train ride—I repeat, 31 GODDAMN HOURS—from Beijing to Chengdu, a voice in my head was singing, "No, no, no, 31 hours?!?" Some of you may have experience with train rides may be thinking: "If you get the sleeper seat, it's not that bad...at least you have a bed to sleep on". Well we bought the hard seat tickets. That means you're scrunched in between two people to either side of you, and three people directly across from you. No room to rest your head (unless you manage to get a window seat, which is next to impossible), arms pressed against your side, little to no leg room, people standing in the aisles at all times, people smoking cigarettes ten feet away next to the bathroom (and by bathroom I mean a whole in the bottom of the train to sh*t and piss through) and countless additional unideal conditions. The cherry on top was the 95 degree weather and 90% humidity. Honestly I could go on for quite some time on the disagreeable conditions but that wouldn't be beneficial for anyone.
So what is the purpose of this discussion other than ranting? Well this train ride, along with the other 38 hours of train time (69 in total—YES, so perfect) have led to me really reevaluate my level of comfortability and how often I take things for granted in regards to convenience and ease in everyday life. As Americans, we truly do have a very different standard of living than most of the world. And for the most part, it's a higher standard. Well maybe the word "higher" is a bit subjective; I should say it's a more comfortable standard. That's just the most accurate way to put it. Now that's not to say there aren't millions of people in the U.S. living in terrible conditions that could be described in many words—none of them "comfortable". However we do have one of the highest qualities of life of any country, and highest standard of living, trailing only a handful of countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland and those damn Aussies (only kidding, I'm dying to go to Australia).
Us Californians have it especially nice; we have strict emissions standards, strict public cigarette smoking laws, and tons of eco-laws to curb toxins and create tax breaks for green businesses and many other perks (like our amazing weather...but let's not be braggadocios). It doesn't seem like we should have too much to complain about, but here we are expressing our displeasure because we got stuck in traffic for 45 minutes on our commute to work in our 2016 330e BMW Hybrids, or our outrage for having to wait in line at Starbucks for "like forever" to order our frappe-mocha-whatever while some jerk behind us in line talked way too loudly on his bluetooth about how he was gonna "sell the sh*t out of some stocks" later. It always seems to be complaints about things that are so minute and trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Trust me, I'm guilty of it as well. I'm sure I've complained about having to take the Amtrak train from the Bay Area to San Luis Obispo for 5 hours; now here I am having taken a train ride 6 times as long in significantly more unpleasant conditions. It seems that we again have fallen into a routine of preaching without practicing. We are always spewing idioms like, "walk a mile in their shoes" or, "it could be worse", but we never actually appreciate that our situation is substantially better off than most people's in the world. The concept of perspective seems to be something that is next to impossible for us to fully recognize and value unless we actually experience contrasting ones; unless we almost literally "walk a mile in someone else's shoes". That's why it usually is the people who have never experienced other aspects of life outside their own little bubble who are complaining about the minuscule facets of life. If you're complaining about being stuck in traffic for 45 minutes—try walking for 2 or 3 hours to get to work everyday—or to an even lesser extreme, try just taking a subway packed full of people to the point of immobility for an hour or two every day. People in cities like Beijing, with a population of over 21 million (larger than the whole state of Florida) or Shanghai with closer to 24 million (approaching the population size of Texas), simply have to live a different lifestyle. You don't have certain luxuries like personal space or fresh, smoke-free air.
But you don't see Chinese people complaining about it; this is just the life they live and for them it's all they know; for them it is comfortable. At first China felt uncomfortable and cramped and irritating to me, and that's okay—new situations can take some getting used to. But China has taught me a lot about myself so far. It has pushed me far out of my normal comfort zone, and taught me an incredible amount of patience and tolerance. It's also led me to consider my perspective far more than I ever have in the past. I think this is a concept that will continue to change and develop within me as I travel more. It's all part of my growth.
On a less sentimental note China has had it's awesome moments. Hiking a backdoor, "off the beaten path" way to and across the Great Wall of China was remarkable. Trekking this un-renovated, unoccupied part of one of the wonders of the world, that took thousands of years to build, provokes riveting feelings of awe. Not to mention, the views were breath-taking. It was quite an experience to say the least. Chengdu was also an incredible city. I wish we got to spend a bit more time there as we were only there for 3 days. We were hosted a by an awesome guy named Henry, who took us to his favorite hot-pot restaurant, where we had the most delectable, spicy Sichuan food that blew my mind. Definitely the best meal I've had on this trip thus far. I will definitely be contacting Henry if I ever find myself in Chengdu again. He has further confirmed my belief that the most rewarding aspects of traveling are grounded in the people you meet. More to come on China in my next post!
Cheers!
-G
