Changsha is the capital of Hunan province in central southern China. The most familiar thing about Hunan for westerners is perhaps the spicy food. In China, Hunan is known as the fish-rice region. I was actually born in a smaller city south of Changsha called Hengyang. My mom’s brother’s had always lived in Changsha and in the last ten years all the rest of my relatives moved here also. With no other family members in Hengyang I now make Changsha as my home stop on trips back to China.
The Shanghai train station is next to the old airport and looks just as big from the outside. Once inside there are countless rows of seats and entries to different tracks down stairs. In the old times people didn’t move far from the village they were born in. Nowadays with new industrial zones near major harbors and cities more and more people are forced to move away from home to find work. Overcrowded transportation is a big problem for everyone to go home on holidays. I still remember taking the overnight train from Beijing to Hengyang every year for Chinese New Year when I was little. We were always lucky to get the sleeping tickets. Most other Chinese people can recall going home on 18-hour standing only train ride. China has been aggressively developing its high speed rail system hoping to mitigate the bottleneck of long distant travel via airplanes. The recent accident has led to an expansive investigation and in the meantime reducing speed for all new trains and delayed start for new tracks. None of the setbacks have decreased the amount of demand for traveling by train.
From Shanghai to Changsha is just over 700 miles. The ticket costs 260RMB (roughly $40USD). The reduced speed train with a dozen stops on the way takes 9 hours from 9am to 6pm. The ride started up pretty nice with speed up to 200km/hr but after the first 20 minutes or so things went south. The train picked up extra passengers which quickly filled up all the seats and reduced speed to 150km/hr. The new passengers soon make themselves comfortable on the train by playing Chinese poker. Noise is a big problem in China. For the rest of the ride I had no chance to rest or do anything other than hating myself for not taking a plane! Thanks mom for suggesting that I take the train! AHHH!
When we finally arrived in Changsha on time at 6:21pm I was more than ready to jump off. My mom has 3 younger sisters and a younger brother. The 2nd aunt met up with me at the station while the 4th aunt was making dinner at grandparents place. The 3rd aunt is now visiting my cousin in Lafayette, IN. My cousin Lida just had a new baby girl this morning name Joana.
6pm is when everyone gets out of work in China and absolutely the worst time to find a taxi. We waited for a while in the taxi line but didn’t see any car pulling up other than private drivers or “black taxies” soliciting for business. Most people are smart enough to ignore them, including a large built American guy ahead of us. The driver poked fun at him and said “oh, fat guy don’t want to ride?” Heh. I felt kind bad for him and wanted to help but figured since he’s made it thus far he should know what the heck he’s doing (I sure don’t).
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