One Year Away

Joseph

As our time in Hangzhou was over we
bought train tickets to Hong Kong.  We tried to buy “hard sleeper”
class because they’re cheaper but there were only soft sleeper
tickets available.  As we boarded the L139 train for our 23 hour
journey, we were thankful to have the soft sleeper tickets.  The soft
sleepers  are four person cabins with comfortable pillows and
blankets.  The cheaper hard sleepers consist of a dorm style sleeper
car with bunks stacked 3 high and no separate cabins.

We shared our cabin with two elderly
Chinese men who, because of their age, were given the two bottom
bunks.  They were friendly and we were able to communicate that we
were both getting off at Shenzhen and then taking the local train
into Hong Kong.  After a few minutes they decided to lie down and so
we climbed up to the top bunks.  There we would stay for most of the
23 hours, there not being anywhere else to sit except the smoky
dining car.

The two men below us had the following
provisions with them for the trip: glass jars of Longjing green tea,
sunflower seeds, dried green beans and a peeled pomelo.  They munched
on them the whole time and never had what I would consider a “real”
meal.  They shared some of their tasty pomelo with us.  All I could
offer them was some Ritz crackers, which they politely refused.   

The train arrived in Shenzhen about an
hour late because of construction on the track. Shenzhen is a Special
Economic Zone of China and is basically a giant shopping mall for
Hong Kong residents.  Apparently, many Hong Kong tycoons also
maintain a mainland mistress there.  It is pretty much devoid of
culture and travelers rarely stop there except for shopping. From the
train station it was really easy to clear customs and buy a train
ticket on the KCR fast train to Hong Kong.  We were in Central Hong
Kong about 45 minutes later.

We arrived at Marlboro guesthouse where
we had made reservations online.  It
was on the second floor of an
apartment building which had a sign out front that clearly stated “No
Guesthouses Allowed”.  Not a good sign.  When we got to the front
desk we were informed that they had received our reservation and
deposit but that they had no rooms available.  Not to worry though
they would send us to another guesthouse.  Too tired to argue with
them we followed a man a couple of blocks through the busy streets of
Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. 

He led us into his own apartment where
his wife and yappy dog greeted us.  We were shown to our room, which
we soon figured out was in fact the master bedroom.  The last thing
we saw before going to sleep was his wife spreading a blanket on the
floor of the living room for them to sleep on.  We decided to leave
first thing in the morning.