Traveling by train in China… nice and easy!

(English version from the text posted in Jun/2014)

The Kunming railway station more closely resembles an airport’s boarding rooms, with baggage check, ticket verification, and with its various gates, each identified with the train’s number and destination, and where efficient Officials validate tickets, and from which passengers are directly referred to the boarding pier. At the door of each of the carriages, is a formal employee, wearing an authoritative and complex uniform of military appearance, in a dry gesture direct the passengers to the respective carriages.

At the entrance of the train, we are greeted by the sound of a classical music orchestra, whose epic tone evokes the arrival of the cavalry that grows in intensity, while the passengers search the place and accommodate the luggage, until reaching the peak at the exact moment in which the Train begins its march. There follows a long sequence of instructions or information, spoken in Chinese, which passengers seem to ignore, absorbed by various electronic devices, entertained with games, messages, photographs and telephone conversations, food and drinks.

This trip, like the one previously held between Kunming and Dali, offered great comfort, not only for the quality of the carriages but also for the good condition of the road, which appears to be relatively new, offering ample stations with generous passenger berths, apparently oversized for the present demand.