(*) the train arrived at nanning's train station a little before 5am. it was dark, and the sun had yet to rise. i went to the ticket line, to buy my next ticket for my train ride from nanning to the border of china and vietnam. here is a picture i took of the nanning train station at 5am.
(*) it was in this line where a meeting of destinies occurred. i, standing there and looking lost, was approached by two white people - a female and a male - looking equally lost. we sat for a few minutes and had awkward travelling introductions. we later learned we were both headed to hanoi, vietnam. furthermore, i learned they were german, and they figured i was american. together, we decided to make the trip to hanoi together. it was the beginning of a beautiful traveler friendship, substantiated out of necessity, kindness, and alcohol. how they put up with myself, and later my two other american at time alcoholic friends, sarge and mapquest, is still somewhat of a mystery. kind of like what exactly happened during the last few hours of hitler. i'm sorry, that was below the belt. the german people, represented by sabine and martin, i would learn are some of the kindest, gentlest, and overall, most patient people in the world.
(*) after buying the tickets from nanning to the border town (of which i think the germans still owe me $2, but that is neither here nor there), we went out to the front of the train station to kill a few hours before our 9am or so departure time. while out there, we struck up a conversation with a local kid from nanning. we stumbled through an offer of a cigarette (which he graciously accepted - worst comes to worst - offer an asian individual a cigarette to make friends), and a few other comments revolving around yao ming, how to say orange juice in chinese, and then what exactly a middle finger raised towards another individual means. he flicked me off. but not in the american type way. instead, he said he was good at basketball, and was #1. he expressed #1 by extending his middle finger towards me. i told him that in my book, china ought to be the #1 travel destination. and then stated to convey this to him via a physical manifestation through my middle finger. after the cigarette, it was time to leave. we exchanged pleasantries, and he said "good luck". it just goes to prove that despite cultural and language barriers, there is still the common denominator of faith and good wishes between all of human kind.
(*) we boarded the train. martin sat next to, what we would eventually discover, was a local chinese female studying chinese law. we did not eventually discover that she was female, only that she was studying law. while sitting across the row from her, our friend offered us a sealed packet. within this packet, supposedly, there was meat. and not the dried, smoked jerky type of meat. upon opening the package, i discovered the meat was not dry, but moist. and there was water contained within the paper package holding the meat. this created an interesting dilemma. do i refuse the female's generosity, and say, "look out your window! oh my god! there is a rice patty!", while i toss the meat out my window? or do i swallow my pride, my fear of moist foreign meat in a paper enclosed packet, and my disdain for being deathly sick while traveling, and eat the meat?
well, testing death, i ate the meat. it was slimy, but utterly delicious. martin ate about half of his serving, and sabine "saved it for later". i never saw that later. at that point, all i knew was i was going to die, martin was going to become extremely sick, and sabine was going to live a long and prosperous life. damn her.
the trick was on the rest of the world however. despite my eating of slimy warm meat out of a paper packet, i survived. and continue to thrive. here is a picture of the female who fed us this savory, adventurous meat.
(*) this train was headed from nanning to pinxiang. the train ride was straight out of a hollywood movie - the flora was greener than any imax projection screen could output. apocalypse now was about to set down in my reality, and it was, for lack of a non-cliched adjective, truly breathtaking.
here is a picture of the little girl who sat across from me while on the train. her father fell asleep, which allowed me the opportunity to take this picture. she continuously stared at me, and despite my best attempts at getting her to laugh by making ridiculous white person faces, i got no response. so i decided to snap a picture. without meaning to be creepy, i was truly amazed by this picture.
