We took the train from Shanghai to our final destination, Huaihua. It was a 20 hour journey so we got a ‘soft sleeper’ which is a 4 person cabin with beds. It was pretty comfy and the girls loved the bunks. Lucky for us there were two other kids about the same age as our girls, who could speak English! They were Chinese-Australians on the way to visit their grandparents. Funny how our first real conversation with someone was with a 6 year old.
The countryside was very lush and green, and with all the rain, we saw much flooding and many engorged rivers. There was not much for city life along the way, all quite rural. It looks like a tough existence for many.

When we finally made it to Huaihua we faced the task of getting our heavy luggage and 2 kids down and up sets of stairs to get out of the station. Of course there was someone offering assistance, or rather grabbing our bags and speaking rapid Chinese and starting to walk away. He was probably about 60 years old and managed to take our 2 heaviest bags. When we gave him money at the end he wanted more so we doubled it and then he tried for more. Funny, even non-English speaking people understand, “Bye, bye” and he and all the onlookers laughed that we did not fall for his big money scheming. Our pickup was not evident, since our train arrived an hour late, so we waited in the front of the station, again surrounded by 25-30 curious onlookers. I managed to convince someone to loan me their phone so we could call for our ride. While we were standing there waiting I glanced around, and saw this above us, to me, I think she looks like she’s fondling her nipple and flipping everyone the bird, quite a welcome to Huaihua!