A funny thing happened on the way to the train station..

[I know it's been a while since I've posted anything about my travels back in January and February. You probably thought I forgot about it. Rest assured, I didn't. I've just been busy. Now back to posts on my winter break travels.]

In the last post about my trip, Leslie & I were in Hangzhou. Our plan was to travel from Hangzhou to Shanghai via the high-speed bullet train that connects the two cities, however we were only semi-successful in completing this goal. However, before we get to that, I have a funny little story about our cab ride from our hostel in Hangzhou to the Hangzhou train station.

As I mentioned, Leslie and I took a cab from the area our hostel was in to the train station. Since our hostel was located off a pedestrian street, we had to first walk out to a larger intersection with cars on it to flag our cab. After a short while, we were able to hail a cab, get in and let the cab driver know that we wanted to go to the train station. The driver, a woman, nods her head and says okay and takes off in the direction of the train station.

After driving a minute or two, we stop at a red light and the driver begins speaking to me. At first, I thought she was perhaps speaking to someone on the phone via a bluetooth or a hands-free device (that's what New York cab drivers are always doing), however after a split second I realize she's talking to me.

She asks me if I would mind and if we weren't pressed for time (we weren't), if she could stop the cab at the convenience store across the intersection so she could run in and use the restroom. She went on explain that at the train station, there's no place for her to pull over and run to the restroom. Since Leslie and I were in no rush, and I understood her urgency, I said it was fine (she also promised to stop the meter so we wouldn't be charged for her bathroom break).

During this entire interaction, the cab driver was incredibly polite and gracious. It just further shows how nice the people of Hangzhou were to use. However, since this entire conversation was in Mandarin, I can only imagine what Leslie first thought when the driver pulled over & ran out of the cab towards the restroom at the convenience store. After I explained it to her though, we had a good laugh.

It's definitely a good anecdote of our trip though.

Now back to the trains. Earlier, I mentioned that Leslie and I wanted to take the high-speed bullet train (the G train0 that allows you to travel a distance of roughly 190 km (118 miles) in a mere 45 minutes. However, since the train ticket agents we purchased the tickets from in Beijing weren't the most helpful nor clued-in of train agents, we ended up on the second-fastest train (the D train) that takes you the same distance in 1 1/2 hours, which is still impressively quick if you think about it.

D Train

Interior of the D train

Regardless, Leslie and I got to Shanghai just fine, despite a mess up about which Shanghai train station we were going to. (The previously mentioned clueless train ticket agents had said we were going to the Shanghai South Train station, but we ended up at the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport train station. Good thing Shanghai's metro system is very thorough.)

For those of you fretting about our missed opportunity, don't worry. Leslie & I made up for it by take the Maglev train, a high-speed electro-magnetic train that goes from Shanghai out to Pudong Airport, when we were leaving Shanghai. Although on our trip to the airport the train speed only climbed up to a "measly" 289 mph (465 km/hr), during it's fastest runs (which are normally in the afternoon), it can go up to 315 mph (507 km/hr).

Maglev Train