[China]

I walked across the bridge between Lao Cai, Vietnam to Hekou, China to find my 37 hour train to Kunming.

We’d stop at every town, and I’d stick my nose out the window or walk out on the platform. In addition to the smells, the architecture, the clothing, and the faces, the real fun is simply the experience of place, of being there and being conscious of being there.

Being so far away creates a wonderful metaphorical distance from myself, and allows me feel things so freshly. Looking in on myself, my country, and my home from the vantage point of a train platform in a completely anonymous southern Chinese town provokes in so many ways….

I sit on the lower bunk with the window open and the warm breeze tufting in. A packed train and no evidence of westerners. As the train gains elevation and winds its way through precarious landscapes with 1500 foot drop-offs, Chinese people of every sort come padding through in slippers, pajamas and drinking their tea. Some stop to sit and try to talk. With my Mandarin phrase book and my pictures of family and Seattle, small connections are made.

Later, a business man in a suit enters our cabin of six bunks, stows his briefcase and climbs into the bunk across from me. This is a “hard” sleeper – a wooden bench. He arranges his shoes as a pillow, turns onto his back, folds his arms over his chest, and closes his eyes. All of this in 30 seconds. The next morning he’s in the same position. He gets up, walks out..