This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 9, 2011 - Coming back to Dalian took less time than going. The segments lined up better and I didn't have to spend a night in a hotel. I left Sunday, middle of the afternoon, and was at my door at 9:30 Wednesday morning, 66 hours in all.
The cost coming back was slightly less, too (even when I add my share of taxi fares, which somebody else graciously paid). Total round trip cost (including trip food) $161.46 for 2,908 miles, a bit under a week total traveling time. All in all I spent a little less than $500 on the trip. Well, my total was actually $472 but should add something for things totally forgotten. Gave away one (only) of the knives I had bought as gifts, so I deducted the cost of the others not given away. Took a bit of extra cash as a contingency fund. Bargain? You can decide.
Crocs worked fine but wouldn't have worked for horseback riding, and neither would any footwear with lugged soles. Need to be smooth to come out of the stirrup quickly and reliably if you should need to abandon ship. My spare pair was never unpacked.
Found decent Russian chocolate there at a better price so can save two pounds packing by only taking a bar or two for travel next time. Great Russian salami there!
Never used my flannel sheet but should probably take it next time anyway. Cotton socks worn for trip away from Dalian as it was warmer. Feet cracked from drier weather; need to watch that.
Trip segment from Jining to Tongliao (15 hours) couldn't get hard sleeper ticket so took calculated risk in buying hard seat. I've had pretty good luck upgrading to hard sleeper on the train but it's always possible that you couldn't. Worst-case analysis? Spend the night sleeping/sitting in seats full of friendly people rather than in a bunk. Hardly something to worry about. This time got a sleeper bunk after an hour and a half in the hard seat car.
That sleeper car carried the coaches and a sports team from a town farther north in Inner Mongolia than where I was going. As they got up the next morning, they gravitated down my way, first the coaches then the students. These high school students were amazed and delighted to find a foreigner thrown in with them eating the same food as they were, sharing the same way of traveling. Ditto for the ones in the waiting room in the Jining train station, where they were en masse getting ready to visit home for a four-day vacation. It was Mid-Autumn Day time. That unlost capacity for deriving great pleasure from the simplest of things is something I find very endearing and something I wish we hadn't lost.
In Jining, the streets were flooded when my bus arrived from Erlian and I had to walk through water just to get off the bus. I sloshed over to a taxi and asked to go to the train station. The passenger getting out said, "But it's just around the corner!" The taxi driver seemed to be in accord for he made no indication that he wanted me to get in, showed no interest in taking me there. So I sloshed across the flooded street to the train station.
I knew it was just around the corner but in that case I was willing to pay the fare to keep my feet dryer rather than wetter. They got wetter. I squished in and got in line to buy my ticket.
Only after I had my ticket (the hard seat one) did I find a spot to take care of my feet. It wasn't cold so they were only wet. And I was wearing wool socks, which was good. I had a small thin dry towel and a clean pair of wool socks in a plastic bag handy. So I took off my wet Crocs and socks, dried my feet and the Crocs (inside), put on the clean wool socks and my Crocs and was fine. Quick and easy. Better than shoes in the same situation (I had done something similar before with sandals).
Was I worthy of the wonderful people I was among? I hope so; questions such as that are best answered by the other party involved. I tried to be respectful - to the point of not taking any pictures of women or older people and precious few of men (the men knew me somewhat and I took four photos and stopped). Maybe next time I'll understand how to do it in the right way.
Will I take more money next time for a tour? Maybe not. There's a pernicious effect from having elements of life invaded by the profit motive, and I would rather meet people unrelated to that. I started learning about other ways to get around, see things this trip and maybe next one I can try a little on my own. I talked to a number of cyclists; I don't think I can do that. One man rode a horse solo after starting out in a group of four.
Disclaimer. I did actually travel to the places implied by this writing. I did not mention the name of the guesthouse, as I'm not looking for kickbacks or any other form of compensation from them. The experiences I reported happened and happened more or less the way I wrote about them. I wrote about what happened to me. What would happen if you went on a similar trip would be different of course, as would what would happen to me making the trip again.
The romance of train travel. I'm a steam train nut, and the impressive QJ 2-10-2 steam locomotives that pulled their loads between Tongliao and Jining were gone about four to five years before I was able to make that trip. High scrap prices since then pretty surely have made them only a memory. I really wish I could have seen them, felt their power, reveled in their existence and nearness. Didn't happen.
However much I might have enjoyed that experience, it is as nothing compared to the unsolicited and unexpected gift of simple friendship I received when I made the trip this year. Furthermore it wasn't a one-time matter because when the station master saw me unexpectedly as I was there on my return trip the feeling was just as strong, just as simple. Many, many people have had their hearts warmed from hearing about that experience; to know that such things can still happen and sometimes do. No material experience could compare.