Getting from Changsha to Jishou

The previous year, I had traveled on my very first Chinese overnight bus ride and this year, I got to try my very first Chinese overnight train ride. 

We were headed out of Changsha to Fenghuang, but there is no direct train, so we needed to first board an overnight train to Jishou and then take a 2 hour bus ride into Fenghuang.

We were traveling during National Week in China, which meant that everywhere we go would be packed with people.  We had pre-booked a soft sleeper cabin to ensure that we’d get a few hours rest on the overnight train and I’m so glad we did this.  The train compartment had 4 beds (2 sets of bunks), which meant that we were sharing the cabin with 2 strangers.  This turned out to be okay as it was a middle aged woman and her elderly father who pretty much kept to themselves.  It was a 6-7 hour train ride, so we weren’t going to get a full night’s rest, but it was as good as it could be. 

One thing that I learned on the train was that you weren’t allowed to use the toilets when the train was stopped.  I was curious to know why and my friend told me that it was because the “toilets” were actually just a hole that went right outside to the ground, so if they allowed people to use the toilets while the train was stopped at a station, there would be mounds of human waste on the tracks at the train stations.  I wasn’t sure if this was entirely true, but bathrooms were always so sketchy in China that I did believe most of what she said.