Crowning Achievements

   So I feel like I've accrued several separate heinous (in their own ways) bouts of transportation experience over the last half dozen years; a 3-week road trip with the family at the height of my angst-y teenage years; a cross-country marathon to Utah climaxing in on the road acrobatics that I can't even come close to doing on my snowboard; a 20-hour dirt road jaunt across Mongolia.  Now I can safely say I added another.
   After what ended being possibly my best weekend over here (the Shanghai International Ultimate Tournament, see Facebook for photos), I was faced with a daunting decision.  Due to the Expo trains in and out of Shanghai have been absolutely packed for weeks.  Generally I love taking those trains.  If you plan it right you get a nice bed, get to meet some people and make friends, you arrive at your destination nice and early in the morning, no hotel, it's cheap, if I were to get really excited I might say bliss.
   But that is if you plan it well.  And this time it was impossible to plan well.  We arrived in Shanghai on Friday and the first thing we did was book tickets back to Taiyuan, no beds, not even enough seats, Nick had to get a ticket for Tuesday.  So what ends up happening after a couple long days in the sun on Saturday and Sunday is Nick decides to fly, I will take his ticket and we'll get a new ticket for Matthias (my roommate).  That new ticket turns out to be a no-seater, they ran out of hard seats again. 
   So I decide the best bet is to give the hard seat ticket to Matthias, he doesn't speak any Chinese, and go in search of any possible empty beds (folks that didn't show up) or at least get a seat in the Dining Car.  Turns out everyone showed up, every single bed is full, and they are charging to get into the Dining Car.  I pay and sit and face the following for the next nine hours.  First, I have to pay two more times to keep my seat.  Second, there are two little kids running around the car yelling laughing and screaming.  Initially I welcomed it, two little kids being funny.  Then one of them pees on the carpet at my feet and the other throws up his dinner which sets these two both off to crying at 11pm.  Third, they never turn the lights off in the car.  Fourth, at least three older Chinese men get in arguments with the girl bartending because she won't let them smoke in the car, two just do it anyways.  Fifth we all get woken up and kicked out of the car at 5:30am so they can clean, we aren't allowed back in.
   Now I've said before, I love taking the train.  You get to see the country in a whole other way.  But if I don't have a seat next time, to hell with that,I'm flyin.