I’ve been debating what is the most powerful way to convey how awful my train ride from Hefei to Beijing was. It’s surprisingly difficult to convey just how hellish some experiences are, and this one was by far and away the worst travel experience I’ve ever had. Yes, it was even worse than the time I got drunk, violently ill, and then hungover on a train. It was that bad.

Two of my friends and I were taking the train from Hefei to Beijing at the end of our Huangshan trip. It was an 18 hour train ride, and we had hard seats. We knew it was going to suck, but we were determined to make the best of it. However, what we did not prepare for was the fact that seated in our section of the train (and by section, I mean right next to us) was a mother and her baby. This baby was wearing these assless chaps that are all the rage for babies here in China, and the mother had no grasp whatsoever of basic social and hygienic norms.

I am sure you can all guess where this is going.

The combination of lack of sleep, uncomfortable seats, absolutely no personal space, the ignorant mother, a very hungry (and consequentially, the owner of a very active bladder) baby, and long hours meant that the train ride was one straight from hell. Going from paradise at the peak of Huangshan to the bowels of hell on the train is a very long way to fall…

Here’s a blow-by-blow account of what happened, along with some accompanying photos:

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Tags: china, people suck, photos, rants