现在我已经开始掌握买火车票的窍门了。

By now I’d started getting the hang of buying train tickets.

大多数时候售票处都不愿意把票卖给外国人。就算是买票，也一般只能买到几天只有的车票，并且售票员会要求外国人以虚高的价格用fec支付。

Most of the time ticket counters would be reluctant to sell tickets to foreigners. When they would it would be for a train several days out, and they would require payment in fec at the inflated price for foreigners.

我发现，如果你刚坐上火车，你可以用人民币在车上以当地人的价格买一张票，省下一大笔钱。

I discovered that if you just got on the train you could buy a ticket on board with Renminbi at the locals price an exponential savings.

火车上挤满了人，硬座区的长凳几乎找不到坐人的位置。

The train was jam-packed and i started out in the hard seat section on the aisle with my butt barely able to find room on the bench seat.

因为很难走到窗户边，所以我没有拍很多这次旅行的照片——不过也无妨——旅途的大部分时间，火车都是在隧道里。

It was difficult to get to the window so I don’t have many pictures of the run–even when i could for much of the trip the train was inside a tunnel.

中国的婴儿不穿尿布，而是穿无裆裤。过道对面一位女士的腿上坐着一个婴儿。对我来说，她也很紧张。时不时地，小男孩会发出一声尖叫，向后一靠，然后开始**。

Babies in china don’t wear diapers, having crotchless pants instead. There was a baby sitting on a woman’s lap across the aisle. From me, she was on the edge of the seat as well. Periodically the little boy would let out a squeal, lean back, and let it rip right into the aisle and down mom’s leg.

在第四次躲避了婴儿的尿后，我决定试着在卧铺里找个地方。第二天上午的94次列车到达成都。再一次，在一个有蒸汽运行的地区。

After dodging baby pee for the fourth time, I decided to try and get space in the sleeper. The next morning train 94 arrived in chengdu. Once again, in a region with operating steam.

我下了火车，有一个惊喜——一辆真正的太平洋式蒸汽机车。

I got off the train to a wonderful surprise-a genuine pacific type locomotive-under steam.

找到一家酒店后，我沿着轨道徒步旅行–又发现了一辆蒸汽机车！

After finding a hotel, I hiked along the tracks until discovering multiple Mikados switching in a yard. I’d never witnessed anything like it back in time.

天气真的很单调，所以我拍了几个镜头，但不想浪费我有限的胶卷。我只是坐在那里看着。20分钟后，两个警察骑着自行车过来了。

The weather was really drab, so i took a few shots but not wanting to waste my limited supply of film. I just sat and watched. 20 minutes later two policemen rode up on their bicycles.

他们很有礼貌地拿出了短语手册，我们花了很长时间来回翻译。他们告诉我们没有遇到麻烦，但他们似乎想要什么。他们用他们的手做手势，这看起来很像从相机上取下胶卷。但是我不太明白。

They were very polite out came the phrase book, and we spent a long time passing it back and forth. They assured me i wasn’t in trouble but they seemed to want something. They made gestures with their hands it looked a lot like removing film from a camera and pointing to mine. uh i just didn’t understand.

最终他们放弃了，让我跟着他们来到附近一间看起来很简陋的办公室。一个胖胖的绅士坐在一张桌子旁，他们让我坐在他对面。我们四个人花了更多的时间传递短语手册，然后做了更多我不懂的手势。

Eventually they gave up and had me follow them to a shacky looking office nearby. A portly gentleman sat at a desk and they sat me down across from him. The four of us spent more time passing that phrase book and then more gestures that i just didn’t understand.

The man filling up both sides of two pages of a mini notebook with chinese script. He handed me the pages and pointed to the door.

这名男子用中文写了一张纸。他把纸递给我，指着门。