A Search For Steam! 中国的蒸汽旅行

是时候往东走了!
先坐火车到重庆，然后乘船顺流而下到武汉。

It was time to head east!
First by rail to Chongqing then by boat down the yangtze to Wuhan.

一辆胜利型机车从我们的身边擦过，我们的列车在途中的一站停了下来。

We passed a SL class pacific then at a stop along the way.

我跑到车厢的后部去拍摄这辆蒸汽机车的全貌。当我回到我的座位时，有人打趣说我想要逃跑。

I ran for a shot of this GJ class tank engine. When I got back to the train,I was told that my fellow passengers thought i was trying to escape.

这是沿长江而下到武汉的游船。

Here is the cruise down the Yangtze River to Wuhan.

抵达北京。

Arriving in Beijing.

6月22日到达北京，旅途真是艰辛。

Arriving in beijing on june 22^nd, i was getting weary of the hardships of china travel. Every transaction for food and lodging was a fight and generally the chinese people weren’t very nice to foreigners.

其他游客提到了从北京到避暑山庄承德的轻松旅行。

Other travelers mentioned an easy side trip from beijing to the Qing dynasty summer palace in the mountain resort town of Chengde.

我评估了一下我的财务状况，发现自从进入中国以来，我只花了大约200美元。

I assessed my finances and realized that to date I had only spent about two hundred dollars since entering the country.

我租了一辆自行车，在参观完避暑山庄后开始探索，我听到了从山谷深处传来的汽笛声，我骑着自行车来到一个歇脚处，在弯道附近等待一列蒸汽牵引的客运火车。

I rented a bicycle and started exploring after visiting the imperial palace, I heard a whistle echoing from far down the valley i rode the bike over to a perch and waited around the curve came a steam-hauled passenger train.

有人告诉我，中国已经没有蒸汽客运火车了。在过去的三个星期里，我看到了很多蒸汽火车，但是没有看到蒸汽机车牵引的客车。

I had been told that there were no longer any steam-hauled passenger trains in china. I had seen plenty of steam in the past three weeks but none on passenger trains.

不过，这不就是一趟吗？我拿出时刻表，估计这趟车很快就会掉头，回到承德隆化。

I hauled out my timetable and figured out that this train would turn around shortly and return to where it had come from, Longhua.

在等火车掉头回承德的时候，铁路工作人员给我倒了一杯开水，并坚持要给我拍一张照。可惜他不知道怎么对焦。

While waiting for the train to turn to go back to chengde, railway workers poured me a glass of boiling water and insisted they posed me for a photo. Too bad he didn’t know how to focus the camera.

当火车返回承德时，我发现蒸汽机车牵引旅客列车是一件常事。

When the train returned to chengde, I discovered the steam-powered passenger train wasn’t. an anomaly.

一辆前进型蒸汽机车，即将牵引一趟过夜旅客车厢。这改变了一切。我唯一要做的事就是再等等。那天晚上。我制定了一个计划，乘坐开往北京的快车，在第一站下车。

A qj2102 was about to depart with an overnight train. This changes everything. That one thing I had left to do was gonna have to wait. That night. I worked out a plan hop the express to beijing and get off at the first stop.

在洞庙河站停留了四个半小时后，我徒步出了城，爬了一座山，等火车。一直在躲避我拳头那么大的甲虫。

With a four and a half hour layover at DongMiaoHe, I hiked out of town aways, climbed a hill and waited for trains. The whole time dodging beetles the size of my fist.

早上6点换车，一个大惊喜!下一列火车驶来了，由一位太平洋级军官指挥。现在我正坐在一列不存在的蒸汽客运列车上，行驶在一个不存在的太平洋后面。

A change of trains at 6am, and a big surprise! The next train rolled in with an rm class pacific in command. Now i was riding a non-existent steam-powered passenger train behind a non-existent pacific.

火车到达新立屯站。我跳下车去拍了一张蒸汽机车车头的照片，但很快就被张开双臂的警察包围了。我向他们展示了介绍信以及时刻表。

The train arrived at XinLiTun. I hopped off took a right to get a picture of the pacific and was immediately surrounded by the police with their arms outstretched. Out came my phrase book letter of introduction and timetable.

我真的没有下一步的计划。但我想我要走了。我指了指时刻表上往北的下一班火车。我被护送了大约一个小时，并被允许拍摄这些照片。

I really didn’t have a plan for my next move. But i guess i was leaving. I pointed to the next train north in the timetable. They were actually accommodating! I was escorted for about an hour and allowed to take these pictures.

当我的‘护卫队’陪我够久了，我们就穿过街道去吃午饭，然后就在办公室里待了几个小时，直到我指着时刻表上的火车到达。

When my escort had had enough, we went across the street for lunch and then I was locked up in an office for several hours until the train i pointed to on the timetable arrived.

这是旅途中最容易买到的火车票。

This was the easiest to acquire train ticket of the trip.

I chose Tongliao as a destination because I would arrive at around 8 pm. I figured i’d find a hotel and get started again in the morning. When i got off however i got another police reception. I picked the next northbound in the timetable pointed and got locked up again until the train arrived at 2 a.m.

我选择通辽作为目的地，是因为我会在晚上8点左右到达。我想我得找个旅馆，明早再继续出发。当我下车时，我得到了另一个警察接待。我选了时刻表上的下一趟北上的列车。