I'm a Celebrity!

On Saturday I left with my coworker to go to Henan for a couple weeks for part business, part pleasure.  Henan is south of Beijing, and one of the most ancient parts of China.  The city of Zhengzhou, where I will be staying for most of the trip, was the capital city of the first dynasty.  We left at 11 AM for a 2 hour ride on the subway, followed by a 3 hour ride on the high speed train, and then another 40 minutes on the subway in Zhengzhou to our final destination.

On our first subway ride, there were a couple girls taking pictures of me with their phones.  And I’m not talking about discretely snapping one photo.  It was a full on photoshoot.  The camera sound was on and they would take the picture, share it with the other and discuss, and then take another.  This lasted for most of our subway journey, and it was a little odd and extremely awkward.  I mostly pretended that I didn’t notice except for the first pic when I locked eyes with them after hearing the shutter sound.  They obviously knew that I knew.  

Finally I decided “what the heck, go with it."  Wanting to turn the tables and also have a little fun, I asked my travel companion to ask the girls if they would take a picture with me when we got off the subway.  However, he was uncomfortable with that, and I didn't want to make him even more uncomfortable by getting their attention myself and trying to mime my intention at them.  So, when our stop finally came, we all disembarked and they disappeared along with my celebrity status.

The high speed train was a good experience. The seats were comfortable and had plenty of leg room (something I am rather sensitive to at 6' 4").  The arrangement was similar to what you would find on a newer airplane.  There were TV's mounted to the ceiling of the aisle at regular intervals, but there was no way to hear them from what I could tell.  The images on the screen were an odd mix of cartoons and what looked like an advertisement to join the military.  It repeated about ever 15 minutes.  We made four stops along the way, but between each stop they managed to get the train up to around 305 km/h as denoted by a scrolling led sign at the front of the cabin.

This is what 305 km/h looks like: