This really was a much more pleasant experience. In general, it was very quiet, except for the occasional Argentinian whooping it up over Spain's victory over Germany. Next door to me was a group of four American chicks. I thought this would be cool, until I overheard them saying something about "Do you want to pray now or later?" and then gave up on attempting to party with them. I had my own heater which kept my compartment toasty. The food in the dining car was decent enough. I managed to get a lot of reading done in my book on the history of modern China. I now know more about Deng Xiaoping than I ever expected. But just remember, if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow.
Here's my compartment:
There was one slight problem: a massive delay where we just sat on the tracks doing nothing in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there was a problem with the locomotive. Now, call me crazy, but if you're hosting a World Cup, you'd think that you'd do a little routine maintenance. Those with flights to catch were freaking out, but frankly I had nothing better to do than read about the Cultural Revolution so I wasn't bothered.
If you're ever traveling in South Africa, I have a piece of advice for you: fly. Every time I flew, no matter what bargain basement airline I took, it went off without a hitch. The same can't be said for rail transportation. Though, if you've got the dough to ride the Blue Train, that might be worth a shot.
* This slogan sucks. It's about one step above "Knowledge is Good."
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