Zipping off to Zibo

Where?

Today I arrived in Zibo, Shandong province. It is a 'medium-sized' city bordering the province's capital, Jinan. With a population of over 4 million people, I'd say it's pretty big. 

I was able to travel here on a high-speed train from Beijing South Station. The train reached speeds of just over 300 km/h and it really was incredible to see the scenery whip by the windows with surprisingly little vibration being felt onboard. 

Shortly after arriving in Zibo, I met Zixiao and his father, who drove us to a restaurant where Zixiao and I had a huge rice noodle dish for dinner. I honestly do not think I have eaten so much since arriving in Beijing. After a good four hours my stomach is still working overtime trying to digest what just happened to it.

After dinner, I entered his house for the first time, and was warmly welcomed by his mother, who was very kind, offering green tea, fruit, sweet snacks and slippers.

We watched some Chinese TV - discussing the recent tube strikes in London, the Japanese Prime Minister and his relations with China, and a typhoon creeping up towards southern China, among many other things.

I can't help but feel sorry for Zixiao that he must sleep on the floor to allow me to sleep in his room. I am very grateful for him and his family's kindness towards me on my arrival.

All in all, it's been a pretty reasonable and successful day - I did some last-minute work in the lab just before leaving and somehow didn't miss the train on the way here even though it is a Friday, where a magnificent number of commuters will surely be visiting family and friends.

What should I have done differently?

Bring food and drink on the train. I did not know that this was a thing on such an expensive and high-tech means of transport - but many people brought on bags of KFC, McDonalds and Pot Noodles, while I sat there with a half-eaten bag of peanuts and about 200ml of water to last three hours. The only water available is boiling, so remember to bring bottled water (and tea bags and Pot Noodles).

Do not buy train tickets online. There was absolutely no point. I had to arrive in the train station early to queue up in a stressful ticket queue to get the tickets printed after they checked my passport and charged me 5元. It makes a lot more sense to buy the tickets in person at a nearby ticket booth where your passport would be checked on the spot and you get your tickets printed on the day. The stress of having paid over 500元 without a physical ticket being in my hand for a week just isn't worth it.