Three days to reach Chicago with the California Zephyr and I was only 24 hours from New York. I arrived at Union Station in Chicago a little worn around the edges but still alive and not smelling badly.
I grabbed a Calzone for a late lunch at Chicago (it was already 4pm by then, why no Bak Chor Mee?), chilled at the Legacy Lounge until boarding time for the Lake Shore Limited to NYC at 8.30pm (Legacy Lounge users got priority boarding we got to board early). By 9pm, most of the passengers were already on board and we were off.
I chose the second window seat from the front, on the left side. Malcolm from Toronto whom I met on the previous train ride told me the left window provided a better view on this train.
This train journey was shorter than the SF to Chicago leg. People didn't talk or socialize as much, maybe because the ride was shorter. I never needed to share a table at the Dining Car. My wife said maybe East Coast folks were colder.
I was so tired I slept on the Lake Shore Limited train. Slept right through dinner. I woke up at 1am, I think, which meant the Dining Car and the Cafe Car were closed already. I wasn't very hungry anyway.
At the frontmost seat in the right row were two African American old ladies. One of them came in a wheelchair and had some difficulty boarding. They weren't very happy with the service provided by the junior train staff, a young black man, and kept complaining about him the entire trip to each other. "Did you see how he apologized to the other passengers for the delay? We needed help and they should have boarded us early, amirite? What was he thinking, boarding us so late? And he kept apologizing to the other passengers like it was our fault we took so long to board? Didn't he know I have a wheelchair?"
On and on, Wheelchair Old Auntie talked about this for the entire trip with her companion. The conductor, an older white gentleman, popped over to ask if they needed any food because it would be hard for her to make it to the Dining Car which was four cars away (we were the last car). He told his assistant, the young fellow that Wheelchair Old Auntie didn't like, to take their order and bring the food to her so she needed walk all that way.
I thought the fellow was trying his best to be patient. He stood there waiting for her to make her lunch order, even offering some suggestions. When he left to fill the order at the Dining Car, Wheelchair Old Auntie started complaining again. "The conductor is such a nice man! But that young man, I never saw him come over to check on us the whole time! And you remember how he apologized to the other passengers because we were slow in boarding…" and her song would start again.
She was quite amusing to listen to. Harmless old lady but opinionated as heck.
I didn't see much of a view at the start because we departed Chicago at night. But I did manage to catch the station of Toledo, Ohio. I could not resist taking a photo of the station in the darkness, and posting it on Facebook with the caption "Holy Toledo!"
I've always wanted to say "Holy Toledo!" at the actual place. I know, I very boliao.
The friendly conductor made some announcements throughout the journey. AT 8am, he announced, "The Dining Car is open and requires some kind of footwear to be worn". I wonder why he had to say that. Seems like a common sense thing to do. Do people actually go to the Dining Car barefoot?
Another announcement he made was to the effect of "If you are watching any kind of video on your video-type devices, please ensure that they are of a family nature". I think he meant no porn or R-rated stuff, since there were kids on board too. I should know, I heard one kid all night. Poor thing, the parents, who had to deal with the crying 5-year-old
Because my body was already trying to adjust to the 15-hour time difference between Singapore and San Francisco, and because my cross-country train journey took me across four time zones in 4 days, my body clock was a mess. By Day 4 of my train journey, 5am at the East Coast was only 1am at San Francisco, PST vs EST.
I chose to watch videos that were of a "family nature" and watched Season 2 of Fresh Off the Boat. It was fun stuff. I kept laughing out loud on the train and had to close my mouth so I wouldn't disturb others sleeping.
Breakfast on the train was at 7.38am EST but it was 4.38am PST in my SF mind. But a man's gotta eat, even if the Continental Breakfast, with three miserable slices of bacon added as an extra, cost USD$17.50 with tip.
USD17.50 could buy me the top of the line Bento Box on a Shinkasen in Japan, man. I missed my bento box meals so much.
I slept a little on and off, after lunch (they ran out of pasta in the Dining Car so I had a salad with a slice of grilled chicken breast), and when I woke up we were approaching Penn Station already. There was a mad scramble to pack my stuff back into my bags, and I think I left a small adaptor plug behind. Ah well, got to buy a new one, I guess, making a mental note to visit B&H in New York City, the Funan/Sim Lim Square of NYC. Wait, Funan is gone already hor? *silent sobs*
I know, it's just an excuse to go tech window shopping.
Penn Station was a madhouse of people. Kind of like Shinjuku Station in Tokyo but not as clean.
I looked for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) because I would be staying in Flushing, Queens, where the REAL Chinatown is. I got off my LIRR train toward Flushing Main Street, a station too early though. Aiyah. Touch down in NYC only make noob train mistake.
The view of the parked trains at the train depot at Mets-Willets Point station was quite nice though. Nearby, folks were going to Citi Field stadium from this station. The depot looked like a place where an action movie would be shot. Or maybe a clandestine deal made in the late night between parked trains.
In the words of Tay Tay, "Welcome to New York". It is the city that never sleeps. Jialat. I'm already having trouble sleeping.
