CHONGQING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The 61-year-old Wang Yulian, living in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, recently bought a new refrigerator from a moving "Spring Festival bazaar" -- a slow train.
Running on the first railway built independently by China after the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the slow train heads from Chongqing to Neijiang, in adjacent Sichuan Province.
It takes the train nearly eight hours at a speed of 60 km per hour to run through the rail route with 28 stations in between.
Many train stations were set up in villages deep in the mountains, so the special train is often full of villagers who carry their local produce, ready to be sold in towns and cities. Meanwhile, those from bigger cities choose to take the train to visit the rural area for a breath of fresh air or some quality local specialties.
On Jan. 26, Wang got off at a train station called "Bolin," where a wet market is abundant in fresh fish, eggs and vegetables. Wang and her friends regard taking the slow train to buy daily necessities as their major entertainment after retirement.
Their routine "vegetable hunting" will be like arriving at the station around 1:30 p.m. and checking in at the local homestays, then going shopping in farmer's markets the next day before they return to their home in Chongqing.
"The village's homestays only cost each of us about 60 yuan (9.43 U.S. dollars) which includes four meals and an overnight sleeping room," said Wang. "I spent 1,000 yuan today on buying enough food for the week-long Spring Festival holiday for my family."
"The one-way ticket of the slow train is about 11.5 yuan and the train also serves as a food market for us. So we don't really mind its slow speed, which gives us plenty of time to shop and barter," Wang added.
Even in the waiting room of Bolin station, Wang would not miss her chance for bargaining with any villagers carrying fresh vegetables.
She and her friends bought all the Chinese mallow a local vendor had loaded in a big bamboo basket.
The vendor from Shisunshan Village, Yongchuan District of Chongqing, was about to take the train to the urban area of Yongchuan, where he can sell all of his 25-kg of potatoes.
Around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 27, the train bound for downtown Chongqing arrived at Bolin station.
Wang and her friends got on the train, together with carts full of bags of produce. As the train gradually disappeared in the mountain mist, they knew another round of "hunting" was about to start, though on board this time. ■
