Scott Fletcher Travels

Photos can be seen here

Thursday - The next day we did not do a lot, I went to the gym in the afternoon with Weh and had a shave which was refreshing. Then we stocked up on some of the food we would need for our 28 hour train trip on Friday. Friday came and we slept in, not dangerously but probably about 30mins to long so it was a bit of a rush, we made it to the station, then had a little trouble finding the train and our carriage. The plan was to upgrade to a sleeper after a few stops and then have a snooze.

Boy were we in for a shock, the train was sweltering, we were in hard seats. Picture a one level train carriage full of seats facing each other, 6 on one side of the isle and four on the other. Then picture about 2 people and all their luggage standing between these seats. This was frustrating as I was in an aisle seat (something I soon rectified). When we boarded we found our seats but although they were consecutive tickets they were on opposite windows. Thinking we were going to get upgraded to a sleeper we sat together and didn’t ask others to move. When it became apparent that we were not going to get upgraded we shifted the two girls who had good ‘the slightest possibility of sleep’ seats on the windows with a table in front to put your head. They were not to happy but thems the blows.

We eventually arrived about 4pm the next day and found a great hotel for 40 Yuan! This was a real bargain with one shower and toilet (same room) that was shared with about 20 rooms. To get hot water you had to plug the hot water heater into a power board that was falling apart and rested under the shower!

Tags>> Beijing China Hot Water Lanzhou Sleep Train