The tour leader, Frank, briefed us on the challenges we would face on a train journey to Xi'an. This included: 6 beds to a compartment no bigger than a standard western toilet room; thieves that would attempt to take all your valuables from you as you sleep; smelly toilets with no/little wash facilities; & people without tickets who will sit outside your doorless compartment talking all night. I couldn’t wait to get onboard.
A private bus took us to a major train station a half hour from the city centre. There were incredible amounts of people heading to the trains. We all had to stick together for fear of being lost in the crowd & never being found again. And Frank walked ahead at his usual million miles an hour, occasionally waiting for us to catch up. I had to carry my backpack weighing all up about 20kg, which was a great incentive to never put on more weight cause this might be what it feels like. Of course, once through the turnstile (man punching tickets with a hole puncher), our compartment was all the way down the end of a very long train. When we got on, people were already settled into our beds & we had to move them on so we could get in.
There wasn’t any space to play around - a narrow corridor led to all the compartments. We had to get in, put our bags down & stay in our compartment until everyone was on the train & ready to go.
Frank's ‘random’ cabin assignments had me bunking down with all the Chinese folk, while the rest of the tour group got to stay together in one compartment. Travelling by yourself on a tour when everyone else is coupled up is almost like travelling completely alone at times. As it turned out, everything was great.
I shared the compartment with a wonderful elderly couple, & even though they couldn’t speak English, I had Frank on hand to almost constantly translate for me. The old woman, who I called Nani (Grandma), was a treat. I had to call her Nani cause seemingly it’s impolite to ask the elderly what their name is. Nani & I clicked instantly - obviously a past life connection somewhere along our line of reincarnations. We held hands & laughed every time we looked at each other. By the end of our journey, she wanted to adopt me as her child (an old child nevertheless) & have me come & live with her on their farm outside Xi’an. Very tempting indeed!
Frank had given us fair warning about the thieves in & around Xi’an. Sleeping on the train, I carefully weaved my hand through the straps of the daypack while clutching at it through the night. Thankfully, no one attempted to rob me - they probably saw the hold I had on my bag & had a good laugh instead.
At about 8:45am we arrived safely in one piece in Xi’an, then weaved through the multitudinous number of people at the train station towards our private bus waiting to take us to our hotel.
A private bus took us to a major train station a half hour from the city centre. There were incredible amounts of people heading to the trains. We all had to stick together for fear of being lost in the crowd & never being found again. And Frank walked ahead at his usual million miles an hour, occasionally waiting for us to catch up. I had to carry my backpack weighing all up about 20kg, which was a great incentive to never put on more weight cause this might be what it feels like. Of course, once through the turnstile (man punching tickets with a hole puncher), our compartment was all the way down the end of a very long train. When we got on, people were already settled into our beds & we had to move them on so we could get in.
There wasn’t any space to play around - a narrow corridor led to all the compartments. We had to get in, put our bags down & stay in our compartment until everyone was on the train & ready to go.
Frank's ‘random’ cabin assignments had me bunking down with all the Chinese folk, while the rest of the tour group got to stay together in one compartment. Travelling by yourself on a tour when everyone else is coupled up is almost like travelling completely alone at times. As it turned out, everything was great.
I shared the compartment with a wonderful elderly couple, & even though they couldn’t speak English, I had Frank on hand to almost constantly translate for me. The old woman, who I called Nani (Grandma), was a treat. I had to call her Nani cause seemingly it’s impolite to ask the elderly what their name is. Nani & I clicked instantly - obviously a past life connection somewhere along our line of reincarnations. We held hands & laughed every time we looked at each other. By the end of our journey, she wanted to adopt me as her child (an old child nevertheless) & have me come & live with her on their farm outside Xi’an. Very tempting indeed!
Frank had given us fair warning about the thieves in & around Xi’an. Sleeping on the train, I carefully weaved my hand through the straps of the daypack while clutching at it through the night. Thankfully, no one attempted to rob me - they probably saw the hold I had on my bag & had a good laugh instead.
At about 8:45am we arrived safely in one piece in Xi’an, then weaved through the multitudinous number of people at the train station towards our private bus waiting to take us to our hotel.
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