NORTHWEST CHINA HERE WE COME

Two and a half days on the go sounded like fun. Early sunday morning we started out with all our stuff on our backs and made our way on foot to the bus station about one and a half km away. There we took a bus to the border were we had to jump out clear customs with all our bags jump on another bus to the town were we where to catch our train that evening. We got dropped of at this very fancy hotel were we thought that 29 people with a mountain of luggage would look very inconspicuous between al the other distinguished guests. It did not last long before we where kicked out of the lobby.

We regrouped and decided to go to the train station. Another hike of about a km got us to another world of thousands of people swarming to get into the terminal building. We swarmed in with them and found ourselves inside and in a waiting room where every now and then this lady would shout over her megaphone to announce the next train. When our train came we were ready with our mountain of stuff and made our way over to our train compartment. We settled in to our cozy bunks and started our train ride of 37 hours.

What fun we had with all of us together. Various games were played, a ton of noodles were eaten and a lot of lost sleep was made up. After two nights on the train we were ready for a change. The change came with a 20 degree drop in temp. We knew it was going to be chilly but we were all surprised.

From the train in our second taxi we find ourselves on an icy road with snow everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful as the taxis climb over the pass. At the bottom of the other side was the town where we spent two days. It is a trading town for the surrounding country. It is very nice town and a good place to start experiencing the Chinese culture.