The good news is, we survived "Hard Seat", the bad news is, it was with little or no sleep and very sore bum and leg muscles! Hard seat would be fine for a short journey, but trying to sleep on a very hard non-adjustable seat with all lights on and people running around the place wasn't much fun. Mind you the Chinese on the train didn't seem too bothered, they slept well, heads on tables, oblivious to the discomfort. Mathias survived it fine too- I guess I'll have to toughen up a small bit for this budget lark! Our plan here was to spend 3 or 4 days in Xi'an-more than enough to see the sights, but we actually ended up staying a week. We had hoped the smog might just be a Beijing thing, Xi'an
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