The long journey into nowhere..

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9:00am, Still at Xi'an
I've got to get outta here. But according to all the travellers i've met, its impossible to get a comfy ticket out of Xi'an. I wanted to try anyway. I just realized i spent 5 days here and thats too long. So, after a hefty long breakfast i made my way to the train station.

11:00am, Xi'an Train Station
Great. Their english is poor but my mandarin is atrocious. It took me 30 minutes to figure out to say "i need a to get on the next train to lanzhou, ill take whatever seat or bed i can".. Finally, i think they figured me out and sold me a HARD SEAT (which is horrible) ticket to Lanzhou at 6:00pm today! Which means i'll be arriving at 4:00am. I didn't care, tickets were scarce and i took it anyway.

12:30pm, Youth Hostel
As soon as i got back i asked the receptionist to help me book a hotel or hostel in Lanzhou. DAMMIT! Everywhere is full. What do i do? I decided to just go anyway. I didn't want to stay in Xi'an another day. I had a bath, packed my bags and checked out. I had half a day to myself though. I decided to go visit the Forest of Steles Museaum. It was interesting to see how people, those days, used to carve out their whole life onto a peice of tombstone. I mean, today, when we dig out these tombs we find out what they were really all about and what happened to them. Anyway, the museaum was filled with these things. Its not an exaggeration when they say its a FOREST of steel. Most dating from Ming, Qing, Tang and Qin dynasy. And here was the cleanest public toilet i have ever seen in china. I wanted to invest here but unfortunately, they didn't have Tee Pee. So i decided to do that elsewhere...

5:00pm, Xi'an Train Station
The usual push and shove was going on, but i decided to just let them fight it out and wait till everyone had gone in. Really, what is the point???

7:00pm, Somewhere on the way to Lanzhou
This train was more packed than any i have ever been. Its just really packed!!!!! ARGHHH!!! 10 hours more and i should be okay.. Thank goodness most of them are students from Xi'an university..

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Comments

[DecIll]

What a waste ...
When you got the HARD SEAT, you should have asked for a HOT chick to sit on your lap then you can have a HARD ON that would make your experience on the HARD SEAT more enjoyable !

[vinod]

with love
after careful consideration, taking into account deliberations by the federation security council, i have come to the conclusion that alex is an idiot. nevertheless we take the stand that the prime directive is paramount and therefore we shall not interfere.