In Search of Sanitation

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Dear Travelblog fans,

Come Friday 6th June, we left Beijing in search of inner peace in Xian on the train romanitically referred to as T55. Having muscled through the masses in Beijing Xi Zhan and armed with all my worldly possessions, including a couple of apples for the trip, we found ourselves on board a double decker train bound West to somewhere, I can't remember the name but I knew it stopped where we wanted. Once on board we found our cosy little berth with a couple of gentlemen for company and headed West.

The train itself is not an bad place to be, everything seemed clean and pretty new, however I don't think that they were made or designed with the taller traveller in mind. The bed could have done with an extra foot or so and toilet.... well the toilet. I promise I'll never complain about a ScotRial toilet again, think hole in the floor plus extremely grubby squat rail to hold onto for the bumpy journey, well you wouldn't want to fall in as time itself stops in there. Having successfully navigated toilet-town and on our way we stopped with enough time to grab a couple of authentic pot noodles and press on with the journey. With a quizical look in our eye we procceded to cook/stew/heat said pot of noodles only to be helped by fellow passenger of similar exquisite taste. It turned out he was a Chinese man working for Seimens Oil and Gas and had been in Norway not so long ago and had worked with a lot of Scots from Aberdeen. Having chewed the noodle we procceded to chew the fat about a whole host of burning issues, including Tibet and democracy and people say we're not cultured! Having passed out sometime I was woken by the familiar sound of my alarm to pronounce half an hour to Xian. Then at 6:00am we filed off the train.

The Xiangzimen hostel is a splendid old building on the Southern wall of the city. From there we have ventured out to that most Chinese to restaurants... McDonalds, and to all of you we collective apologies and can only hope for your forgiveness. This was followed by a trip to the local market to buy, haggle and laugh at the shite for sale. Needless to say not a wasted trip dear reader we bought Chairman Mao watches, and his little hand waves and everything (picture to follow).

As the time approaches the kick off, European football shall be upon us once more and we must dash beer in hand.

'Till next time,
Richard Ze Dong

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Photos

bed
Slouching Al, hidden noodle

noodles
The imperial pot of inner harmony. Oil and Gas man behind.

maowatch
You don't own a Mao watch, You merely keep it for the next generation. (Edited to add: both watches have since stopped working!)

Comments

[Linda Lowseck]

I wanted one of those watches!

[Chairman Ralph]

Keep Them Coming
It's great to hear how the other half travel - I think Abraham Lincoln said that or was it Bob Dylan....or was it neither of the above. Chile is in a 'reduce tax on petrol' campaign at the moment so you'll probably find that the taxis are a little more expensive but I believe the weather in the north is fine - just remember it's bloody cold at night. Heading back to UK on Wednesday night courtesy of a falt bed in the business section of a Lan Chile Airbus 340. Keep travelling, keep enjoying and keep them coming.