Beijing to Xian

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I took a soft seat on the express train to Beijing from Xian which is something I was used to after travelling around Japan. I had hoped to sleep on the train but I only managed a few hours sleep on the 12 hour journey. When we arrived I got talking to the woman that sat behind me on the train, she was Korean and was making her way across Asia to Europe. As she had no accommodation I suggested the same place I had booked due to the excellent reviews id read, the only trouble was I only had an address no map, directions or bus routes. We reasoned a taxi would be the easiest option and as there were two of us it should work out the same as a bus would. When we left the station we made our way through the touts as a unified force. This was easy in comparison to what came next. The taxi drivers in Xian are rip off merchants, 3 different drivers wouldn’t move without bartering and starting at 50 Yuan, I offered 20 which I knew was probably still over the odds but when you’ve been awake for that length of time, have had nothing to eat and wondered around completely lost for more than a mile you begin to consider these options. I didn’t know where I was going or how much it should cost but I wasn’t throwing in the towel that easy. After walking about a mile we found a taxi stuck in traffic and went to get in, the lights turned green and the driver moved away, thankfully he stopped round the corner and waited for us, he had no idea where the hostel was but he took us to the bell tower, a central location and it cost us a whopping 4 Yuan. From there we walked around for 10 minutes until we found the hostel. When I got into the hostel I was completely wiped out and decided to spend the rest of the day just relaxing. In the evening I ran into Alex and Mark That I met in Beijing so after a few beers and a game of pool then I headed for bed.

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