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Published: October 13th 2006
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Glad you're all liking our little updates, hopefully we'll keep it as up to date as poss but once we're lying on those Thai beaches all day I don't know if we'll find the time! The lack of alcohol shots is not down to my lack of Duv - et Messy, its down to the fact that our choice of hostels so far haven't been the most happening of places but think that may change tonight as its 5.15pm and we're just starting our 2nd Tsingtao and the hostel has a bar area with sofas tv etc so expect we'll be well lubricated by 2am....no jokes please!
Well our last blog was from 'Le Tour' Hostel in Shanghai and now we are at the Shuayan YHA in Xi'an. I'll go into the hostel in a bit but first I have to describe our train journey from Shanghai.................hmm, were shall I start?!
We set of about 4.30pm feeling a little nervous at what was going to await us as after our luxurious soft sleeper experience we were a bit unsure of how the hard sleeper experience was going to go down. We had been pre warned about the height of the bunks
by a couple we had met in Shanghai and me not being the tallest person in the world, I knew getting up there would be a challenge...what an understatement!!!
Each carriage had a corridor down one edge next to the window and then open to the corridor were 10 berths with 6 beds in it, 3 high and the lucky people we are we were on the top bunk. You had to TRY and clamber up this stupid little excuse of a ladder that was just wide enough to get one foot into to get up to the bunk but the last rung of the ladder is about 2.5ft below the bed and the headroom above the bunk is about 1.5ft so a fit of extreme giggles set in whilst Vic and I tried to manover ourselves onto the damn bed....we were getting some very odd looks, especially as we were the only western people in sight.
The next episode was the toilet becasue once you're up there, you really can't be arsed with the faff of getting down again without trampling on someones head but it had to be done and although the toilets where of the squat variety
with a tap on the wall as means of a flush, they were cleaner than the ones at this hostel !!!!!!!!
The other thing that drove us both round the twist was the delightful music they played at full volume until 10pm and started again at 7am(we were on this train for 18hrs) even having my ipod on full volume had no chance of blocking it out. The beds were not the best either, about 1.5ft wide and solid as a plank...I think it was a plank with a mattress cover on and with the ceiling being so close it felt like we were in a coffin. There was a feeble excuse of a 'barrier' to keep us falling out which was a narrow bar about 1ft long and about 4inches high so to be honest don't really know why they bother...when you're 7ft up on a train going at god know how many mph, if you're going to crash its not going to save you and to be honest rolling over even comprimises your safety!
We got to Xi'an about 9am and first impression is that its more of a traditional city as its enclosed but city walss and
has a bell tower in the centre which all roads come from and go to. We've booked ourselves onto a tour tomorrow to go and see the Terracotta Warriors so both looking forward to that.
Now then, the hostel........it stinks!!!!!!!!!!
We were originally booked into a differnt hostel but decided to change it becasue so far the smaller hostels seem to have more character and also decided we wanted something with an outside courtyard area like the one in Beijing did. Well we got here and yes it has a courtyard and a bar area with TV and music and internet off to one side of the bar and lots of people here but very dirty.......Dolly, you'd have a complete monica over it!!
We're in a 6 bed mixed dorm and at the mo there's a chinese girl in there and a sweedish bloke..both seem very pleasant but the girl has a bag of fruit on her bedside table and its starting to go off......and my bed is next to hers. B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T !!
As for the bathrooms, well they really come into there own....the toilet is a squat variety, I won't go into details but I think someone has a
upset stomach!!!!!!
The showers have wooden trays in them so obviously stink to high heaven but after sweating on a train for 18hrs we braved them and as long as you just go in and get out asap, its not sooooooooo bad.
Saying all this we have booked to stay here for 3 nights now instead of the 2 as we tried to book our trian ticket to Chengdu for Sunday but all the trains are full so we're leaving on Monday......providing we haven't been menaced by bed bugs by then.......Vic has a bewt on her leg, may be a mossi bite though.
Thats about it really haven't been up to much else yet so we'll update you with our next installment soon.
Lots of love
Sam and Vic xxx
ps - keep the little comments coming, they make us chuckle!
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Messy
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The Toilet
Now Sam when you say it looks like someone had an upset stomach, do you really mean that YOU used the toilet, could not flush it away, so called Vic in to show her how minging the toilets here are as a cover up????