Hello Again and Chinese Trains

Dear Loyal Readers,

You must be wondering why I have not updated the blog in several weeks. Of course, have not forgotten about you. About a month ago, my American lao po, Hannah, arrived and we have been traveling around the country. Several times, we have tried to update the blog with our travels, but have not been able to access the website.

It would be impossible to relay the comprehensive details of our travels thus far. As we know, brevity is the soul of wit...

After leaving Beijing several weeks ago, and bidding farewell to our brother-in-law and traveling companion, Peter, we made our way to Xian by train. The ride was 12 hours and we had a comfortable sleeper with air conditioning. The city of Xian and the surrounding area have a wealth of archaeological sites, as it was the first center of Chinese civilization.

Traveling in China is not easy though. We had to get train tickets to Chengdu as soon as we arrived at Xian. Realizing this, after eating breakfast, we went immediately back to the train station and got on the shortest line in sight. After waiting on that line for 30 minutes, we were almost at the ticket window. Just then, the ticket agent went on her morning break for 30 minutes. When she got back, she told us we were on the wrong line.

So...we waited on another line for 30 minutes. Just our luck, when we were almost at that window, the ticket agent went on his lunch break. We finally got to the front of the line, but were told there were no tickets left.

We finally did get a ticket through our hotel, which carried a commission of course. An eighteen hour ride, the train to Chengdu was certainly out of another era. No air conditioning, fans which blew sparks, rocky breaks, and thin beds with straps in order to keep you from flying out. It looked a bit like an outdated insane asylum. Aside from sweating our asses off, though, it was rather pleasant. The people on the train like to gab and all the Chinese people love when Joe speaks to them in Chinese. One of our bunkmates even brought us in a cab to our hostel.