Monthly Archives: September 2007

I was woken up in the morning by the noise made by our fellow compartment-mate, as they were trying to get some stuff off their bags. It seems that every Chinese on the train woke up early, and they were all busy washing their faces, and brushing their teeth.

After I woke up for a couple of hours, the train arrived in Xi’an. We stopped there for about 15 minutes, so we quickly jumped off the train to take a quick pic at Xi’an train station. The temperature outside was 9 degrees Celcius, so I didn’t stay out too long.

We had some bread with Nutella for breakfast. I also ate a banana.

Again, there is nothing much to do on the train. However, I was busied with an emergency phone call from Michael and Rebecca (my friends from Australia). Apparently, they took the wrong car for their day trip. The driver that I booked for them was still waiting at their hotel. LOL!

Michael and Rebecca thought that they took the right car at first, but they realised that it was the wrong car. LOL!

Luckily, they were able to turn around and return to the hotel. The correct driver then found them, and they were on their way to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs.

Thank God nothing bad happened to them, and it looks like they had a great day.

We had lunch on the restaurant car, the food was pretty good though it was pricey as expected.

I then went to sleep again, nothing else to do here…

Our dinner was cup noodles again…. LOL!

Then after dinner, we were playing cards.. We even had one of our fellow compartment-mates joined us, we thought him how to play the Indonesian games. LOL! Not long after that, they turned off the lights and it was time to go to sleep again….

Brekkie on the train

Quick stop at Xian

Lunch at the restaurant car

The six of us met at the Beijing West () railway station, the station was really packed. I guess a lot of people were like us, leaving Beijing for the holiday. We were also looking for the tour organiser who we had to get our train tickets from.

After we found him, he told us to board the train now because it was going to leave in 15 minutes and the queue to board the train was really long.

The train itself is quite good considering we only bought tickets for the hard-sleeper. I heard this train to Lhasa is the best train in China. Well it looks like the one we took from Shanghai to Beijing, they all look the same. As long as it’s clean, that’s all matters.

We were told that the six of us would be sharing a compartment, however that wasn’t the case. We were next to each other though. I think it’s the tour organiser’s fault as I think they were not careful enough. They probably thought seat 8 & 9 are sharing a compartment but they are not.

Fortunately, the people who were sharing the compartment with me were nice people. It’s also their first time to go to Lhasa and they were using the same tour as us.

I then ate a cup noodle for dinner because everyone else had dinner at home. I didn’t have time to eat dinner because in the afternoon I went to Wangfujing to meet my Australian friend who had just arrived in Beijing.

I helped them to organise a day trip to the Great Wall in Simatai and the Ming Tombs. The hotel they stayed at (Xidan Grand Mecure Hotel) charged them 1000 RMB for this day trip, which I personally think is very expensive. I asked them whether they would like to try having the same trip with the black taxi I usually use. I asked the driver, and he wants 700 RMB for it.

So yeah I spent my afternoon doing that instead of properly packing my stuff, and I ended up forgetting to pack my beloved “Bread Talk” breads.

Here is a photo of us inside the train to Lhasa

Inside the train to Lhasa Inside the train to Lhasa