I get up and walk
around hoping to have breakfast early but the cafe is closed. I could
have breakfast at the hotel but it's Chinese breakfast and that
doesn't appeal to my taste buds! So I go and look at the Confucius
temple instead. Ambling back I have a vegetarian breakfast of fruit,
muesli, yoghurt and toast at Sakura: delicious! The lady who runs the
place knows I'm leaving Pingyao today and asks where I'm going. I
feel flattered by this and we have a short talk about Pingyao and
Beijing.
I go back to the
hotel, shower and pack, which takes about an hour and I'm planning to
leave at 12,
so I just have time to grab a quick
bowl of soup and a couple of beers. I feel horribly anxious: I
always do when transferring cities.
I've arranged a transfer to the railway
station from the hotel and they are aware of this, but I get anxious
as I want to leave at 12 in order to be at the station in plenty of
time. The train is at 1.40 pm. Now that might seem a long time but
the station is about 25 minutes away and you never know how long the
queues will be for baggage checks etc. I go and check out at about
12.10 and wait but as 12.30 comes and goes and I'm still waiting, I
get very apprehensive and start texting the manager to find out
what's going on! If I'd known I would be waiting for this length of
time I'd have stayed in the pub! I get messages asking me to wait
until 1pm, and I protest. Finally a little old man takes me through
the streets to a small car park about 10 minutes away. Its 1pm by the
time the car arrives and I jump in, by now I'm beside myself with
tension. I get to the station just as they start ticket checking. If
I'd waited another 10 minutes at the hotel there's a good chance I'd
have missed the train!
The journey is four hours long and the
train is packed. It's the least fun journey of the tour so far but
the time does pass quickly.
On arrival at Beijing West the subway
queues are monstrous. I almost decide to get a cab but manage to get
on the subway in about 10 minutes by finding a relatively short
queue.
If you hear music on the Beijing
subway, this tends to be played by beggars who will wander up and
down the trains, often in khaki, (one imagines they're former
soldiers but it's hard to tell as you can buy khaki anywhere in
China) often with some awful injury, like face burned away, legs
crippled, malformed or amputated. Sometimes they roll along sitting
on a skateboard or trolley of some kind, trying to get passengers to
give them money.
The journey takes about 45 minutes with
a line change so I fetch up in the hostel at about 6.30. You have to
walk down a dark alley for about 3-4 minutes but it's easy enough to
find. I feel quite pleased with myself.
I go and check in and find to my
annoyance that they don't take cards, so I have to use what cash I
have left on me. Luckily there is an ATM nearby. I get to my room,
dump my bag and head straight for the bar for a beer: (it's quite a
pleasant bar and does cheap draught beer just like the one in Xi'an)
then out to Nanlogou Xiang for a hot curry!
I drop into Great Leap for a few beers
and chat to some American expats, a fun night. An English expat bores
me silly with his know-it all manner. I suppose he can't help it.
Back at the hostel I have a fitful night, waking with a dry throat
which I attribute to too much beer, but it develops into a sore
throat and cough, and I realise with dismay that I've managed to
catch a cold!
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