Xi’an, China, Asia

Well I officially hate dorms in China. I think I’m getting less sleep in the dorms than I am on the hard sleeper train rides. The strange this is that down south I could get a single room at a hostel for about $10 a night, but up north I’m struggling to see any for less than $25. When I can stay in a dorm for $7, it just makes no sense to pay that much more for a single room. At some point I might need to bite the bullet and pay for it though, just to catch up on some sleep.

I got up this morning at 7am, when the other guys in the dorm decided that none of us should be allowed to sleep any more. I went outside to find that it was raining. Not heavy rain, but the annoying kind of rain that you don’t want to walk around in all day. The last couple of things I wanted to do in Xi’an were to ride a bike around the city on top of the city wall, and then check out the Muslim Quarter. My train wasn’t leaving till 9pm tonight, so I had all day to wait for some good weather. I hung out in the restaurant area at the hostel, said goodbye to Monika and Marc (the Swiss couple I’d met here a couple of days ago), and met some new travelers.

I did some laundry yesterday and it still wasn’t dry from hanging all day yesterday, so I had to put it in the dryer anyway. Unfortunately, that’s when I noticed that someone had taken my Harvard t-shirt. That’s the first piece of clothing I’ve lost on this trip, so I’d say that’s a success. The only thing I’ve lost in over a year is a $5 t-shirt I got from a street vendor in Boston. It was still annoying though.

The weather didn’t end up getting better all day so I only left the hostel once to go for a walk for about an hour and then I went back and chilled in the restaurant. I met a couple of English girls, Vanessa and Aimee, who are travelling around for about six months. It’s always good to chat with other travelers and exchange tips on where you’re going or have been. I have a good idea of where I want to visit the Great Wall of China, so hopefully it won’t be mobbed with thousands of people when I get there.

I left the hostel at about 8pm to catch my train at 9pm. It was the first sleeper train I got that wasn’t originating where I was getting on. That meant that I had to try a little harder to find a place for my bag, and I was clearly interrupting the other rider’s night. They all looked absolutely disgusted when I motioned that I had to get up to the top bunk. Yeah, they were sold out of bottom berths, so I had to take a top berth. It’s a little uncomfortable in the fact that I can’t sit up, but there’s plenty of room for my little bags down by my feet. I don’t have to hang my bag over my face this time, so that’s a nice change. I just climbed up here right when I got on, and I’ll be up here for the duration of the night. It’s not easy to get up and down here so I’ll make as few trips as possible.