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Friday, May 25, 20071180095900
Xi'an, Prologue: The Last Express
Anyone who'se played The Last Express knows about the romance of train travel -- as long as one lives a century ago and has first-class tickets.
Time travel was not an option for Lady of tdaxp and myself, but fortunately first-class rail tickets in China cost less than coach-class plane tickets over medium distances. To me, this is as if luxury SUVs cost just a pinch less than Mini Coopers.
The Good Earth
So after a day's rest from our Cantonese adventure, Lady of tdaxp and I traveled to her old college town on the train. Join us, and let's have some fun!
Bejing West Train Station is huge but crowded -- Lady of tdaxp complained that the design focused a lot on exterior aesthetics instead of moving people efficiently.
The first-class ("comforable seat") waiting room was stuffed to capacity. When we finally got a seat the train was boarding. We delayed getting on for some time so we could enjoy actually waiting in the waiting room. (Perhaps this generateda bit of karma?)
The train beds were comfortable and the gentle rocking was relaxing. Soon sleep fell. And in the morning landscales like these:
No people!
Farmers walking up a hill
Farms & Industry
We arrived a little after 8 in the morning. Lots of people, lots of walking, and unfortunately too much smoke (Xi'an, like Beijing, is in the rust belt of China).
Xi'an, a tdaxp travelogue
Prologue, The Last Express
Old Town
Terracotta Army
Xi'an Technological University
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Epilogue, "I'm ----ing tired"
07:25 Posted by Dan tdaxp (Webmaster) in Beijing 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this