Day 7: The night train to Chengdu for...

...lost or abandoned occupational therapy students!

OMG the night train!! Our first experience of one, and it was like the knight bus from Harry Potter. Gill loved it and was much too intrigued to sleep for any length - spent most of the time desperately trying to see out of the window and sometimes wishing she hadn't seen the way the track towered over the roof tops and rivers! Impressed by the Dam and multiple tunnels through the mountains.

Traveled through vast areas of dramatic countryside void of civilisation to towns heavily populated with high rise apartments. Drove on and on through torrential rain and heavy morning mist, through mountains and over rivers.

25 hours is a long time....braided hair, played games, read books, laughed at the inaccuracies of google translate, and listened to music to relieve the monotony - time flies when you're having fun, or mesmerised watching China zoom past window like a real time national geographic documentary.

Emma's critical appraisal of night train:
Good points: pillow, duvet and hot water tap provided. All friends in same cabin. Regular friendly fruit, noodle, toy, leather belt (random or what?!) sellers. Able to lie in bed and window gaze.
Bad points: mattress 2cm thick - could be better! No wifi or plug sockets. Squat toilets. Smoking between carriages which lingered.
Utility/relevance: convenient and comfy enough - would use again (good job there are 4 more booked on the trip!!)

Gill & Em xRead more