Lanzhou

7 hours from Chengdu to Lanzhou on the direct train, which was very pleasant and mostly uneventful. Then a very quick stop overnight between trains in Lanzhou as we head west. Lanzhou is the provincial capital of Gansu and is a big city, plenty of industry and used to be an important stop on the Silk Road. It's meant to be a bit of a shithole but we ended up with a very warm impression of the place - we arrived late, found our hotel and then 5 minutes wander from there found a street busy with people outside drinking and eating. They gestured for us to sit down, which in China is rare enough that it's started being a prompt for us to go somewhere rather than off putting, and we had a truly fantastic meal of spiced naan, garlic chili aubergine, tofu and onions and some very reasonably priced beer.

Sleep, metro across town, and back on the train.Leggi altro