Riding in hardsleepers

We left Friday afternoon to go to Xi'an for the weekend. According to our tour guide, if you want to study 300 years of Chinese history you go to Shanghai. If you want to study 1,000 years of Chinese history, you go to Beijing. And if you want to study 3,000 years of Chinese history, you go to Xi'an.

It was about a 12-hour train ride, so we stayed in a hardsleeper. Since I am not particularly well-traveled, I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a car filled with bunkbeds, three in a row, six in a little area. The bed was not much wider than I am and hard as a rock. It was also filled with snoring travelers, all of whom wanted to take in a little of Xi'an's history.

I lucked out and got the bottom bunk both ways, and I spent the time reading the new David Sedaris (hilarious) and listening to Jeremy Irons reading me The Alchemist on my new audiobook (download it).

The ride was bumpy and a little long, but at the end, we got to stay in a gorgeous hotel right in the center of Xi'an overlooking the bell tower in the center of town. Plus, the hotel is apparently very popular with foreigners, which meant I got to speak English to the people in the elevator.

AND there were nice western toilets. With toilet paper. You don't know how much you appreciate those until they're gone.