day 120, Beijing, then train to Xi'an

Had a cracking nights sleep, then met up with Brian and Kelly for breakfast, checked out and headed toward the train station in the hope of booking tickets for Xi’an to Chengdu. We found the place pretty easily, down this crazy busy highway, found the English speaking counter pretty easily and waited in the queue for about a hour, while they had a grating Chinese acceent over the loudspeaker and two queues down (there were about 50 queues) having a bit of a barney with pushing in and a bit of bickering. We got to the counter and the train that we wanted that all was all full, only standing room, the next bed they had was the 1pm train, so we took it as it was going to go soon and we weren’t keen on booking another standing train having not knowing how it is. It was a bargain (only 20 quid) then split up, me and kelly heading to the bird’s nest and brian to sort out accommodation and write his postcards. The ride to the bird’s nest took over an hour as it’s so bloody far away and you have to walk ages in-between lines. We arrived and it had turned out into a cracking day, the birds nest is right next to the water cube (which is huge)  and the bird’s nest is massive as well, though it doesn’t look as pretty or elegant up close then it does from afar. The beams that support it and form the nest part are also massive. We went in quickly and had a very brief look around, suprising amount of leg room all around, bit of a shame you couldn’t pay something to run round the track, you could only take a bloody segway round! We caught the tube home (again over an hour) and met up with brian at the hostel ready to ship out for our night train. We caught the bus easily enough, stopped off at the orange box place, the Chinese equivalent of McDonalds (but Chinese food obvi) to take on the train, and headed in. there were huge amounts of people, we found our train and it was a crush to get on board. There were seats in batches of six facing each other on the right, three and three, then four (two and two on the left, with a aisle in the middle, which was our seat. We were crammed in, and managed to force a bit of space for ourselves, laid our bags down (which took ¾ of the aisle) and sat on them, thinking it wasn’t too bad. Looked at the clock and it didn’t leave for another 30 minutes, ahh. Then more people boarded the train, people started moving around, people were sat in peoples seats, luggage was being crammed into the overhead compartments and we still hadn’t eaten our food. At half 6 we started rolling, then the guards came to make sure all the luggage was safe, then more people started moving about, every 30 seconds having to stand up to let someone past in the aisle. Then to our horror on this already ridiculously crowded train a bloody cart came through dolling out hot food, again get up and move our bags, still hadn’t eaten, we’d only been going for 20 mins! Different carts came through every 20 mins throughout the journey to further dampen our spirits… This random girl joked that it was very crowded, which we took as an invitation to start a conversation. Her (English) name was Sabrina and she was lovely, had a friend called June who asked us bits and pieces, then lots of different people started talking to us, and we ended up splitting up and chatting to different groups which was great. After about an hour we re-grouped, had a chat and got given a seat by different people that we were chatting to, and I managed to sneak in half an hour kip which felt like 3 hours and was fab. When I woke up it was half 12 and without knowing it my evening had peaked. The bloody food carts were still going, random people had encroached on our space, people were sleeping on the floor, half on the aisle half under the seats, a line of people were constantly pushing past you or moving, either for a smoke, a piss or to go to the restaurant car. The lights were on the whole night. I tried to get comfy but didn’t manage it. I tried to read but couldn’t find my page. I tried to listen to music but couldn’t. I tried to sleep but couldn’t. Come 1 I was unhappy, and took a photo to prove it. Come 2 a fight broke out by the toilet between two women, a slightly bigger lass kicked this woman after having a bit of a tiff, then the woman pounced, pulled at her hair while trying to bite her head, while the bigger woman tried to get off the floor and punch her. The guard thought about interrupting and thought better of it… this woke up the whole carriage which just encouraged them all to move about further. Come 3 I had given up all hope of getting any sleep for the rest of the night, still sat in the aisle, still having to move or get kicked in the shoulder/head every 5-15 mins, I put my ipod in and listened to some music. Brian had managed to stay sat down on a seat while his friend stood/perched on the seat, kelly was having as much joy as me. I might have drifted off for 10-30mins but I cant be sure. Come 4 I was reading my book again. Come 5 it was in danger of getting light again. Come 6 and people were relaxing in the dawn which was breaking when the bloody cart came again. 7 more book reading and increased anticipation about getting off this fucking train in half hour. 7:20, grab our bags and start doing as the locals do who are queuing for the exit. Half 7, not left yet, in the middle of fucking no-where. 8, desperation, more people are queuing and pushing in, the food cart is still going back and forth, no space what so ever. Half 8, stop a attendtant and ask how long, through a random person on the train translates to a hour. Settle back into uncomfy standing and reading my book. 9, still reading, proper flagging, in a state of hatred for everything that might be accossicated with china. Half 9, we pull into the station and despite my whole carriage filled to the brim with people wanting to get off the train the people getting on the train decide to push their way on first, which produces a counter push which we are semi-architects as I want to get off this fucking train. We manage to get off the train, stretch our arms and look at each other and acknowledge that we’re glad as fuck we’re off the train. 15 hours, between us 3 hours sleep, acheing backs, necks, general grumpiness.