day 123, Xi'an to Chengdu

Stayed up way too late for no particular reason yesterday, woke up early this morning, showered in the ridiculously designed all in one bathroom which leaked onto the floor, super marketed up for the train ride, dropped off a bottle of rice wine for the dude that worked in the toy shop round the corner from the hotel who helped us so much to find it, checked out and caught the bus after a bit of faff to the train station. Got into our waiting area and thought use the toilet before we go, into the toilets which are of course all squat ones, about 12 of them in a grid, no doors, about a 3 foot tall wall offering you very little privacy but ah well. Caught our train which was a bit late, we had upgraded from the standing category to the hard sleeper which was really cool, no doors, just bunk beds 3 high and only those with a bed allowed in, compared to our previous journey it was bloody luxury. Finished off the dice man which was very good, read a sport magazine, laid down and listened to some music, chatted to kelly and brian, saw some amazing scenery as we followed a river for a bit including this amazing waterfall and a valley so thick with fog you couldn’t’t see anything, had some noodles, read the dead heart, a sort of comic travel thriller which thoroughly enjoyed, some more music and off to bed! didn’t have the best nights sleep not feeling too well, though got there in the end and woke up to arrive in Chengdu and to rain! Got in a taxi in search of our hotel that we had booked for the night (no hostels available as it’s national holiday week, and today is the actual day) couldn’t  find it, so got driven back to the railway station after doing the charade manoeuvre for train and also drawing a train which at first looked more like a bus, then caught a bus and walked a bit and accidentally stumbled upon our hotel, it’s really nice, have a queen sized double bed for a tenner, sleeping now, then meeting a girl called Emerald at 2 who Brian met on the train (from Beijing to Xi’an) she’s super nice (and gave brian her seat for most of the journey the jammy bastard) she’s showing us around and then tomorrow we are moving into some accommodation that she has found for us in a English school for the week which is ridiculously kind of her as accommodation is a bloody struggle at the moment, that and train tickets, don’t know how long I’m going to be in Chengdu for, probably till I’m let out and can find somewhere else with a free bed to stay.