Broken men
I had an awesome lie in until 11am, and an even better sleep. However, yesterday’s climb of Hua Shan had left us broken. The pair of us were suffering from extremely sore and stiff legs. Manoeuvring was going to be a big chore today. The best idea would be to rest as much as we can, and not walk excessively. That would be the best idea…did that happen? Well, we tried I guess. We’re catching a sleeper train tonight.
The train is 10:40pm, but we have to check out at 12pm. This leaves us with a bucket load of time between checking out and catching the sleeper train. Anyway, we checked out at 12pm after stumbling around the place. We didn’t know what else there was to do, but on the map we saw some sort of tourist centre. As we had nothing else to do, we followed the map. To a dead end. In the searing heat. This was not a good start, especially because we had our entire backpack with us, and sore legs!
Where are the banks?!
We put the tourist centre on the back burner, and decided to try and cash out. I was using Google Maps (with a VPN) and was looking for a bank. However, every time we got to a bank on the map, it was either not there, or closed. This went on for a good amount of time, before we eventually gave up on the banks nearby. I did have a funny moment when I rested my bag on a short hedge and fell through the hedge. Mat and I almost pissed ourselves. Some much needed laughter in tiresome times!
Apple Maps showed no banks available nearby, so instead we revisited the tourist centre option. We saw them on the map and followed them. When we got there, there was no tourist centre. Nothing even resembling a tourist centre. One location resulted in multiple people trying to rent us houses, the other just went to a car park near a wedding venue. With sore legs, high temperatures, and miles of walking, spirits were burning low.
Getting outta town
After having accomplished 0 of our objectives, we decided to get a bus outta town. The nearby bus took us to the nearest bank we could find on the maps. After 15 minutes or so on the bus and a small walk through a residential street, we finally saw the bank we’d been looking for. They had small ATMs within the bank that are in cubicles. The setup seemed pretty good and secure to be honest, was a surprise. We withdrew some cash, and then went next door for some snacks. Whilst we were there, just on the off chance, we asked if they had any playing cards. We did this by showing them a photo of them. To our surprise, they had some. Jumping for joy, we bought them for entertainment, especially because we had a long wait for the sleeper train.
We caught another bus to the train station. There didn’t seem to be a bus stop, we just stuck our hands out when we saw a little shoddy bus with our number. After a short bus ride, we were at the station. The station was small and insignificant compared to the ones we’ve been in so far. Before going through security and committing to the train station, we had a walk around outside. There were hardly any places open, so we had to go to one we’d previously rejected. We ended up having rice with chicken and some pumpkin biscuits/cakes.
The long wait
After having eaten and wasted as much time as we could, we went to the train station. We had around 5 hours before the sleeper train. In the UK, this would have been an unthinkable task. But travelling in China, we brushed it off as a normality. You just have to accept your situation for what it is. Thanks to the playing cards, we were able to stave off the boredom for a long time. We mainly played Blackjack and Rummy as these were decent games. Blackjack is quite short, but Rummy (click here for the rules, we always use 7 cards each) is quite an entertaining card game.
After many hours, the security officers took an interest in our game. It was a slow evening with not much to do, they had time to kill. Besides, they were mostly taking TikTok videos. We showed them a couple of rounds which they seemed interested in. Then came the request for us to be in the TikTok videos. They were all pretty goofy, even the old guy. We happily took part; they were especially happy when we waved our China flags saying “I love you China” in Chinese (Wǒ ài nǐ zhōngguó).
A long awaited arrival
The time finally came and the train arrived. When it stopped, we were pointed in the right direction of our beds. I didn’t know what to expect but perhaps my expectations were a tiny bit too high, and I didn’t really have any expectations. Our cart was pretty humid, and the smell was terrible. As soon as I started walking in, I was met with the sight and smell of cracked old feet. Each compartment consisted of 6 beds, 3 against each wall. Mat and I were on the opposite sides of a wall, so had to knock to communicate.
The bed wasn’t wide enough for me to lay with arms by my side. My legs were almost hanging off the edge too. Thank the lord for my sleeping bag. It looked as though someone had just got out of my bed before I got in. Not hygienic in the slightest. Oh well, a bed is a bed at the end of the day.
