05 May: Beijing to Zhongwei

Had a relaxing morning at the hostel today (Luckily I repacked all my bags last night - what a mission!). Had breakfast at the hostel too (figured it should be done once). Delish Mango juice - have had such a craving for fruit juice recently! And the most amazing amount of French Toast I've ever been served! And each slice was like a triple-decker French Toast too. I was quite ill by the time I gave up - haha.

Quick stop at a local shop for some Instant Noodles (take note, after the novelty in Mongolia, these will become a theme of train-travel in China!) and we were ready to go. We took the Metro back to Beijing Central Station, where I'd arrived only a few days before and boarded a train for our 22hr ride to Zhongwei.

The train was a lot more cramped than the Trans-Mongolian one I was on. This had 6 beds per cabin and no doors. Thankfully we managed to all switch into the same cabin, which definitely made the journey easier for us. And off we set, on the same train track I'd come into Beijing on (it's the same route till DaTong Station where we split off). Was certainly not as nice a day for photos out the train and none of the windows opened at all.

Had Instant Noodles for dinner. Very exciting :P And then slept for most of the journey. It was a lot noisier tho and the guttural throat clearing as if people are about to throw up is just not something I'm getting used to!