SHANGHAI - XI'AN

01.08.07
Dave and I left shanghai for Xian. About 20 hours on the train. Hard sleepers.
Slept a wee bit in the morning then got up and chilled with some Chinese people.
Hard sleepers are good as you have a bed and a little space, but are still very sociable as there are no compartments. It’s like a dormitory on the train.
Chatter with university student called Candy. Really intelligent. Talked about everything and she seems very clued up to the outside world's view of China.I found the whole 'one child per family' quite hard to grasp. It was strange and sad to think that (probably) no one on the train had any brothers or sisters. Had dinner in the food carriage. Greasy,but filling and not too expensive. About 25 yuan each.
Read a wee bit and did our best to chill out in our cramped top bunk.
Once we figured out how to turn off the loud speakers which sounded to be booming out propaganda and terrible Chinese music we were able to relax.

Photos (from top): Dave trying to get comfortable on the cramped bunk, friendly and intelligent university student Candy, my attempts to sabotage the carriage radio - I covered the speaker in duck tape until we realised there was a speaker switch below it. Doh!