Kunming...19 hours later

August 6, 2004

Just got off this 19-hour hard sleeper train ride from Guilin. It was pretty hellish. You're crammed six bunks to a cubicle. I had the top bunk, meaning no headroom. If you've got the bottom bunk, you're one unlucky bastard because people just usurp it as a place to park their fat ass during the ride.

There are these loudspeakers all over the train which pump out rap music of all things...at really high volume. So were you to want to sleep in the "sleeper train"...what a concept....it's next to impossible. The toilets are pretty gross and you're peeing right out onto the track whizzing by beneath you.

These two girls in our cubicle talked all night and wouldn't shut up even though people in the train were yelling at them. Crammed and uncomfortable are best to describe this experience. So for our upcoming trip to Chengdu...a lovely 18 hours away...we're getting the upper-class soft sleepers...which are apparently the shit...soft bed, with doors, wood panels, carpet, potted plants and clean toilets. Hopefully they live up to their reputation. No more cattle-car travelling, because that's exactly what it feels like travelling in cramped space with a train-load of loud Chinese. Gonna kick around Kunming for a few days before heading to Chengdu. Skipping Lijiang because Tiger Leaping Gorge has been closed, too dangerous to hike. No other reason to make the 12-hour trip out there if the main attraction is off-limits.