Finishing a 22 Hour Train Ride to Jiayuguan

Gobi Desert Photo Gallery

A little about Jiayuguan…
Outside of this steel town is where the mighty Great Wall comes to an end in western China. Still standing is a formidable fortress that was formerly used to launch military campaigns into the Uighur and Mongolian (barbarian) territories. The end of the Great Wall also served as the banishing point for all those condemned to exile by Chinese emperors. Quite literally, the exiles were marched through the gate and had to wander through the desert with very little hope of survival.

I didn't get much sleep through the night because it was impossible to stay comfortable. My head couldn't quite decide to lean left or lean right, and whichever way it chose made my neck hurt.

At around 9am, a Chinese student boarded the train. She was learning English at her university, so I was able to communicate fairly well with her. Since I was literally the only westerner on the entire train, this caught the attention of our cabin and most of the people gathered around to watch. I must have given them some great entertainment when I practiced my Chinese because the crowd kept breaking into laughter. Surely, my tones are still horrible, but I didn't realize they were this bad!

By the time evening rolled around, I was desperate to get off the train to shower, eat, and stretch my legs. Amazingly enough, I only went to the bathroom once on the 22 hour journey. I don't think I ate or drank very much, though, because I was basically in survival mode.

After disembarking from the train, I took a taxi to a hostel listed in my guide book. It was a small consolation for all that I endured on the train that I was able to negotiate the price of my hostel room for only $10. It is never easy to bargain with night setting in because the chips are stacked against me.

My room was furnished with classic Chinese furniture, hot water, a “real” toilet, and plenty of wall sockets to recharge my gadgets. Making things better, the hostel was designed as a Ming-style residence with arched walkways, colorful flowers, open courtyards, sliding doors, and so on and so forth - basically, it was exactly what one would imagine a fine Chinese compound would look like. I suppose the overwhelming heat was to blame for only having three other visitors spending the night, though.

I was grateful to have a real meal for dinner, but it was awkward eating because three of the young employees (all girls) who were watching me the entire time. I suppose they didn't have much else to do, and I must have been interesting to them, but it was still a bit weird.

After dinner, I went back to my room and passed out before my head hit the pillow.