On 19th July, I had expected some repercussions from the beer-drinking, but I felt fine. I packed and checked out of the hotel, left my backpack there, and headed once more for Lee’s Café. After lunch with some VSO’s (young British volunteers) Mr. Lee presented me with my train ticket to Lanzhou, with much ceremony.

In the afternoon I sat in the hotel lobby writing postcards, including one to a friend in Czechoslovakia, saying that I may well be heading through Eastern Europe in about a month.

Then I headed to Renmin Park near the city centre. There was a tea garden there with many elderly people relaxing. They seemed to have brought their caged birds with them, which they all hung above them while they drank tea… or simply stared into space.

It was very atmospheric and I couldn’t resist the temptation to take some candid photos…

Though a few people stared at me (as is the norm in China) it was remarkable how easy it was to get natural-looking photos…

Once I’d taken everyone’s photo I headed back to Mr. Lee’s for a final meal before heading to the railway station. Getting on the train was remarkably easy – no officials felt it was their duty to tell me that foreigners aren’t supposed to do the things that normal people do…

I had been assigned a bed in an ancient sleeper carriage, and though the hygiene could have been better, I slept well. When I woke I had really no idea where I was – station names were just meaningless groups of characters and I had no way to temporarily store the shapes in my brain, to reference them to anything else. The dining car provided a box of rice for breakfast, but I was told to go back to my own carriage the moment I had eaten it.

I read for most of the day, or as much as was permitted by the frequent tunnels which plunged the train into darkness. The landscape was getting drier, and the air cooler as the altitude increased. At one stop there was a steam locomotive and I hopped off to get a picture. I had never seen steam being used “for real” rather than for tourist / historical reasons.

The weather became damper and by the time the train finally reached Lanzhou there was a steady drizzle. One other foreigner alighted onto the platform, also looking a bit lost. She said she was Diana from Italy, and was heading for a hotel with dormitory beds, called simply Lanzhou Hotel.

We managed to get on a bus that was supposedly going the right direction. On the way we saw some rough justice being served to a man who tried to travel on the bus without paying – he was physically thrown off by the driver and one other man, and ended up lying in the road.

The hotel was semi foreigner-friendly – they had a dorm room with 3 beds available, but just for one night. Dinner was instant noodles using hot water from a dispenser at the end of the corridor.

In the morning Diana and I checked out and went searching for alternative accommodation. We caught a bus to the Shengli Hotel – supposedly foreigner-friendly – but they had nothing suitable (“méiyŏu“), so we caught the bus back. After another hotel said the same thing, we ended up back where we started. They said they now had some beds available in a 10 bed dorm, so we checked back in again. There were several strange characters in the dormitory, and it wasn’t quite what I would have chosen…

Later on, an American, called Alison, showed up and took the one remaining bed. She provided a bit of “fresh air”, and enthused about a place in which she’d spent a few days – the small town of Xiahe about 250 km to the south. She spoke of it being a backpacker hangout, with green hills good for hiking, and a Tibetan monastery. I had read about the place in my guidebook, but Alison’s report confirmed that was where I should go. Diana decided the same.

Now having a plan for the next week or so here in Gansu province, I decided to organise a flight to the ancient city of Xian, which will be my next destination. I went out to the CITS office which was, inevitably, closed. I waited in a nearby café, and my patience was rewarded when it finally opened and I managed to buy an air ticket for 1st August from Lanzhou to Xian, which gives me 10 more days in Gansu Province.

A long trip in a local bus got us to the bus terminal where we were able to buy tickets to Xiahe for the following day. There was an extra charge for “insurance” for a reason that wasn’t at all obvious. Back at the hotel I got more information from Alison about Xiahe and then we all went to the interesting night market, where all manner of weird food was being offered.

I bought a “subversive” t-shirt – I heard about these on the BBC News a few months ago. It says in Chinese “I’m Really Upset” and is one of several t-shirts that are a popular veiled reference to the effect on the younger generation of the violent oppression of the pro-democracy uprising 2 years ago. I don’t think I’ll wear it until I’m safely out of China!

The evening ended on the roof of the hotel with some beers… and yet more information being obtained from Alison about Xiahe – along with the normal travellers’ tales being exchanged…