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My last few days in Xinjiang passed pretty quickly. I visited a few temples around the city, ate at the nicer restaurants and generally lazed about until it was time to leave. The next day I got up early to catch the train to Beijing.
I'd met two Australian girls at the hostel who were going to be on my train and in the same carriage as me. Maree and Carol were both highly energised people, especially Carol who was entirely mad. They were great company on the train and when we weren't sleeping we either hung out in my compartment or drank Golden Gobi beer in the dining car.
The train journey was great. I spent most of it snoozing or otherwise relaxing and could have happily stayed on for an extra day, not just the required 36 hours. There were views of the Gobi for the first day and when we woke up the next morning it was to the northern Chinese mountains and the Great Wall. Beautifully, the only moment of discomfort came when we were crossing the border - a three hour affair involving changing all the wheels on the carriages to fit the Chinese tracks. During this time the toilets are locked. Of course this was when my system decided it just had to go! I'd had lots of practise holding on, though. Ever since leaving Beijing it seemed like every time I got up to go to the loo they'd just locked the toilets in anticipation of passing through a station.
When we got to Beijing, Maree, Pilar and Gabriel decided to accompany me to Leo hostel on my sterling recommendations. First we had to find Carol's friend, which was no mean feat. After we'd finally found him we began the challenge of finding a taxi to take us to the hostel. It was ridiculously difficult. For half an hour we were refused by taxi after taxi - not because we had big bags but because the fare was too small. It's just as well none of the drivers spoke any English because I was using some pretty uncouth language on them by the end of it. One driver offered to take us, but at five times the metered fare. Ha! We finally got a cab at a taxi stand but only with the help of the attendant. After a few minutes of driving I recognised the area, thanks to the unmistakable Tiananmen Square, so I was confident we were at least going in the right direction. Despite my increasingly emphatic pointing at the map and gesturing to turn left, our driver continued straight past the square and pulled over further up the road and mimed that we should walk the rest of the way. He just didn't want to drive down a one way road to get to the right hutong, the bastard. It was only a ten minute walk to the hostel but we all had packs and it was a lot hotter than Ulaanbaatar had been. I was impressed with myself for recognizing the little street the hostel was on after six weeks away.
That evening I got some great tips for travelling in South America from Gabriel, so that is another adventure to get cracking soon. Maree and I decided to try out the massage centre next door to the hostel. They had a sign outside advertising foot massage for 20 yuan ($4) and a full health massage for 38 yuan. There were other services offered but they didn't have an English translation. It was a very strange experience. When we walked in we were asked to remove our shoes and were led downstairs. We then went through what I assumed was the women's changing room, complete with naked Chinese women having showers. I assumed that it was also a bath house. Then we went into a room that was full of rows of beds, all facing an empty stage that was backed by a huge love heart. We started to wonder what we'd got ourselves into. There were a few customers there already. They all seemed to be middle aged Chinese men and they were all in their pyjamas. Some of them were snoring peacefully, all wrapped up in duvets and blankets. The staff were an odd lot, also. There was a young man with his shirt open to show his chest, some older women in business suits, even a young woman who spent the whole time we were there wandering around the room in a set of teddy bear print pyjamas and eating popcorn. Bizarre. Nothing happened on the stage while we were there to give us more clues. The massage was great though. We left feeling relaxed but a little bit confused. China is a strange place.
The next morning I had breakfast with Maree and then caught a cab to the airport for my flights home.
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