China Study Tour: The night train to Xi’an

Our berths for the night train were four to a compartment, but because we’d not booked as soon as the tickets were available, all of our berths were upper bunks. For most of us, this posed no problem, as we’d had the experience before, but I can see how it would be disconcerting to sleep so closely to strangers if you haven’t done so before.

Since it was P.J.’s birthday, we had a celebration with yummy cake in the dining car. I honestly think there’s not much more fun than traveling by train, although traveling by train with typical luggage is not my idea of fun. If I’d fully realized – oh, train! – I would have brought my backpack and done the usual hiking pack on the pack, small pack on the front Euro tour sort of method of transporting luggage.

Our bunk mates had a friend in the compartment next to us, so Tami and Katie suggested a switch, but apparently the top bunks are not desirable. Personally, I feel more comfortable in the top bunk. It takes a lot of effort to get up there, and once you are, it’s hard for anyone else to get up there. They were very gracious about my large bag that had to go between them, because it wouldn’t fit under the seat.

One of the things I love about sleeping on a train is that it’s basically a noisy rocking chair, all night long. This means better and longer sleep (if you’re the kind of person comforted by the movement of a train). I awoke refreshed, with an amazing head of bed hair. I ventured to the breakfast car to find other amazing heads of bed head.

Upon arrival at the Grand Noble Hotel in Xi’an, everyone got some food, then everyone took showers. Night trains are all well and good, but our stink radius was reaching 2-3 feet by that point.