To kill some of the 16-hour journey we played Uno, drank warm beer and Annette drew on Andy’s slippers – much to amusement of the locals.
On the way we stopped at a station lined with army cadets. The girls looked young and judging by the number of them crying and the mums nearby, we think it was their first trip away from home. When the officer saw us taking pictures, they were instructed to sing… so they did, singing whilst still crying and wiping their eyes … heartbreaking.
The train was very noisy and made huge jolts when changing tracks so we didn’t get much sleep. Then, we were rudely awoken by the ticket attendant at 4.50am, who yanked the door open, put the light on and shouted at us to get up…. charming! We had arrived 30 minutes early in Chengdu and it was pouring with rain. We had a trip to the Panda Breeding Centre arranged with a local company ‘Sam Tour’ and he also owns Holly’s hostel in the Tibetan area of Chengdu. So, with breakfast high on the agenda, we dumped our bags and went straight to the hostel café for a fried egg sandwich.
