Wednesday 23 September

We don't have to check out until 12 so we have a relaxing morning. It's nice not to to rush off somewhere.
We decide to do a rickshaw tour of some protected hutong's. We walk some of the way and catch the subway. On the way we pass a hair accessory store and I find some curly ties I've been looking for. So cheap too. There are so many rickshaws but they all seem to be the same company. They want ¥100 each for a 40 min ride. We get his down to ¥180 for both but as we leave he says we need to tip the driver. Off we go. It's not very exciting, but cute back streets and alleys. We drive along the lake front a while and then back. The traffic here is hilarious! Big cars, small cars, scooters and motorbikes, bicycles and rickshaws. At the end we give driver ¥20 as tip and he is unhappy arguing for more. It wasn't even the 40 min and we had already paid for the trip. I really hate the tipping system. No grateful acceptance! Grr. I felt the $40aud is generous for 30min trip. Made the trip bad in hindsight. After we walk along the route and find the little shopping street we saw the other night. I buy a few small things. We see the drum tower again and hear it's chiming(thudding). Then we take the long way back to the hotel and relax a few minutes before heading to the train station to join our night train to Xi'an. The station is pretty busy and we have to go out to get the tickets then come back in with tickets and id check. The waiting room is so full, but we manage to find seats. We have a few hours wait before we can board our train. We have something to eat. Ppl are staring at us, but we are unsure why. When the gate is opened everyone goes through, but once through there is more space to move and find our carriage. We are in the too bunk and an older Chinese couple are below. It's pretty nice and the beds are already made.