Our train wasn't until later in the evening, so we decided to go back to the Muslim quarter. I needed to get my dad a gift and chose a terracotta warrior. We stopped at a local cafe for dinner, the food was, as always, really nice although the bowls were filthy but hey, that's half the fun.

Steve decided to treat himself and purchased a warrior and I was still longing for a chess set but the cheapest I'd been offered was 120yuan. I wanted to give it one more go but the woman at the last stall must have thought I had mug written on my head as she told me it would cost 650 yuan (equivalent of 55 pounds) I started laughing and told her that they were selling them down the road for 120Yuan, only for her to inform me that these were hand-crafted and worth every penny. After a little flirting with her younger assistant and a bit of banter, she dropped the price to 100yuan. I told her I only had 60, that I was sorry for wasting her time and walked away (knowing full well that she would bite) True to form she jumped from her chair and agreed on 60 and I am now the proud owner of a Terracotta Warrior Chess Set...i suppose I better learn how to play the game!

Steve and I headed back to the hostel and booked accommodation in Beijing for 4 nights. We then went out for dinner with Sue, Disa, Narmy to a restaurant the hostel had recommended. We turned up and they didn't have an English menu. All three were vegetarians, so were going through the menu as if it were military operation, where as Steve and I just closed our eyes, pointed at three dishes and hoped for the best.

After dinner, we opted for a taxi to the station, which turned out to an interesting ride. The guy was driving like he had 5 police cars chasing him but we made it in one piece and with plenty of time to spare. The train arrived and turned out to be a double decker, we thought our luck was in but this was short lived as we made our way to our carriage and found 'hard seats' with our name on it. Now I wouldn't wish hard seat's on anyone, the back of the seat is at a 90 degree angle making sleep impossible. The train was only 13 hours but leaving at 9pm and arriving at 10am, we needed sleep. The journey turned out to be a nightmare, with kid's crying and screaming, bright lights and no food. So desperate for 30mins sleep, I got my BA Blanket and ended up sleeping on the floor in the gangway (along with 10 other people) BUT, as I keep reminding Steve, it's character building!