Hard seat train to Datong - two hour wait, 6 hour trai with old men staring at us, very carmped (see photo). Sleeping was not very easy, the seat was ok for the first hour or so then we realised why they call it 'hard' seat - numb bumbs. Nice to see the man opposite us picking the ticks out of his arm. :-) Met a nice lady and everyone helped us learn our 1 to 10 - lots of laughs and incomprehension on our part - but it was all good humoured. It did stink and ever...

At Datong train station, have just boarded the hard sleeper to Taiyuan - with easily over 1000 other passengers. Em is very excited at the prospect of sleeping in one of these boxes and just had a good experience going to the toilet - which is something that we wouldn't have dared do on our last train journey, a 6 hour hard seat from beijing - I didn't actaully see the toilet itself but on a brief walk to stretch my legs after sitting in the same spot for 4 hour...