We are really getting into the NORTH of China now. Mom and I arrived in Jiayuguan a couple days ago on a night train where we did NOT have sleepers. This did not seem so bad when we had done the same thing on a short train ride, but this was a whole different story altogether. We boarded our train and even though we had expressly requested assigned seats (and received them) on our tickets, we still found our seats occupied by a father and his three kids. We showed them our tickets and they scooted over, trying to give us one and a half of our two alloted seats. There was no way we were going to spend the next 12 hours squashed into such a little space when the others had another car completely that they should have been on, they finally moved over more. (They even called a conductor over to check our tickets. Why he didn't check THEIR tickets I don't know, since they obviously weren't supposed to be there.)

Still, more and more people boarded the train, and even though everyone was supposed to have their own seats, there were still extra people sitting on seat edges and a few more standing. We were also lucky enough to have our window jammed shut and a broken fan, so therefore, no air circulation to speak of. Oy vey. (This is all hysterical in hindsite of course.)

Soon enough we had 8 people in 6 seats, one of them a rather tall, broad shouldered young guy my age who looked extremely uncomfortable in the space and heat, but did not have the heart/guts to kick the family out of his seat and was therefore trying to exist in exactly 8 inches worth of seat. Eventually, he pulled out a deck of cards and invited me and the couple next to us to play. As usually does in China with a group of people playing a game, we had soon drawn a crowd to watch us, including about three different men who were attempting to teach me some Chinese game. This went on until maybe 2 in the morning, since everyone was trying to put off settling into whatever uncomfortable sleeping position they could figure out. Most of us slumped exhausted to one side or the other eventually and woke up with cricks and charley horses all over. Oh, and by the end the train smelled like a mixture of sausage and the bathroom. Again, hillarious in hindsite.

Jiayuguan has treated us quite well however. We have been 'regulars' at a dumpling joint down the street and have seen some great sites that nobody else sees. This city is skipped on most tourist routes it seems. Yesterday we rode the shakiest bikes in town about 15 kilometers each way to see the very westernmost bits of the Great Wall. There are I guess some little pieces farther west, but they are ruins or difficult to reach. We enjoyed climbing around on the Jiayuguan fortress, and I even shelled out 10 kuai to ride a total of 3 minutes on a camel, which I've wanted to do forever! And by "forever" I mean since I read that you could do it, last summer. They are quite interesting creatures, though I should have known that already, having done a report on the camel in 2nd grade, accompanied by a delightfully lopsided paper-mache rendition of the animal.

We got out to the place where we could actually climb the wall, it was a short bit, less than 20 minutes each way (compared to the 4 hour trek we did in Beijing) but the surrounding area was gorgeous. The hills on which it was built were the greatest colors, greys, seafoam green, browns.... Then there was this lush green stretch along the road back to town, and quite in contrast to both landscapes, the Gobi Desert stretched black and empty to the horizon. It really was a magnificent vista. I could have just sat there for hours taking it in.

This morning, after eating more dumplings(!), we checked out a great tomb outside of town. It was a small little thing with these funky paintings on the wall, but now we are out of sites here and may just attempt to shop (ha ha, very funny) then go find some meat on a stick (YAY) before heading off to Dunhuang and more deserty adventures.