We took an overnight train from Chengdu to Kunming, and after 23 hours I truly, truly could notwait to nget off that f**king train lol. Every now and thensomeone would leave the door iopen to the toilets, and a disgusting stench would waft into our carriage. It was best to hold your nose (and roll up your trousers) when usin the train squat toilets, especially with so many big bumps! (gross, eh?) Because of the earthquake, we had to take the old-fashioned slow train: the bunks were held up by leatherstraps, and the water boiled over a coal stove - i am not kidding!!! the view has been magnificent though, going right through the heart of rural China. We passed many people making their way along the train tracks, and hundreds of fields with farmers wearingthose typical round straw hats. The houses are all broken down, with colourful washing hanging out the window and holes in the roofs. The train suddenly BUMPS quite often, and I barely slept, only a fewhours. You could tell it was an old train, the walls are the type of dirty hat won't wahs off,years and years of grime built up to turn everything a shade of brown-grey. Still, we did manage to have fun, everyone is starting to get to know eachother now. Will passed out early so, of course, had his face drawn on and a pink ribbon tied around his ankles. We basically took over the carriage, music playing on someones ipod speakers, and boittles of booze piling up (what else are you supposed to do on a 23 hour train ride?!)

On one of the cigarette breaks, LB and Megan met a chinese irl who followed hem back to our carriage, chattering away in Chinese. Pretty soon everyone got bored with flipping through the phrasebook, and left me to talk with her. I somehow actually did manage to hold a conversation, but I had a massive headache when she finally left, after about an hour and a half - don't think I've had to concentrate so hard since the exams in May! She broke out her Chinese National Anthem, which lead to the drunken Canadians belting out "Oh Canada...." which was hilarious! Last night after the hot pot we went to by soom drinks to entertain us on the train, and found a bottle of ...something...that was 60% and cost the equivalent of about 40p - sounds like quality , right? We ttried asking a sals assistant what it was exactly, but she just pointed to the alcohol sign, and to the 60%, as if to say "Hey, its 60%, it's alcohol, what more do you need to know?!" Nicole's face was HILARIOUS when we showed ity to he r- her jaw droipped and her eyes widended and she mouther "What the F**K!!!"