It seems I keep returning to Beijing again and again and again. This is already my third entry of the metropolis. But I do love this city. The train pulls in and I split with Marius and Denis. They'll head off towards the eastern coast for some swimming. Well, good luck with that, the sea's probably way too cold for that, but if they want to. My itinerary is to the west, Inner Mongolia. The day is yet undecided. I have not yet seen a single thing in Beijing so if the weather is good on Wednesday I'll do that first. Otherwise leave immediately and visit Beijing before my flight home.

I check into a hostel right next to Beijing Railway Station and end back up in one of my favourite places: the dorm. There are already several people inside and after a bit of chatting I and a Korean guy - Kim - accompany Nick to a club where he's meeting others. A few drinks turn into a bit more, the dance floor is in the basement and my original plan of going to bed before midnight is totally screwed as we stumble back to bed around five in the morning. So is my plan of maybe heading to Hohhot on Wednesday. But that'll be the most of my worries. Foremost is getting a train ticket.

October 1st of National Day in China. Most people take the whole week off and start to travel en-masse. The train station could just as well be an ant's nest. Hundreds of people are standing outside with their luggage, waiting for something. Inside, the ticket booth has dozens waiting in line. There are no more sleeper tickets for the whole week. No more soft seats. I end up buying a hard seat ticket for Thursday 11:51 in the morning. Probably not such a good idea for a 12 hour train ride but I really want to go. We'll see...

And I've seen. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OMG! And OMG! Coach 07, seat 16. I arrive a bit late at the station and coach seven is packed to the brim. Packed so much that the station master puts all his weight into my back and pushes me, and together with me everybody else in front of me through the door. Some more pushing later three of them manage to shut the door and the train heads off. Really! Mi a fasz problémájuk van ezeknek a kínaiaknak? Miért kell mindegyiknek egyszerre utaznia? És miért adnak el több jegyet mint amennyi van ha már egyszer megtelt a vonat? Jézus!

Through an impossibly thick mass of sweating people it takes over half an hour to get 20m into the carriage to my seat. At first I pull my suitcase behind me but then decide to shoulder it and gathering up my courage set out for my destination. Probably seeing the heavy suitcase on my neck and not wanting to have it dropped onto their heads, the walkway splits like the Red Sea and a few minutes later - kicking out the guy illegally occupying my place - I arrive. Sweating like hell, but at least seated. It is only now I have the peace of mind to really look around. Everything is really, really packed. I think more people are standing than sitting, even the bathroom is open and filled with several. The lucky ones not getting bothered every few minutes by passersby try to get some sleep leaning on the headrest of the seats, but most are just silently enduring this hardship. I'm just happy I got to my seat and don't have to stand for the next twelve hours. I even found a place for the netbook to write and read the Lonely Planet of China somebody gave me. This is going to be a long, long day.

But I've run ahead of myself as Wednesday has been one of the most fun days in weeks. Well, for me at least. The following happened: I was planning to visit Tiananmen square, the Forbidden City, etc. But it turned into something far more fun. The square itself wasn't really impressive, just a big square and thousands of Chinese lining up for the obligatory photograph with the revered leader. The mausoleum already closed at noon, so there wasn't much to do and I headed towards the Forbidden City. Bought some hideous fridge magnets for my collection and realized I didn't have enough money to pay the admission fee. Pondering whether to just wander around or find an ATM I was suddenly spoken to by a cute Chinese girl. You can guess the rest: tea-ceremony scam.

What happens is that these girls prey upon lone western men, start talking to them and pretty soon suggest they go for a drink somewhere. Some tea, alcohol, or go eating some Peking duck in good company is all well and fine. But the real surprise is the bill which can run into the hundreds, thousands of kuai. Not an interesting prospect to end an otherwise pleasant day. As did my girl, calling herself Xi Xia. But I was prepared. Which she didn't know. And I had nothing better to do. Which she didn't know. And I am evil. Which she didn't know. You can guess the rest...

We walked around all afternoon and early evening, politely refusing to go for a drink at the place of her choice, insisting we should go somewhere better, where there is less traffic. I let her sweat, stroll around, always leaving a bit of hope in her mind for a successful scam. We actually had a really nice talk, and beside the small lies - she's a student studying English, visiting Beijing for a few days by herself, she was telling the truth. But in the end I couldn't be this harsh all the way and did go to a nice place for a drink. One of my choosing of course and you could see Xi Xia would rather have wanted to go somewhere else. I played with the thought of ordering drinks and then just leaving - under the pretence of visiting the bathroom - but couldn't. We talked for about two more hours and I did pay for her cheap tea. At seven in the evening I excused myself on having to go back to the hotel and we split, leaving her wondering if I knew or didn't know what she was up to. She did turn back several times, a puzzled look on her face, a bit timid and I played with the thought of following her to see if she went back to "work". But I think she gave up for the day. Six hours and no catch; that must be harsh.

I walked back to the square for an evening photo, and another girl thought me an easy prey. We talked, I let her follow me the way I went, even had her take photos of me but when I got bored - and she wasn't even pretty - I just asked why she's doing this. Her English suddenly faltered "no understand", that kind of thing and she walked away angrily. I was just laughing heartfelt for minutes. Next two girls tried the same. They were much friendlier so we chatted for a while. They must've been really cold, so the tea question came pretty quickly. At least - after the first surprise - she was honest about it when realising I knew of their scam. A policeman even came standing behind us, his hand on his walky-talky; obviously expecting trouble.

It was great.

At night me and Nick went out for dinner. It was around midnight as we talked too much in the dorm, and most of the places were already closed. Finally we find a small restaurant with really great food. And everybody inside was drunk. The waiter, waitress, even the boss and they were stumbling around, trying to keep their balance and giggling childishly at everything. Especially at two stupid foreigners who don't speak Chinese and cannot decide what they want to order. I love Beijing!