On the train again
Yay! I got my visa extension. I get to go to Pakistan on the silk road traveling through China. It's funny, 7 years ago when I first decided I wanted to travel around here, the goal was to follow the path of Bhuddism, and the martial arts associated with it, as they had traveled from India to China over 1000 years ago. I had completely forgotten this until I was looking at a map of the silk road after getting my Pakistan visa. I guess it was meant to be... or something.
It turns out that the only way for me to get out of Bejing is by "hard seat" on a train. To explain a "hard seat", just think back to the most unconfortable high school chair you ever sat in. Now, multiply that by 10. I imagine that 11 hours in such a seat will be an interesting challenge. Also, I have to travel to Hohhot, because its the only place within reach, in the direction I'm headed, that I could get tickets for. I think I've learned an important lesson recently: traveling around Bejing in August is a royal pain-in-the-ass due to the inordinate number of tourists.
I leave tommarow morning for Hohhot and will there as soon as I possibly can. I have three weeks to get to Pakistan along the silk road, it should be an adventure.
It turns out that the only way for me to get out of Bejing is by "hard seat" on a train. To explain a "hard seat", just think back to the most unconfortable high school chair you ever sat in. Now, multiply that by 10. I imagine that 11 hours in such a seat will be an interesting challenge. Also, I have to travel to Hohhot, because its the only place within reach, in the direction I'm headed, that I could get tickets for. I think I've learned an important lesson recently: traveling around Bejing in August is a royal pain-in-the-ass due to the inordinate number of tourists.
I leave tommarow morning for Hohhot and will there as soon as I possibly can. I have three weeks to get to Pakistan along the silk road, it should be an adventure.
posted by Robert at 8/19/2005 01:53:00 AM
3 Comments:
wow, the silk road.
i wish there were a coffee table book of photos from traveling along the silk road as it is now side by side with a good anthropological yet well-written description of how each place would have looked in the silk road's heyday, what would have been bought and sold there, what was produced there.
i'd buy it.
ooh with the contrast narrative being the traveller's own, grittier than a travel guide and meant to be read as a narrative rather than a review.
I guess you're not Mongolia bound just yet then? I'll be living in the capital if the thought crosses your mind...
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