Day 2

We have the bottom of three bunks on each side, so our beds are the widest and actually quite comfortable, although it is a little odd sleeping lying down while moving. We've left Xinjiang and spent most of the day moving through Gansu province.

Here's an example of the traditional house with courtyard.

Houses are usually far away from the fields, so smaller structures for shade are built next to the fields. People walk from their houses to work, so they bring the midday meal with them since its too far to walk back. In some areas where the fields are next to the mountains, people have dug caves for shade and storage, and we also saw places where people were living in these caves. There's been a push to move people out of the caves since it is viewed as "backwards", but there's also been a push to have them declared historical treasures.

Passing through a tunnel and an interior view of the train. I was hoping to catch us coming out of the tunnel, but it was very long. We'll pass through some 300 or so tunnels between Urumqi and Beijing.

Lunch time! Instant noodles and a preserved duck egg for protein. Mm mmm!
Doesn't that look scrumptious?


These hills were much more brightly striped in person, like a painted desert.

We saw many of these small temples. Some were Earth God temples, a practice pre-dating Buddhism and Daoism. Not all temples in Gansu are this small, we passed a couple impressive Buddhist temples, but too quickly to capture on film.

The lump atop the central hill in this picture is the remains of a watchtower. The train is running alongside the Silk Road, and these watchtowers dotted the landscape.

They play a variety of music over the PA system, which I kind of like. It's like the landscape has its own soundtrack.

We've left the Silk Road and are now following the Yellow River.

Off to bed. Tomorrow we arrive in Beijing.