There were two trains leaving today, one at the close station in the morning, and the other at the far away station at night (after most of the buses stop running). I decided the safe thing to do was go to the close station, even though the train ride was going to be a few hours longer.
It wasn’t raining too much when I left and it wasn’t as foggy. The weather forecast said there would be a lot of rain today so I decided to leave. The hostel recommended taking a taxi to the train station, but I wanted to try my luck with a bus. I took a bus half way and then walked the other half. By the time I got there the train was leaving within a hour. I bought my ticket (the guy at the window thought I said Xi’an instead of Xiamen and almost got a ticket for that), ate a bowl of noodles, then take another plate of food. I tried to eat as much as I could before this 24 hour ride. I also bought some apples, pears, crackers and bread.
I wanted to give away my coat before I left, but I didn’t have much time. The train was going to depart in 10 minutes and the gate closes in 5 minutes, so I had to go through security and get to my gate. So made it on the train and settled in.
These are really long rides, especially when I have no one to talk to. But maybe I’m used to not talking so it is OK for me. Again, I think I was the only foreigner on the entire train. I wish there was electricity for my computer, but nope. And my battery isn’t brand new anymore. Maybe I get a hour out of it now. I do have a novel and my travel guide to read and my audio player to listen to. Luckily I think there is a 20 hour battery life on my audio player so I load that up before I go. This time 3 podcasts, 10 lectures, maybe 4 albums of music.
Departing Hangzhou at 9:50AM and arriving in Xiamen at 10:07AM (next day).