Leaving Beijing

After new years day the weather got worse and worse in Beijing. It was no where near as bad as the weather we had encountered in Siberia or Mongolia but in Beijing people are not prepared for such weather. After two days of snow we decided it was time to go somewhere warmer.

The street near our hostel

Xi'an is an overnight train journey from Beijing and is home to the Terracotta Army so we choose that as our next destination. One of the girls (Sophia) who worked in the hostel was going to the station to meet her brother so we decided to go with her as she could help us if we had any difficulties. The journey there was fun as she spent most of the time throwing snowballs at us or at random people she passed on the street. No one seemed to mind and outside most of the restaurants on our street the staff were making snowmen.

Snowball fight with strangers

Martin trying to avoid snowballs

Snowman on the street outside a restaurant

Buying train tickets in China was easier than Russia, the staff were friendly, they didn't shout and the tickets were much simpler than Russian ones. Our train was later that evening and went from a different station that the one where we got our tickets. It was not possible to get to it via Metro so our options were bus or taxi. Due to the bad weather it was very difficult to get a taxi and the buses were full.

No taxis and no buses!

The train station was very large and very busy with crowds of people everywhere. Our train was delayed by about 2 hours due to the bad weather.

Beijing West Train Station