When I woke up in the morning, after leaving Chengdu the previous afternoon, it turned out the train I was in was behind schedule. However, this turned out to be in my favor, as I was originally destined to arrive in Huaihua, my transfer station, at six in the morning. This delay meant I could start the day well rested.

When I got to Huaihua, an army of taxi and scooter drivers bombardede with generous offers to take me to the bus terminal. Said bus terminal however was only 700 meters down the road, so I trusted my ability to find it myself.

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After a week in Beijing, it was time to get back on a train and explore more of China. The train experience in China is quite different from the transmongolian express. For starters, Beijing's train station is the size of a small airport. After having exchanged my reservation for an actual ticket (a process that requires your passport), I somehow managed to get to the right platform at the right time. My bed in the train this time was a so called 'hard sleeper'. The beds are not that hard, however the beds are stacked 3-high. Luckily, the benefit of a nighttrain is that most of the travel is spend sleeping!

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