Barely made it to Beijing

I woke up this morning feeling great about going to Beijing. So I got ready and headed out to the train station. But when I was on my way in to the station the woman to checked tickets told me that I was in the wrong place. I didn’t really understand where I should go but then another woman walked by who knew English and explained that I was at the wrong train station. I didn’t know that there were two stations in Xi’an, I just went to the one that I came from when I arrived from Urumqi. I’m not a very experienced train traveler. So hearing that made me a little worried since I didn’t know how far away it was and I didn’t have that much time to spare. So I hurried out into the street and tried to find a taxi. But I though they wanted way too much money even though I didn’t know how far away it was. But I realized I had to hurry to get there so I accepted the price from a guy on an electric scooter. But at first I didn’t think he could carry all my bags on the scooter, but somehow he managed and we raced through the city. It was further then I had thought and I got more and more worried the more times passed. And when it was only twenty minutes lift until the train was leaving I was sure I was going to miss it. But we arrived at the station with about five minutes to spare and I walked as fast as I could with all the bags I was carrying and was the last one on the train just before it left.

It was a big relief to make it and I could sit down and catch my breath after the mornings rush. The high speed trains here in China are really nice and it felt very luxurious compared to the last train ride from Urumqi. It was really fast and after about five hours we arrived in Beijing to another crazy crowded station. Luckily the subway was in the same station and I could just get on that and quickly get to the station where I met Hunter, my couchsurf host and we went and dropped off my luggage at his place.

After that we vent to another train station where my bicycle was supposed to be. It took a little while to find the place where I could collect my bike but we eventually we found it in the underground in the back on the station.

After a little wait I could pick up the bike and it was a huge relief seeing the bike in on piece. From the station I rode the bike 20 km through Beijing back to my host’s place. It was an awesome feeling being back on the bike, even if cycling in Beijing wasn't what I was looking forward to the most.