We're on a sleeper train heading for Guallim, recommended as one of the most beautiful places to visit in South China.
Upon departure we were immediately befriended by what turned out to be a wedding party of women on there way to meet up with the groom for the ceremony. Enthusiastic to practice their English on us they kept us entertained into the wee hours, fed us snacks of mysterious food stuffs and explained the hurried art of leaping off the train to purchase food from the station platform vendours, because it's 'cheap and delicious, not like the train food.' There you go then.
Actually I lied about the wee hours. I'm typing this in the pitch dark at the ungodly hour of 21:48. I'm not sure I have ever been to bed this early, but train rules seem to be the lights are switched off at 21:30.
To be honest judging from the racket going on around me I don't think anyone else is ready for bed either. There's a dozen or so frenzied conversations going on around me in the sing-song version of Mandarin they speak here. And the sound of eating. Boy can they eat. I don't think I ever been offered such a dizzying array of fruit, noodles, sweets, stir-fries, chicken legs and other things I couldn't quite identify. It's a veritable mobile gastronomic delight. We're not going to starve here, that's for sure.
It feels like we're in a mobile restaurant that someone has organised a drunken party in, but rather unfortunately has suffered a power cut. I keep thinking someone is going to produce some candles at any moment.
Night night blog fans, sweet dreams….