This morning presented me a wonderful surprise. When I awoke, and looked out the window, we had travelled overnight to "my" China. We were passing through an area of highish mountains falling sheer and direct into a series of lakes. Think the Lake District stretched in scale and elevation; the valleys replaced by lake - there was no lakeside on any of the lakes; and sharpened up on a unimaginably improbable whetstone, to make all visible edges nice and pointy and sharp. The population of this area is 8-10 times what it was 20 years ago. This growth also includes the station we came in from - Xining West. This meant that the Youth Hostel I booked into; advertised as less than one kilometer from the station, is now some 16 kilometers from the new station. Also, neatly, the city boundary does not include the new station, so taxis are off the meter. A freelance guide latched onto me at the railway station, and guided me through by local bus to the city centre. He was obviously hopeful of further employment, and indeed I have his card still, but he did give the impression of being a bit of a chancer, and I am intending to contact the agency I have been in contact with in the UK.
My entries are falling behind my real-time. This entry is for the 21st, but who knows when it will be posted? I have now completed all that part of my journey which was pre-planned and booked, except for the trip between Bangkok and London, which I will not be using.
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