leaving the capitol city

the 10 hour overnight hard sleeper wasn't that bad. the clean, tidy compartment slept 6 of us. david and i both had bottom berths, which were actually tall enough and quite spacious. our sleeping companions were 2 young businessmen and 2 loud-speaking older men. one of the young guys spoke fairly good english and was all about talking story for the first 1.5 hours of the journey. he kept my interest for quite some time, or at least until he started talking about china's dynasties, theology, and the rivers of china. as i began to nod off he started directing all of his attention to david. shortly after, we all retired to our individual berths - which for me, provided a somewhat restful night's sleep. david tells a different story in that he was abruptly awoken in the middle of the night by a man grossly hacking up flem then puking in the sink area next to our compartment. unbelievably (and thankfully), i managed to sleep through all of it.

arrival into luoyang was quite easy. we appeared to be the only westerners in sight and were approached by a good number of touts as we exited the train station. two smiling ladies trying to push their hotels relentlessly followed us the 4 block walk to our youth hostel - the luoyang international youth hostel. we checked in and paid the attractive, low rate of 100 yuan ($13.50) per night. we realized immediately that the room was increadibly cold and had no towels. i went to the front desk and was promptly given a remote control for the wall heater and 2 still damp towels. we guessed that if you don't ask for them, you don't get them!?

after a three hour nap we decided to venture out for a walk around the city and a bite to eat. the feel of the city is completely different from the big city of beijing. with 1.4 million people, luoyang actually feels like a "small city" in comparison. we are definitely a spectacle, as we are constantly noticed and looked at. the people seem more shy and less accoustomed to seeing foriegners. the children are excited to see david up close and yell out, "hello!". a woman poses with her child so we can take a photo. old ladies smile big toothless grins and wave at us. a young boy gives us mandarin oranges and a vendor gives us a sampling of corn snacks. the people are nicer. NO ONE TRIES TO SELL US ANYTHING! we have most definitely left the capitol city...

alina