The Long Road to China

An uncomfortable and somewhat scary encounter with the manager at our hostel made us VERY glad that this was our last day in Hong Kong. We had planned on staying longer, but the train schedule just didn't work out that way. We spent the morning shopping. Shocking, I know.

Since the train ride was supposed to be for 24 hours (it ended up being 26 hours), we splurged and got the soft sleeper cars. The cars were . . . pink, but otherwise private and comfortable. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to handle Jayde's whining for the whole trip so I gave her motion sickness pills. They knocked her right out, and gave me some time to catch up on my peace and quiet.

I was hoping for a scenic ride through the country side. Either the places around the train tracks are pretty bleak or I just slept through all the pretty places. The food was atrocious! We could not finish our first (and only) meal on the train because it so slimy/greasy. It was so bad that we opted to starve rather than eat the food. The two granola bars I had in my bad did not really tide us over.

By the next day, when we arrived in Beijing, we were tired and hungry. We caught the first cab we found. Not smart. It was gypsy cab and way overcharged us. After throwing our stuff in our lockers in the hostel, we headed out to find two things: 1) Money and 2) Food. We learned the hard way that the Chinese ATMs do not accept American ATM cards. The banks were closed. None of the restaurants accepted credit cards (or traveler's checks or American dollars). Our feet hurt, we were tired, and I could have ate a horse. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is a lethal combination. We decided to try one more restaurant before I started throwing a tantrum.

***The Traveler's Den***


Not only does this restaurant have good food and good atmosphere, it takes pity on despondent American travelers. We ate an incredible pepperoni pizza! We ended up eating there at least once a day. :)