Hangzhou, China

I woke up today, packed my bags, and then went for a short walk to bid farewell to West Lake. Outside, there were groups of people doing their early morning exercises. One group was practicing graceful moves with swords and across from them, another group, was moving with banners in hand to music. There were also the usual couples waltzing to their favorite Chinese tunes. I then went back to the hostel, checked out, walked to the subway station, and was soon enough at the Hangzhou East Railway Station. I then boarded the train, found my top bunk in car number three, and was off, heading west.

I spent most of my time in my bunk reading the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’ to garner a better understanding of my faith. For lunch I got up and had a beer and some water. During my walk through the train cars, I noticed this train was much messier than the previous ones I had ridden on in China; sunflower seeds, small puddles of liquid, and various foods were littered on the floor (also, remnants of a bloody stool in one of the metal squat toilets). After returning to my bunk and reading for several more hours, I went to the dining cart to eat dinner. I had a tofu dish that contained bell peppers, onions, and garlic with a bowl of white rice on the side. After dinner, I went back to my bunk and read some more until Morpheus’ influence came over me. In brief: not much worth writing about happened today.