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"Twenty-Four Hours by Train to Shenzhen, Guangzhou">

From Tunxi we travelled by sleeper train to Shenzhen. We waited — a blessing in disguise in Tunxi for an extra day because the trains only run everyover day. Finally the time came for us to get on the train. We were taking our first sleeper, and a soft-seat sleeper. Our compartment had places for four people, but we had it to ourselves. We rode about 1200 km for 440 reminbi each (about $55). Normally we were trying to do everything in daytime, but now because of the limited days left on our visa and because Jan wanted something nice-and-easy and because there really is no worth while place to stop, we elected for this 24-hour train ride. We got on at about 4 p.m. and got off the next day close to five p.m.

The trip was unexciting, unless you call exciting two cars clanking together at every stop and every start. We did get to see a lot of countryside. For the most part it is very empty. As we got farther south we saw changes in crops, including our first sugar cane fields and flowering bougainvilleas. We knew that warmth was ahead.

This Page is a place holder for a future description of what we visited and saw. We'll also add some photographs.