Southbound Again

Day 33: Beijing (CN) - Xi'an (CN). “Have you noticed, I seem to be wearing the same clothes in every single photograph”, Karen said, flicking through the pictures on the digital camera. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it, but Karen was absolutely right: Every time you saw us we were decked out in the same outdoor coat, fleece, thick trousers, scarf, hat & boots – and it had been like that since Poland; that was the last place we encountered temperatures above freezing.

The experiences that we had gained in the cold of Siberia and Mongolia would stay with us for a lifetime, but right now, after a month of sub zero temperatures we just wanted to be a little warmer. To be able to put on a pair of jeans, to wear a pair of trainers maybe, and to have just one day where we no longer had to wear our thermals - would be sheer bliss!

Thumbing through the pages of the Lonely Planet guide, it seemed Xi'an would be our best bet. It was 750 miles further south of Beijing, but we could get there by overnight express sleeper train and googling the weather forecast, we could expect 12 degree temperatures over the next few days. Which, from what we were used to, seemed positively tropical.

Arriving at Beijing West, we were bowled over by enormity of this, one of Asia's largest railway stations. Fighting our way through the sea of people, we eventually found our train and as we climbed the steps from the platform we both took a last look at the city that had been our home for almost a week. We would miss Beijing – but right now we just needed to be warmer!