Throngs of surging people and chaos.

When we arrived at the X'ian rail station, it was nothing we had ever imagined. Throngs of surging people and chaos. 'Whoever pushed the hardest' was the order of the day. We shoved with our big backpacks through and they help us deflect others who would have made our trip ten times longer. When we got in, there were masses of lines, including the one 200 deep for our train. You see, in Chinese rail stations, they wait till the last minute (sometimes seconds) before letting the long line of people through to the platform when the train arrives. Maybe it's a control thing, but once they do, everyone pushes forward, with all their bags, boxes, sacks of whatever and cages and make the long, serpentine route to the platform. Ours had to go up and down stairs over the tracks, past reeking public restrooms, up and down another flight, and depending on what car you were in, all the way down the platform as well. We made it as the train pulled in. Found our cabin and the fact that we weren't sleeping in the same compartment as the ticket agents promised, but the gracious people as we always found the Chinese to be offered to trade spots. We ended up in the same cabin a very pleasant English man and a Chinese woman from a non-profit organization for orphan children in China and based in England.

The journey was about 14 hours but parts of it were a dilly. Through the rain, we could see the magnificent Yellow River winding through the mountains as the train followed it and its tributaries for most of the day. Then there was the ascent. Over the course of 100km it seemed, the train kept rising higher and and higher and veered around precipices at sometimes uncomfortably close range to the drop below. It has been said Chengdu is a new city (relatively of course) in Chinese history simply because of its difficult geography.

As darkness fell, we settled in with our dehydrated noodle soup, one spicy, one everything, and fell asleep in the 4-person compartment early as we would be woken up at 4:30-5am and the train would arrive at 5:30.

It did almost exactly on time and that's when an amazing day began. We decided to take a long walk with our stuff from the train station to the guesthouse. It turned out to be exhilirating watching Chengdu wake up to the day, but it also turned out to be a long walk! A little tired, we had the choice of either resting the day or seeing the city we had heard so much about. We chose the masochistic option and rented bikes, setting out for our first taste of Sichuan food and it didn't disappoint: it was a massive (but managable) fire of dryness and spice that filled every corner of your mouth. We meant to go to the golden goat park across the street and walked for hours within a beautiful park, including a wonderfully restored homage tracing the history of Chinese poetry, complete with works by Lao Tze. But it turned out to be the wrong park! We finally left and cycled to the right one and it contained beautiful Buddhist shrines and a garden.

Then it was off the Bamboo Riverview Park but on the way Andy haphazardly jumped a curb and busted his tire. He still wasn't sure if it just needed air to refill it or a whole patch job, so Sarah agreed to stay on a street corner while he found out. Someone had said there was a place down the street. After looking for a while, Andy found a Medical Supply Center. Sounds strange but they did have wheelchairs, decatheters and IV stands in the window with big wheels that at least indicated an air pump. He inquired and was right. The owner obliged him, filled it up, then the tire went back down just as quickly. Disappointing, but at least Andy knew it was a patch job. The owner motioned North, then East around the corner, with gestures that indicated there was a place that could actually fix it. After a grueling mile of walking and asking, he did find an older gentlemen with an air pump, but couldn't communicate to him that he just needed a patch and not just air. The lost subtleties resulted in the man following Andy down the street with an air pump in hand. Luckily, Andy saw what looked like the place with a couple of guys working outside on bikes and cycles. They said they could fix it immediately for 30 cents, US. Well, this was certainly different from the four days and $20 US for a flat in Denmark. They proceeded to start, but then the old man with the air pump that was standing there started to intefere again, thinking Andy was getting a repair he might not need! Rather than wasting time explaining everything, Andy motioned to the repair guy to FORGET the old man and PLEASE keep working and asked the old man if he could find him a restroom or a hose to wash his hands. Sarah was keeping an eye on the other bike and had no idea what was going on.

When Andy and the old man came back, the repair guy said it was fixed. Andy was elated. Such a better system than the rigidness and apparent laziness of the Scandinavian system. Could this represent a microcosm of the new economic world order to come? But upon closer look, everyone noticed the tire was still flat. The repair didn't hold. Hmm, maybe this wasn't quite the new world order -- shoddy workmanship. But the repair guy asked for a few more minutes. Afterwards, Andy came back. The tire was fixed and yes, it held for the rest of the day.

We saw the beautiful Bamboo Park, had famous Chengdu hot pot in the market corner and cycled our way back to the guesthouse only to find it had turned into a full-fledged party. Tons of Chinese were drinking, talking, laughing and eating in the street. We weren't even sure we were in the right place! But, we decided to join them and end an unbleivable day in one of China's most intriguing cities.