track our trek

we wanted to head straight to shanghai from datong, but it turns out there's no way to do that....so our option was to head back to beijing on the overnight train and make our way from there...we bought tickets for the 10pm train from our trusty cits guy & killed time after our tour walking to the only ATM in datong (a city of 4 million people!) and having some yummy noodles and steamed buns at a place near the train station...we don't know what kind of meat was in the noodle broth...definitely not beef or pork...but the place was packed and we got a kick out of watching the guys shave the noodles by hand from a big slab of dough....rule of thumb....if the place is packed with locals...the food is a sure bet. just don't look too close at how clean (or not) the dishes may be. lol! we made friends with the cooks and promised to somehow mail them copies of the pictures we took ...which brings us to the train ride...i must say i didn't expect to burn through my first set of nostrils so early in the trip!! when we paid for our tickets, the cits guy asked if we wanted the good train or the bad train? "what's wrong with the bad train?" we asked..."nothing. it's just cheaper." he said and gave us some vague explanation about the difference. we opted for the cheaper train, thinking it couldn't be that bad...we should've paid the difference for the good train. lol! turns out the "bad train" was just an old train w/ open berths...no big deal...not quite as comfy as the one we'd taken into datong, but fine. we met a really nice couple, chen wei and xiao mo, both teachers in tianjin & chatted with them for an hour or so. after that, they turn out the lights on the train, so conversation gets difficult. dp climbed up to his bunk above mine and we settled in for the night. i was happily drifting off to sleep when the train reached its first stop and i caught the gust of air from the toilets 3 berths over...WOW! it was gonna be a long night. i cinched the hood of my sweatshirt snugly under my nose and settled in again...at the next stop, the nice guy in the bunk across from me (who was already snoring loudly) let loose...RAT...TAT...TAT!!!....the loudest fart i've ever heard. WOW again! he proceeded to do it five or six more times over the rest of the trip...each time startling me awake and causing me to readjust my sweatshirt hood! jokes...meanwhile, except for the first fart, daryll slept soundly through the entire trip! apparently the air current from the toilets wasn't reaching the middle bunk. in the morning, he asked how i'd slept & and i raised an eyebrow..."you don't smell the toilets?"..."no, what are you talking about?" then he sat down on the bunk next to me and he understood. HA! daryll gets the bottom bunk next time!