In the Zhangye train station

An agitated departure

Here, the roads aren’t straight, so it’s as if we are back on the mountain road. We go on until we reach the train station and I am happy because when I tell Liu Jia that we’ll arrive well before the 19:59 train, she says mockingly; “that’s what you think!” And we arrive at 18:15. I remind you that we don’t have our tickets yet. So, dad looks for the ticket booth, finds it, and with Liu Jia heads towards it where a huge line is waiting for them. Dad asks Liu Jia to see if they could pass in front of everyone since we are in a rush, but Liu Jia says that in China that’s impossible. Luckily, dad asks her to translate what he had asked her and, a minute later, they’re ahead of the line! Can you imagine doing that in France? At the booth, Liu Jia looks at the train schedule and asks dad what she should do since there are no more trains for today. Dad tells her to ask whether there are other trains besides the ones written on the schedule. The lady at the booth answers “yes” and that there are four places left and since we are four, we reserved the last sleeper car. We go see our driver, he unloads our luggage and we thank him for all he has done for us. Dad gives him 160 Euros for the two days plus 10 Euros for his return trip. We take the luggage and bring it to the station’s entrance. Dad and Liu Jia go buy tea leaves to make some tea. Yang Dong and I stay behind to watch the luggage. At that moment, dozens of people form a circle around us when they see our cameras. We talk to a man with long hair died in dark blond, with a cigarette tucked behind his ear. He supervises a mine. We go into the station and there, a woman begs us to lend her an adult ticket to buy a child’s ticket for her daughter, because here in order to buy a child’s ticket, you must show that a child is accompanied by an adult. This shows that sometimes too much restrictions cause the law to drift. The woman comes back, hands us back our ticket and shows us her daughter’s ticket. We finally get to the platform and wait for the train. After a few minutes, the train arrives with a terrifying noise.