To keep following our Silk Road trail, you will have to use your imagination as to what an overnight trip on a train from Turpan to Dunhuang would be like. It was an adventure and one that we may need only once. We left the train station about 10:30 PM and arrived at Dunhuang around 7:00 AM. Really there is only a general schedule in this part of China and now I know how that works. There is a parallel set of tracks so that trains can speed by without any worry about the schedule being off an hour or two.
Each sleeper car had 8 tiny units that each slept 4 people in two bunks. It was a soft sleeper car and so there were not 6 people in hard triple bunks. We were lucky. There was a Western toilet at one end and an Eastern one at the other end, and in our car the Eastern one was much preferable. Don and I shared our little room with Margaret Kenelly and Marvin Wu, the tour owner. Marvin climbed in and said, "Not too clean, but not too dirty!"
We each had one quilt and a pillow and the mattress was nice and soft, the softest we had had in a long time.
The night sped by with many trains passing and blowing their whistles. It was quite a night! Very loud and cold by the morning. We were passing through the Gobi Desert. Can you believe it? The train personel provided good service.
When morning arrived, (I can't say that we woke up) Marvin said, "Oh, it's late. We are either behind schedule or else we have
passed the station." That's how the train trip was.
We have been getting reports about the Calgary Temple Open House. Congratulations Uncle Tom for doing a good job as the Open
House chairman. Everyone says that it was well organized and that the temple is very beautiful. I haven't heard a single complaint about anything. Congratulations to Wendy too. That was a huge job for both of you.
Good bye for now,
Mom, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment