After a single night in jiayuguan I grabbed a noon train for a long three-hour ride to Zhangye. Existing passengers in every car hog extra seats claiming they "are taken" when newly boarding passengers try to find somewhere vacant to sit. As soon as I figured out the game I stopped in a car, which seemed to have an abundance of empty seats, suspecting that some of the "taken" seats would become available once underway again. It worked. Eventually, one of the passengers motioned for me to sit in an unused space as the train started moving again.  

With no overhead luggage space empty, my bag remained on my lap. In a few minutes a conductor came by and caused a commotion as she directed people to consolidate their current baggage stowage to make room for another bag. It all went good-naturedly to my surprise. No one near me on the train spoke a word of English, but a family across the isle kept me entertained with their efforts to get a boy toddler to pee in a pan on the floor throughout the ride. The kid's cute antics kept everyone nearby in stitches with his squirming and giggling. Naturally, he and everyone else found my presence curious and amusing.  

As the main "tourist attraction" on the long train, throngs of passengers came to the end of our car to stare at the foreign stranger. Train commerce is fascinating. In addition to drinks and packaged food, Wrigley's chewing gum came by every five minutes until the vendor finally sold her last package about the time we arrived in Zhangye. The aroma of freshly cooked rice and meat dishes wheeled by every half hour, as did what looked like a limited clothing store in a basket pushed along the isle by a persistent vendor. 

Zhangye is a city where Marco Polo spent a year during his sojourn through China recording facts about the marvels he discovered. Asia's largest indoors-reclining Buddha statue is located near the center of Zhangye city. For an entrance fee of a mere 10-yuan ($1.25) visitors can wander the grounds around the Big Buddha Temple and view the colossus. Actually, it is not that big. Much larger versions are located in Thailand and Myanmar and even larger ones are under construction.  Photos taken while in Zhangye are here.

It is a long ride to Lanzhou, my next destination so I'll plan to break the bus trip in a tiny village called Wu Wei at the halfway point. More when I again find another decent Internet service. 

Peace,  

Fred Bellomy 

PS: Here is that interactive map of China again: MAP