October 1998. The USD rate raised up to the skyes. Our grour of students from the Oriental Institute(FESU) is going to cross China by train to get to Hanoi for the language practice. The whole trip through Cnina took 5 days. It was the cheapest way to get to Vietnam for us. And we wanted to see a little bit of China from the train window as well.
First we found Chinese trains more comfortable than Russian ones.
Than we saw a lot of almost perfect roads covered with concrete.
The crowds of people in the streets of the towns and cities moving like crazy ants. A lot of bouildings and constructions were being built. I liked Beijing but the foggy smoky sky spoiled the whole impression. We spent a night there 'cause we'd got to change trains. We went to the Tian An Men square. We aloso visited the Forbidden City. The tourist company provided us with a guide. Her Russian was almost perfect. She studied it in Harbin.
In Beijing we went to a restaurant to enjoy Chinise cousine. Some of us could eat with chopstics. The managed to eat more that the rest of the people. I could eat with chopsticks.
The following morning we took the train the Vietmanese border.