As the bus pulled back into Lanzhou after a smooth and painless journey I felt an air of satisfaction to be back in the city we'd enjoyed so much a couple of weeks earlier. We checked back into our usual hotel, where this time the discount was even greater than before!

Since most of the students are starting university again on Monday, we were told that train tickets shouldn't be too hard to come by. So, with a confident manner, we strolled across to the train station and queued to buy our tickets for my final SIlk Road destination, Xi'an. I should have suspected that the woman behind the glass screen would simply say the usual "Mei yo" (dont have) and then blabber incomprehensibly back in CHinese. Here we were trying to book tickets for 5 days' time (apparently the maximum you can book in advance) and they were already sold out, SHe was most unhelpful and I flipped. My good mood had instantly soured, and I left cursing the system. In many ways CHina has proved schizophrenic - one moment all is well and the people are wonderful making me good humoured and ready to interact with the country, its people and culture, but then the next moment something happens that is beyond comprehension and logic and my mood swings instantly into a grumpy and frustrated one!

I managed to get back into a better mood with a cup of strong, proper coffee at a local coffee house and with the news that in fact there were tickets but they'd been booked by a travel agent and we'd have to pay a 50 quay commission. I didn't mind so long as I had the tickets, though the fact that travel agents book out all the tickets so as to then sell them on at a higher price also got to me.

Our next job was to take a taxi to the southern bus station 10km away and try and book our tickets to the small "Tibetan" town of Xiahe. We took Marie with us since she spoke decent CHinese and offered. To get to the bus station we had to go through the old part of town and the muslim quarter. Here the faces and buildings changed. NO longer were there the tall modern skyscrapers but now there were low level, badly built, old houses and numerous mosques. It was a complete change in atmosphere. The road was worn and dusty. A train line ran straight through the ancient houses and people had set up various stalls in front of their houses selling the usual array of vegetables, fruit, livestock and unrefrigerated meat. LIve chickens were caged near dead ones. Animal intestines and skins were for sale next to the meat, giving the air a foul smell. Muslim men wore the typical white caps and the women were for the most part veiled. It was a side of Lanzhou we hadn't expected to see and the juxtaposition of rich and poor was astonishing.

To celebrate the fact that we'd beaten the system and would in fact be on the train to Xi'an we headed for a Chinese barbeque place where we'd eaten the last time we were in town and had become a favourite place of ours. Once again it didn't disappoint and for a few quay we had another amazing meal.

It was Friday night and so we thought that it was time to discover th true Lanzhou by night. We went off to find a bar that we'd spotted from the taxi before. We got rid of a couple of dubious locals who followed us along the way and were surprised to be greeted like celebrities as we entered the Irish bar/club. The waiters, dressed in Scottish tartan kilts, frilly white silk shirts and cowboy hats (so not very Irish) served us free beer for most of the evening and bowls of fresh fruit. When we asked why we were being given such special treatment, the manager said that in fact we'd become the attraction and people were texting their friends to come down to the club to see us, talk to us and watch us dance (badly). We continued to smile and lapped up the attention - it was about all we could do as the beer kept coming our way meaning we had to stay a bit longer.

We staggered out at some ungodly hour and left to a crowd of waving waiters who had gathered to see us off! It had been great fun, but we had an early morning bus to catch and the morning was an unpleasant thought.