China stone diary

What an amazing day, which could so easily been a disaster! The train for Moscow was due to leave from Beijing at 11.30pm tonight, so I had the whole day to spend in the city. Leah, who works for Stonepave put me in touch with a friend of hers in Beijing, who very kindly gave up her day to show me around the city. She also said she would help me at the railway station. To my great surprise to two drivers who brought me from Xiamen also came to help me onto the train. I had no idea how much I would need their help. We arrived at Beijing railway station in the pouring rain and I was in for a shock. The station was packed, the noise was imense and there was not a single sign I could read. Mr Xue, all 5ft4" of him, but as strong as an ox, pushed the stone on its trolley into the station, up escalators, along corridors, down stairways through crowds of people and eventually manhandled it onto the train. The trolley was worse for the experience, but without him to move the stone and Sarah to find out where to go, I think I would have ended up in Beijing forever. When the train finally rolled out of the station I was an emotional wreck. Foolishly I thought things would now be plain sailing for six days and six nights to Moscow, but I could not have been more wrong.