aarg

second trip to buy tickets out of beijing was a failure this morning. i got up early and took the metro with foggy eyes out to the beijing international hotel. the ticket center is on the second floor and ridiculously tiny, even moreso when i realized how many locals were packed into it. i got into what i thought was a line, only to be shouldered out of the way numerous times by people. finally i decided to push back and made my way to the front, the guy at the desk told me that that the tickets were 5000 rmb per person. (about six hundred fifty US) which is about 500 times more than the other prices we had been stated. i have also been told that the train leaves only twice a week, that it leaves three times a week and one time, that it leaves on mon tues wed and that it leaves on saturday sunday. so, none of that can be completely right i'm sure, but im irratated and cold. its twenty degrees here. and i'm quite tired of beijing already. i'll let you know how it all works out.