After getting a rude shock on visa extensions, I wasted a few days in Xi'an doing some hard-core dithering about my next move. (Also hanging out with a couple very cool people from France and China, about which more later, maybe.)

I planned to have a pretty leisurely jaunt through the desert in China's Xinjiang province, on the way to Kashgar for the border crossing into Kyrgyzstan. Without the visa extension that turns into a hectic sprint. So the smart move would be to make it easy on myself, head east to Beijing, hang out a few days and hop a flight from there.

Bought the train ticket to Beijing. Woke up the next day with a sick feeling, and realized I couldn't get excited about Beijing. I've spent a lot of time in cities recently, and as much as I'd love to see New Weird China, I've been looking forward to the Torugart Pass, and watching east Asia turn into central Asia, for too long to give it up now.

So I ripped up* the ticket to Beijing and booked a 33-hour train journey to Urumqi. Maybe not the smartest move, but it won't be boring.

(*that's Chinese for "got a refund at 80% face value")