Guilin - Chongqing (Train)

The view outside the window remains almost the same. He gets bored quickly. Climbs up to the top bunk and smiles with satisfaction at his own personal space. He takes out his trusty notepad, fumbles around for his pen in his bag and starts writing:

Breakfast. The stallkeeper prepares a bowl of rice noodles for him. Next to him, people add condiments and spices to their noodles before adding the soup. Two little children sit face to face on low wooden stools at a low wooden table, arguing heatedly about something over their empty bowls.

A baby cries loudly from the grocery store across the alley. The lady tending to the baby must be the shopkeeper. As soon as the stallkeeper serves him his noodles, she runs immediately across the alley to comfort the baby. She must be its mother.

He orders two pairs of yao tiao from the stallkeeper's helper. It's called yao char kwai in Malaysia. Mother once said it symbolizes a couple's strong and true love for each other, both willing to be boiled alive together in oil. She never told him why they had been condemned to death. Maybe they were both men, he smiles to himself.

This story does not have an end. He's still got another month of travelling to go. He gets lazy. Tired. He thinks he should start taking it slow. He thinks he's getting old.