Monday 2^nd August, 2021 1440

Bullet train Kunming – Lijiang

Things have been getting worse. Quite apart from the only views of Kunming I have had have been the inside of a hotel room and the view from a taxi (the usual for me), the starvation and retching continued unabated. Two nights on the trot I ordered room service, sweet and sour pork the first time but the “pork” was manufactured meatballs (and not nice ones at that) and all I could eat were a few chunks of the pineapple. The next night it was wonton soup but not as I knew it! Three big pork dumplings, four large shell-on prawns, a load of foliage and a bucketful of vermicelli.

I thought if I could keep the dumplings down it would be a result. I wasn't even finished chewing all of the first one than it was a mad rush to the bathroom. I drank the clear chicken broth it was in and that was my sustenance for the day.

I had looked up altitude sickness (which I thought impossible) and compared altitudes. I have lived in Lanzhou for five years and experienced no problems 1,500m up. When planning this trip (only because Alice said she was worried about my getting it) I found that below 2,500m it is unlikely – and not from someone accustomed anyway. But just in case I planned it so each city is a bit higher with Dali being the highest and last before returning to Kunming – at 2,400m. And we have time at each stop to acclimatise.

Last night Alice went to get me some antihistamine recommended by the NHS for nausea but she failed. Fair play to her, this morning she went while I was sleeping and came back with an alternative. I took one with my other pills and five minutes later I was hugging the bowl! A fine start, I thought.

However, after waiting the prescribed fifteen minutes before eating I had a yoghurt and a cube of watermelon. No retching and so far today I have felt slightly nauseous but nothing worse.

Then it was time for the train station. One of those that makes taxis drop you off miles away. I'm feeling weak from lack of food anyway so it was killing me – and Alice, bless her – is being the packhorse, all I carry is my laptop bag.

At the station it was form-filling time again so I demanded somewhere to sit, I couldn't stand any longer. The officer vacated her desk and I filled the form. Then I had to wait on a chair for a student volunteer to take my details as a foreigner. And the station staff, unbidden, turned up with a wheelchair! I could get used to this. Restricted areas, special lifts and dedicated crocks room close by the boarding gate. Then when it's time, they send you down in a lift before everyone else. Just to take this train though I have had my passport checked six times, including once when we were on the train on the move.

And here are some photos of Sun Lake and the stone foresr outside Kunming.