Silk Road Excursion: Reflections with Kayla

One of my favorite parts of orientation every semester is reviewing the many convenient modes of transportation in China with new students. I am a particular fan of traveling by train. Whether I am hopping on the 高铁 (high-speed rail) to my former hometown 杭州 (Hangzhou) to see old friends, taking in the landscape during an extended ride through the countryside or enjoying the comforts of traveling by overnight train, I always learn something new while traveling by train in China. Elon University student Kayla Hedrick shared my passion for travel by train while we were bumping from place to place during our recent trip to Gansu province to explore the ancient silk road trade routes: 

"I had such a great experience traveling along the Silk Road in the Gansu province! One of the best experiences I had was traveling by overnight train to Dunhuang. I had never traveled like this before, but I enjoyed being able to maximize sightseeing during the day.  Not only was it a way to save time and money traveling during the night, but it was fun to bond with my classmates and experience living in such small quarters. It was fascinating to think just how far we were traveling and how convenient train travel is here in China.  Coming home from Zhangye on the high speed train had some of the prettiest views of the trip too! I was so surprised to see snow on the mountains so early in the year. I have a new found appreciation for train travel, as I am extremely grateful to have seen so many parts of China in such a short period of time." - Kayla Hedrick