I made myself very popular with the group by showing them how to shut it [a loudspeaker] off. I wrapped a rubber band around the metal stump and this rubber offered enough of a grip to shut the thing off.

It was an extraordinary landscape-pale yellow, under a blue sky-extraordinary because it was not a desert, but rather the largest pasture imaginable; here and there a herd of horses, here and there a camel, or a man, or a tent. It was inhabited, but with a sparseness that was impressive.

It was always like a fire drill, getting on or off a Chinese train, with people panting and pushing

Lom mister,' he said, and winked at me. 'It's the CIA, isn't it? You're an agent, you tell people you're a journalist because that's good cover ...

If he doesn't talk to me, and he doesn't walk around with me, and he doesn't travel in the same compartment,' I said, 'I don't understand why he wants to come with me.''To make sure you are comfortable. Hospitality. You are our guest ...

How many Muslims are there here?' I asked a man in a skullcap.'Thousands.''Have any been to Mecca?''One,' he said. 'The government sent him last year.

Where are you going, Mr. Paul?''For a walk.'Mr. Fang conferred with his Hothot deputy. My walk was given official sanction, and I was driven about a hundred yards to the People's Park and released.

I could tell he was worried by what I would ask to do next. I spent the rest of the day trying to elude him and his deputy, and at last, in the market, I succeeded. It was late in the afternoon. We were all (Mr. Fang, his deputy, the driver and I) admiring a stack of vegetables, and when I saw they were transfixed by a shaggy mound of blue cabbages I slipped away.

I found my berth and discovered that no one else was going to Xian. The sleeper was empty. This was the rarest situation on a Chinese train, and one to be relished. Such circumstances were almost luxurious and definitely cozy.