Photo of the Day: Exit Here

The exit at the Beijing Railway Station, with quarter-past-six-in-the-morning sunlight. One of the many upsides to overnight trains are seeing some beautiful sunrises, and being able to watch an entire city wake up. Especially a city like Beijing, where it doesn't take long at all for the hustling and bustling to begin.

(Note the sunrise and train rails in the reflection of the glass panes)

Photo of the Day: A Beijing Train Station Sunrise

From Dalian you could take an overnight train to Beijing, which was quite convenient because you'd board around 9 pm, fall asleep, and wake up around 6 am already in Beijing. We went the week after the Special Olympics ended, at the end of September, and the sky in Beijing was still clear and blue. When we came back to Beijing at the end of the week to catch our train home, the sky was already gray and smoggy again. Sunrises from a train are fantastic to wake up to though, no matter where you are.

(I realize I didn't quite follow the rule of thirds on this one. In fairness, it was 6 am and I'd just woken up seconds before they hustled us off the train)