Choo-choo
No trip to China is complete without at least one overnight trip on a Chinese train. There's a romance about train travel, but the fun and adventure is now largely restricted to the very-rich (Oriental Express) or the very-willing-to-share-a-compartment-with-six-vodka-drinking-businessmen-and-their-wares ( Trans-siberian ). However, there is still one place where you can play at trains. Can you guess where?
Stations
There are two stations you are likely to use in Beijing. The main station, simply and logically Beijing Station
is near-ish to Tiananman Square and Wangfujing, and the subway stop is simply and logically enough called Beijng Station.
Important things to know about this station are:
- This station is the unsung star of Chen Kaige's Together
- If you head north from the station past the Henderson Center you'll find a Subway sandwich shop, a KFC, and an Irish pub.
, which is south of Gongzhufen Subway???. There's only
one important thing to know about this station:
- It's huge. Incredibly so. It's the biggest station in China, or Asia, or the world, I can't remember, but either way it's big. Allow plenty of time to find your way around if this is your first trip. It's so huge it has two exits, and I'm pretty sure it is the only station in China to have two exits.
Foreign Ticket Booking Offices
In both the above stations there are special ticket offices for the priviliged. For some reason, foreigners are allowed to use them, which is handy. You won't get any better service, and you won't have any better chance of getting the ticket you want, but you won't have to queue for so long. Directions to both offices are:- Beijing Station. Go in past the luggage X-rays, go left past the X-rays into the corner, turn left into the soft-seat waiting room and the office is through a door in the left hand wall.
- Beijing West. Go in, up the escalator, and it's on your left. I think. Beijing West has better signposting anyway.
Getting tickets
Head for one of the ticket offices, clutching a piece of paper stating date, time, train number if you know it, number of tickets and class, all in Chinese. If you get it, all's well and good. If you get a refusal, don't give up. The clerk is unlikely to start spontaneously start suggesting alternatives, they're simply not paid enough. However, if you start suggesting alternative classes, times and dates, you will get something eventually. Both offices sell tickets for either station - just make sure you know where your train leaves from.Another possibility is the numerous ticket booking offices and agencies dotted around the city. These will sell you tickets for a fee. This fee varies from 5Y to 70Y, with the latter being a ridiculous price charged by an agent in a backpackers hotel at peak periods. For me, this fee is a small price to pay for avoiding having to trek across the city to the train station. Ask friends and colleagues if they can recommend anywhere - most businesses will have a contact somewhere they use to get tickets for business trips.
When its really busy - Chinese festivals - train tickets can be very hard to get hold of. It may be necessary to try a number of different places, and be willing to accept somewhat different plans to those you originally had.
There are rumours of return tickets, but I've never been able to buy one. You will probably have to repeat the process when you arrive at your destination. I usually let the hotel agency handle it - I'm not going to undertake what could easily be a half-day trek around agencies and stations for the sake of a 30Y booking fee.
Questions of Class
Chinese trains are divided into four sections. I'll cover hard sleeper in most detail, as this is where most people will wind up.Soft seat is rarely found except on short routes - ie the Beijing-Tianjin / Shanghai-Nanjing expresses. It's comfy, clean and you'll probably get free tea.
Hard seat is cheapest, for good reasons. Uncomfortable seats, little leg-room, 24 hour light and noise. At busy times this is
where all those people holding standing-only tickets will be, and it can get crowded. It isn't all bad - you'll be more of a novelty in hard seat, and you'll meet plenty of people. However, any more than
4 hours of meeting people is too much for me.
I've only travelled soft sleeper once, and to be honest it was a bit disappointing. It is more comfortable, you do have more room, and there is more privacy (in so far as any box with four people can be private). However, it's not as much fun. Travel soft sleeper if all the hard sleepers are sold out, it's a very long journey, or you're taking your mum with you.
Hard Sleeper
This is where the fun begins. Hard sleeper carriages have about 10 6-berth compartments, all open to the corridor. During the daytime everyone hangs out on the bottom bunks and the two tiny fold-down seats and plays cards or eats. This is where all the social activity happens as everyone compares origins and destinations, swops food, and listens to you practice your Chinese. There is rarely a better opportunity to practise your speaking than this, as you will get the same simple 'where are you from' questions from all 5 other people in your compartment, plus any number of passers-by on their way to the hot-water dispenser or the toilet.If you are really lucky, there will be two boisterous kids two compartments down who will spend the first part of the journey running up to your compartment, peeking their head round the partition, and then running back to their parents to report on what the 'Foreign Uncle / Auntie' is up to now. After a few hours their parents will bore of this, and the children will have to actually start talking to you to get attention. At this point you can cause endless amusement by claiming to be Chinese (but ugly).
Lights go off early, around 9.30 or 10.00, often without warning (or often without any comprehensible warning). Keep an eye out for everyone starting to wander off to the washroom clutching their facecloth and toothbrush. The three-tier bunks are a little hard, but comfy enough to get a good nights sleep on, assuming you aren't thrown to the floor every time the train pulls in to a station.
Food can be bought on the train, but it's generally going to be overpriced and unsatisfying. Load up on noodles (the kind that come in their own bowl, unless you've been really organised and purchased an enamel bowl) and little snack stuff like nuts and dried fruit that can be shared around easily. Hot water is provided from dispensers at the end of the carriage, but it can run out on long journeys.
When you have a sleeper, the guard will come around shortly after setting off, take your ticket and give you a plastic
card in exchange. You keep this card until shortly before you get off, when the guard comes around again, wakes you up if
necessary, and gives you back your ticket. You need the ticket to get out of the station, and there is apparently one
Frenchman who has been living in Beijing West
for the last thirteen years as he lost his ticket and hasn't been allowed out.
Luggage and Safety
People often ask if there will be enough room for their luggage, and if it will be safe. The answer is generally yes, with obvious exceptions.All classes have plenty of luggage space, and unless you're last onto the train, you shouldn't have a problem. If you are last, don't be shy about getting people to rearrange their luggage to make room for yours. If you are in hard-seat with hundreds of other people, you will have trouble finding space for your luggage. However, if you are in hard-seat with hundreds of other people, you'll probably need your luggage to sit on.
As for safety, the usual common sense rules apply - don't openly display your valuables, and keep the really important stuff about your person. My first few trips I kept money, passport, keys and camera all in trouser pockets, which made for an uncomfortable night. I'm a lot more relaxed now.
Some people recommend you take a bicycle chain to attach your luggage to the rack - I'm inclined to think that the bicycle chain will spell 'Resaleable Goods in Here' to any passing thieves, and anyone with the idea of making off with your luggage is also likely to have the idea of using a knife to slice through the strap you threaded the chain through. You could try tying bells to your bags, but then you wouldn't be able to catch any birds . . .