Adventure Travel in China

10 Tips for Train Travel in China

Post by Marco FerraresecloseAuthor: Marco Ferrarese Name: Marco Ferrarese
Email: info@monkeyrockworld.com
About: Marco Ferrarese has been teaching English, living and travelling around East, South and South East Asia since 2007. An underground musician and writer for many years, he has lived in Europe, the USA, China and Australia and is currently based in Malaysia. He has explored 22 of the 34 provinces by train, foot, rickshaw and any other overland form of transportation. He writes for CnAdventure Blog and has published a book about his Chinese adventures in Italian language.See Authors Posts (32)

Train travel is never old. We cannot stop talking about it. If you go to China, sooner or later you will have to embark on a train journey to cover the country’s huge distances. But, are you prepared?? The following 10 tips will prove very useful to get ready for that first ride…and always useful to remember for the next ones.

1 Book your ticket early Yes, exactly, and never enough stressed. China has a huge population, and if you really want to make sure you can land that sleeping berth on that train at that time on that particular day you want, you have to book your tickets beforehand. In China, to give everybody a fair chance to travel, tickets cannot be booked more than with a week advance. It is therefore important to remember that, if you roll into a town and your plan is staying only a couple days, or even one, buy your ticket out of town as soon as you arrive. This saves headaches later.

2 Bring some food China is not India, and people are not allowed into the station if they do not have a ticket. This means that you will not also find anyone selling food, not on the platform, nor on the train itself. Bring something, the train rides are long. You can buy instant noodles and use the scorching hot water provided in the train compartment to cook you some steamy, saucy noodles. What do you expect more? Just… remember to bring some food with you!!

3 Bring books Especially if you do not speak Mandarin Chinese, a book will be a very good companion for those long hours spent on any Chinese train. If you do speak Mandarin, well, it is always good to have a book to break up the journey, or just hide away from the persistent conversations you will be engaged in. Yes, this is Chinese custom.

4 Keep your ticket with you At all times. Because without it, you won’t be allowed to exit your destination’s platform. On overnight journeys, the train manager will get your ticket to make sure he knows when to wake you up and your destination, so have no fear. But remember to get it back in the morning, or you’ll have some trouble on your way out.

5 Do not bring pillows and blankets This is a great feature of Chinese trains, even the most run down and dirty, have fresh linens and pillows. It is very nice to be able to sleep comfortably while churning some road, so just relax, they have everything taken care of.

6 Cheaper is not always smarter Saving some bucks can be a great way to travel longer, but believe me: that 20 hour ride on a hard seat is NOT what you want to get. It will probably make a great travel story later, but it will also contribute to the squashing of your vertebrae… be advised!!

7 Book the Top Bunk Why? Because it is quieter, convenient to get away from it all and indulge in some chilly reading while the train goes by and at the 8^th hour you cannot stand anymore that Chinese university students whom you have been practicing English with for the past 2 hours. More than everything, people do not sit on this berth during day time travel, and it usually is the cleanest of the lot. Go for it, if you can!!

8 Fast Trains sometimes are better Because they are fast, and you pay for what you get. There is no sense in making a day trip which would involve sitting for 10 hours on the train, when you might just splash out a bit more and do the same trip in 3 hours. Especially for Beijing in and outbound trains, unless you are a chronic backpacker or your wallet has been stolen the night before you read this, do not get on slow trains. My experience tells that sometimes with 50 yuan more you can save the 50 you would spend for a taxi once you arrive to your destination, and the public bus has already stopped running!!

9 Don’t be afraid to mingle The Chinese are a very social bunch of folks, and they’ll love to start a conversation with you. If you speak some Mandarin, great, the train might be the stuff of legend for you, an environment where you will learn more about China than any book or coursework you might have done in your life. If you only speak English, do not worry: everyone will like to practice with you… so do not be shy!

10 Get there early This should be number 1, but it works well as a last reminder, too. Chinese trains are always on time, sometimes even ahead of schedule. It is a national pride, and believe me, they take very high pride in it. So, every train runs on schedule. Do not think you can get to the station 10 minutes before, and hop on your train, let alone buy a ticket. Allow plenty of time, at least half an hour before expected departure, because your luggage will be scanned and maybe checked, there will be a queue and you will lose your train otherwise. Be smart.