My adventures in China from Beijing Mar'18

Last week, I took a quick trip to China. The main reason for this trip is to try out Cathay Pacific business class which I have paid for late last year during a promotion.

Unfortunately, as things always turn out, my schedules change and I wasn't able to take the return trip.

Anyway, I left the Cathay Pacific flight in Beijing, China and have about 4 days to explore. Previously, I have been to Beijing twice and have seen the main attractions, such as the great wall and the birds' nest. So I decided to spend the time in other cities of China.

I have pre-booked a Scoot flight out of Guangzhou as the flight is usually cheap and the flight leaves at 3:45am in the morning, giving me the whole day to explore China and ensuring I reach Singapore on the next day morning for my work.

Travelling from one city to another in China is best done on train for a budget. Unlike Japan, there are still many overnight sleeper trains, even with the influx of high speed trains. This is great for saving time and $.

After landing in Beijing, I wanted to explore Tianjin via a 30-minute high speed train ride. There are many frequencies on this route and tickets can be bought at the manned counter for foreign visitors like me. I need to show my passport to the counter staff before tickets are issued. Though there are automated machines, they require scanning of the local identity card before purchasing the ticket. 

The train operating the Beijing-Tianjin route was 复兴号. Economy class seats are arranged in a 3-2 configuration. Legroom is great and seat is comfortable. The train even feels new to me.

A typical train station in China

I only have time to take the train to and from Tianjin, without any time to explore the city proper. I barely made it back to Beijing to catch the pre-booked sleeper train.

One thing to note when travelling by train in China, there can be more than one railway station in a city. In Beijing, there are three different railway stations. I purchased the Beijing-Wuhan overnight train ticket on ctrip mobile. The ticket will indicate the boarding and alighting station. After returning from Tianjin, I realised that this train will be departing from Beijing West station. The good thing is that Beijing West, like many intercity train stations in China, is also connected to the local metro train. Nevertheless, it is still some stations away.

Once I reached Beijing West station and gave my mobile ticket number to exchange for the ticket, it is time for boarding. I barely made it onto the train.

This is my 'home' for the next 10 hours.

I booked the hard sleeper cabin. Each cabin consists of two rows of three-deck beds. The cabin is open and there are limited chairs and table along the corridor for seating. I feel that the bed is reasonably comfortable for the night. Power sockets are not sufficient and is located along the corridor. Only one per 6-pax cabin. Fortunately, I was assigned the lowest bunk, which makes for easy getting in and out. There is no ladder provided to access the higher bunks though. My cabin is full and fortunately everyone is gracious. A pleasant night for all!

Once the train moves, the train attendant comes along to exchange my ticket for a temporary train card. Not sure why.

Soon, I turned in for the night. The train leaves and arrives on time. Just like most other trains in China. Similar to the swiss punctuality.

In this trip, I have learnt how to take trains in China. It proves to be a convenient way to see parts of China. I shall leave my adventures in Wuhan to the next post!