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Published: August 27th 2010
Sleeper Train Route
B is Changchun (my starting point)
A is Shanghai (the end of the sleeper train)Thank you all for the questions. It is good to know that people are reading my stories. I will use this entry to answer questions people asked and describe the second day of the train travel.
The total trip was about 1200 miles. The distance by air is shorter, because Changchun is actually east of the Sea next to Beijing. So the train has to veer west some along the mostly southern path to Shanghai. Check out the picture if you prefer a visual. The distance is roughly the same as Chicago to Denver. Along the way the train made 5 or 6 stops. I guess our top speed was 50 mph or so.
Train Vs. Plane
Why take a train for 30 hours? There are a few reasons. The first one being that I am frugal, or whatever term you may prefer to use. The ticket for the sleep car was 450 RMB (about $65). My last flight last year was 800 RMB (about $115). So between the two of us we saved about $100.
Second, our destination has no airport, so we would need a train or bus to get there at some point. As in
Crosstich
Lisa doing some cross-stitch and sitting on the bottom bunk most cities transferring from airport to train station has its own hassles. On our return trip we flew, and a following blog entry will talk about those details.
Third, I had never taken a sleeper train and I was looking for a little adventure.
Snoring
Those of you who have shared a room with me know the answer to this question, but a few people mentioned their experience in a sleeper train.
In my section, I sleep on the top left. On the top right, there was a young Chinese man of similar age. On the middle bunks, there was a mother and her son (6 or 7 years old) on the left side, and a man probably 40 on the right side. I was surprised to see that both the mother and son slept fine on one bunk. By sleeping in this way, I believe they saved dramatically on the ticket costs. I will have to remind my dad to check on this possibility with Royal Caribbean for our next family cruise. Then on the bottom bunks were my girlfriend Lisa on the left, and on the right the wife of the man on the right
Bunks
A picture out the window, at the height of the middle bunks. side middle bunk.
So I snored a little, but in the morning I did not have any dirty looks, well come to think of it the person sharing the other top bunk seemed to sleep most of the day.......maybe I did keep him awake. I believe by placing myself on the top bunk and sleeping on my side for most of the night I did what I could, just like US troops, to minimize the collateral damage I caused. The kind Chinese people refrained from hurling any objects in my direction during the night, if only my older brother would have been so kind when I was younger.
If you are light sleeper, I recommend ear plugs. Just like on a plane, there is always some background noise as the train travels.
Train Food
In my year in China, I have found that food is never far away. I would guess that some kind of food for sale is never more than 300 yards away. On the train, there are two options provided by the train company.
During the day, at least once each hour a cart comes through each car offering food. During meal times
River
Picture of the a River from the train (Yellow River I think) this cart offers warm food at various prices, usually around 25 RMB ($3.68 US) per plate for a serving of rice and vegetables with a little meat. By Western standards this might sound reasonable, but it is near extortion here. During other times the food cart offers snacks such as spicy tofu, chicken feet, chicken necks, pig feet, seaweed, and off course potato chips. Along with a variety of Chinese and western beverages.
There is also a dining car available. Around lunchtime on the second day, we were making our way to the dining car to be shocked by supposedly higher prices when the train stopped at a station for 5 minutes. We saw a food vendor selling food on the platform and decided to debark for a closer look. A serving of rice, some green bean like vegetables, a bit of spicy beef, and bean sprouts......5 RMB ($0.75 US) not a bad deal. No stomach problems later meant it was a good decision.
You are free to bring your own food, so we brought a loaf of bread, instant noodles, beef jerky, some fruits, and a few other snacks. Also we brought along 3 bottles of water. If you choose to bring your own food, I highly recommend bringing it packed in a suitcase. We stopped near the train station at a small market, and it is a pain to have all your luggage, plus plastic bags with groceries. Remember you will be loading the train with hundreds of other people. And they too will have many bags. Plus, all of you will be going up and down steps and walking through narrow halls on the train.
Smokers
One of the differences in China is smokers. My students smoke in the hallways outside the classroom, people in a restaurant will smoke right next to you. Restaurants don't offer a no smoking section. If you are very sensitive to smoking, many restaurants offer private rooms. Typically they are better, as long as a group of smokers didn't just finish in the room.
The train was a nice surprise, at least in my little section. Only the middle age man smoked, and whether at the direction of his wife, or by his own courtesy he went to the breezeway between the cars to smoke. In fact, most smokers went to the breezeway to smoke. Smoking on trains is quickly being eliminated in China. The high-speed trains don't allow smoking anywhere, and on most other trains it is in the breezeways only. This may be different in the Western parts of the country, but on the trains I have taken recently there has been no odors except at the ends of the car (near the breezeway).
I was on the top bunk at the end of the car, so a couple times I had some smoke come up my way carried by the draft, but it wasn't anything gagging and the smell lasted no more than a minute.
Train Bathroom
For some people, this could be the primary reason they will fly in China. In each car there is a bathroom area, with a large mirror and 3 sinks. Behind the sinks there is a single room with a Chinese toilet. It reminded me of an airplane bathroom except with more room and no seat. The floor around the hole is stainless steel so if anyone misses it can be easily cleaned. Since most of the passengers have practice with this kind of thing, there are rarely any misses. The train does rock a little, but their is large handle bar in front of you to prevent any catastrophes. Sorry I don't have any pictures.
All day on the Train
So other than sleeping there were about 22 hours of time on the train. The intelligent designers of the train, put enough room between the middle and bottom beds that you can sit on the bottom bed, much like a couch. Each bed is covered with a sleeping pad, that can easily be rolled up. My girlfriend, Lisa, had the bottom bunk, so most of the day we just sat there and read, or talked. I took some pictures out the train window and had a nap.
Also along the hallway, at the foot of all the beds, there are seats and tables that fold down from the wall. So you can sit there if you prefer not to sit with strangers on the bottom bed.
Arrival
Our train arrived at Shanghai's main train station at around 5PM. Getting off the train is much the same as unloading an airplane, except there is no checked baggage, this means you carry your own baggage. So along the way I saw elderly men with huge bags, and a few women lugging bags that equaled their weight. I helped a few, and others helped too. There are some ramps, but almost always a set of stairs along the way. It must help to keep the Chinese in good shape.
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Jolin
non-member comment
how funny the description of the train bathroom~