I had a great idea that we could save some money and go on a bit of an adventure by travelling around China via sleeper train.
The first leg of our train journey was from Beijing to Xi'an. We got on the train at Beijing West railway station, which is very large. See picture below (not my photo)........
Fortunately, despite the large size of the station, it wasn't too hard to find our way around as there is good signage in both Chinese and English. We sat in a large waiting room until our train was ready to board. Then we walked down to the platform and embarked on a bit of a trek to find the right carriage, as there were many many carriages on the train.
We had booked a four berth soft sleeper. There is a private two berth option, but the price is similar to flying. There is also a cheaper six berth hard sleeper, but I think triple bunks are a little cramped and there are no locking doors on those rooms. David and I had booked the two top bunks. We found our room to be comfortable enough with plenty of space for bags, hot water for making noodles and clean blankets and pillows on the beds.
We arrived at our room before our berth-mates. We put our bags away and lay on our bunks waiting to see who would join us. First up was a middle-aged Chinese woman who was part of a larger family group occupying a number of the rooms around us. She put down her things and disappeared fairly quickly into one of the other rooms.
Then my bottom bunk neighbour arrived - a middle-aged Chinese man who opened a rectangular case and started sorting through what looked like packets of Chinese medicines.
David and I were both fairly tired and determined that we could fall asleep despite our faces only being about half a metre from the light in the ceiling. The train started moving and I liked the rhythmic rocking. However the following things I was less keen on; semi-loud Chinese music started playing from the speaker in the ceiling (also fairly close to our heads); the family staying in the rooms around us emerged into the halls to party; and a man selling products started wandering up and down the aisles shouting something loudly in Chinese. Worse though than the cacophony of sound was the strong smell of cigarette. There are designated smoking zones on the train at each end of the carriage, and it didn't seem like anybody was disobeying the rules. However, it did seem like the air from the smoking zones was being circulated throughout the train, so the smell of cigarette was as strong as if somebody was smoking right in the room.
David looked across at me and saw that I had fashioned an oxygen mask of sorts out of my blanket and burst into laughter telling me "we are definitely in China". A couple of minutes later David was fast asleep! I was finding it a little more difficult to fall asleep, so I started to read. Eventually I drifted off into a light sleep, but a short while later I started hearing a strange clicking sound. I kept my eyes shut, but then the sound started again, so I half-opened my eyes to see what was going on.
What I found was the man who was occupying the bunk below me was now standing up in the small space between the bunks. The sound I was hearing was the man taking photos of David and I sleeping. Fortunately he was turned towards David when I opened my eyes, so he didn't realise that I had spotted him. I decided the best course of action would be to close my eyes again and hope he went away - which he did.
I had become used to strangers wanting photos with us and sometimes taking them unsolicited, but snapping photos while we were sleeping was taking the curiosity to a whole new level.
Eventually the rocking motion of the train put me to sleep and mercifully the cigarette smell died down as the smokers went to sleep.
In the morning we got up about an hour before our scheduled arrival time. David, myself and the lady from the bottom bunk all headed to the bathroom at the same time. I gave her a cheery zaoshang hao (good morning) and we attempted to have a conversation. She spoke a little English and I speak a (very) little Mandarin, so our conversation didn't go very far. She was trying to tell me something about "later". The marble dropped when David commented that the train had been stopped for a long time during the night. The train was going to be arriving later than originally scheduled.
We pulled into Xi'an railway station about 3 hours late. That is one very busy, chaotic train station, but more about that later. Stay tuned for another post when I will continue my Chinese train travel saga.
Overall I can't really be sure if my experience was atypical or normal, but if that is the norm then it doesn't work for me. However, I don't want to dissuade anybody from trying overnight sleeper train travel. It could be fine if you are a heavier sleeper than me and are less affected by strong smells. We saved some money (the train tickets were about half the cost of equivalent flights, plus you also save one night of hotel accommodation). It was very convenient to be able to wake up the next morning in a new city. Our Chinese sleeper train experience definitely ticked the box of being an adventure, but I don't think I will be rushing to repeat it.
The first leg of our train journey was from Beijing to Xi'an. We got on the train at Beijing West railway station, which is very large. See picture below (not my photo)........
Fortunately, despite the large size of the station, it wasn't too hard to find our way around as there is good signage in both Chinese and English. We sat in a large waiting room until our train was ready to board. Then we walked down to the platform and embarked on a bit of a trek to find the right carriage, as there were many many carriages on the train.
We had booked a four berth soft sleeper. There is a private two berth option, but the price is similar to flying. There is also a cheaper six berth hard sleeper, but I think triple bunks are a little cramped and there are no locking doors on those rooms. David and I had booked the two top bunks. We found our room to be comfortable enough with plenty of space for bags, hot water for making noodles and clean blankets and pillows on the beds.
David enjoying his top bunk.......
We arrived at our room before our berth-mates. We put our bags away and lay on our bunks waiting to see who would join us. First up was a middle-aged Chinese woman who was part of a larger family group occupying a number of the rooms around us. She put down her things and disappeared fairly quickly into one of the other rooms.
Then my bottom bunk neighbour arrived - a middle-aged Chinese man who opened a rectangular case and started sorting through what looked like packets of Chinese medicines.
David and I were both fairly tired and determined that we could fall asleep despite our faces only being about half a metre from the light in the ceiling. The train started moving and I liked the rhythmic rocking. However the following things I was less keen on; semi-loud Chinese music started playing from the speaker in the ceiling (also fairly close to our heads); the family staying in the rooms around us emerged into the halls to party; and a man selling products started wandering up and down the aisles shouting something loudly in Chinese. Worse though than the cacophony of sound was the strong smell of cigarette. There are designated smoking zones on the train at each end of the carriage, and it didn't seem like anybody was disobeying the rules. However, it did seem like the air from the smoking zones was being circulated throughout the train, so the smell of cigarette was as strong as if somebody was smoking right in the room.
David looked across at me and saw that I had fashioned an oxygen mask of sorts out of my blanket and burst into laughter telling me "we are definitely in China". A couple of minutes later David was fast asleep! I was finding it a little more difficult to fall asleep, so I started to read. Eventually I drifted off into a light sleep, but a short while later I started hearing a strange clicking sound. I kept my eyes shut, but then the sound started again, so I half-opened my eyes to see what was going on.
What I found was the man who was occupying the bunk below me was now standing up in the small space between the bunks. The sound I was hearing was the man taking photos of David and I sleeping. Fortunately he was turned towards David when I opened my eyes, so he didn't realise that I had spotted him. I decided the best course of action would be to close my eyes again and hope he went away - which he did.
I had become used to strangers wanting photos with us and sometimes taking them unsolicited, but snapping photos while we were sleeping was taking the curiosity to a whole new level.
Eventually the rocking motion of the train put me to sleep and mercifully the cigarette smell died down as the smokers went to sleep.
In the morning we got up about an hour before our scheduled arrival time. David, myself and the lady from the bottom bunk all headed to the bathroom at the same time. I gave her a cheery zaoshang hao (good morning) and we attempted to have a conversation. She spoke a little English and I speak a (very) little Mandarin, so our conversation didn't go very far. She was trying to tell me something about "later". The marble dropped when David commented that the train had been stopped for a long time during the night. The train was going to be arriving later than originally scheduled.
We pulled into Xi'an railway station about 3 hours late. That is one very busy, chaotic train station, but more about that later. Stay tuned for another post when I will continue my Chinese train travel saga.
Overall I can't really be sure if my experience was atypical or normal, but if that is the norm then it doesn't work for me. However, I don't want to dissuade anybody from trying overnight sleeper train travel. It could be fine if you are a heavier sleeper than me and are less affected by strong smells. We saved some money (the train tickets were about half the cost of equivalent flights, plus you also save one night of hotel accommodation). It was very convenient to be able to wake up the next morning in a new city. Our Chinese sleeper train experience definitely ticked the box of being an adventure, but I don't think I will be rushing to repeat it.
Comments
I have a friend who is 6ft 2 and her husband is 6ft 6 and they went on the overnight train in China and said it was hell on earth!