by Kiwi » Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:20 pm
And another note:
To buy tickets for the train to HK, if for some reason you don't go through a travel agent, you need to go to a hotel located a short walk west of Shanghai Railway Station. They don't sell these tickets in the station itself. I think the hotel is called the Long Men Hotel (龍門兵官）。 There is a small ticket office somewhere in the hotel foyer.
The train to HK is much the same type of train as the one to Beijing. However, the passengers tend to be a smarter crowd (i.e. HK students etc. rather than chainsmoking peasants from Christ knows where).
From memory, tickets down to HK are something like RMB600 for a hard sleeper. Roughly half the cost of flying.
Take some food with you, because the food on board is not the greatest. Hot water is available, so instant noodles or something is a good idea.
Chinese trains here can be fun if you are in the mood. Usually only one or two other foreigners on board (if that), so people will be curious and want to chat. The time can fly past if you are feeling social. Of couse if you just want to read a book it can be a pain in the arse listening to people discussing the size of your nose, the likely price of your clothes, and this prostitute from Harbin who slept with two Russian guys on an overnight train journey and was found dead in her berth in the morning. The story went that two 'laowai' were just too much for her to handle in a night, and she died from 'internal injuries'. Hmm. . . the things one learns on trains, eh?
