When we were arranging our tour with Wendy Wu Tours we specified we wanted to travel by train as much as possible, and they delivered. We only had one domestic flight, all other inter city transfers were done by high speed train. The fact that it was first class didn’t hurt either.
My ticket from Beijing to Qingdao, the last train on our trip in China.
We were proudly informed that China has more high speed trains than the rest of the world combined. I don’t know if that is true, but they do have a lot of them. Most of the time the seats in first class were all full and the crush of people coming out of the rest of the train indicated that ridership was pretty good. Once again, having the population base helps, and the political power to dictate that the lines will go where they need to go without interference from the souls who may have lived in the way. Everything is give and take, but I can see where with this many people trying to appease the masses would simply bring the country to a grinding halt. Not sure I totally agree, but I see the argument.
The stations are massive and very well laid out. A lot of Westerners would be frustrated with the crowds and lack of formal lines. However, everyone gets on the train and no one gets agitated over being cut off. We could learn something from that attitude.Of the four train trips we took, they all left on time to the second, and only one arrived late. It was a very positive experience.The nice thing about train travel is you get a chance to see some of the countryside. Our trains travelled between 200 and 300 km/h so we were going through towns (populations under 1 million) every 15 minutes or so.There was some farm land, but not once when watching out the windows was humanity not present. Whether farm houses or industry, ever bit of land was being utilized.And there was plenty of industry. The size and scope was mind boggling. So, unfortunately was the pollution. China appears to be making huge efforts to curtail its emissions, however the job is huge and there were areas that you understood why people wore masks.We were told that the bullet trains could go 400km/h, however for safety they were limited to 300ish. Whatever the reason, they still were very fast and incredibly smooth. With power points by all the seats and plenty of room it is without a doubt the best way we experienced to get around China.
Our experience on Chinas train system was entirely positive. We travelled from Chongqing (largest city in China) to Chengdu, Chengdu to Xi’an, Xi’an to Beijing, and Beijing to Qingdao by rail. I would use rail even more if I were to return. I highly recommend it to anyone travelling to this unique corner of our planet.
Hi Peter and Karen! We are loving your posts about your trip to China with us here at Wendy Wu Tours and we were wondering if you would be happy for us to share some of them on our social media? Thank you!
Hi Peter and Karen! We are loving your posts about your trip to China with us here at Wendy Wu Tours and we were wondering if you would be happy for us to share some of them on our social media? Thank you!
Absolutely. Glad you like them.