Chinese and Russian Trains

May 13, 2017

Traveling by Train

     

     Ivy and I have done quite a bit of traveling, and many hours of that have been on trains. Our most recent train was through the Netherlands, and it was a beautiful ride. The scenery and experiences we've had on trains have been incredible, and worth writing about. 

 

     My first train was in New York, and that was a fun, new experience for me. It had nice seats and was comfortable. We had to take it because the metro we were in had broken down, causing us to wait for an hour and then take a train instead of the metro. 

China Trains:

     The real experiences began in China. You have never experienced China, Russia, nor Europe, until you have been on one of their trains. And I don't mean the bullet train rides for a few, comfortable hours. I mean the overnight, ten to twenty-plus hour trains. Those are the real experience!

     When Ivy and I were in China, we first took a G Train, or a bullet train, as our first train in China. It was maybe a thirty minute ride, but it was a luxurious one. It's like riding on an airplane, yet with more leg room, large windows, and clean bathrooms. 

     That was a G train. We later discovered all of the lettered trains and the differences. G was the best and the fastest. It went between all the main cities. D was the next best, our favorite. It was nearly the same as the G trains, and only slower by a few minutes or at most an hour, and yet it cost less than half the price sometimes. There are also T trains, which are more rare and are like the D trains. 

     Before I move on I will explain how to buy a train ticket. That in itself can be crazy. The easiest is to get an app, China Trains, 

 

or C-Trips (which we prefer because you get points as you buy stuff), and buy your desired ticket that way. 

     Sometimes though you can take the risk and go and buy a ticket at the train station the day of. The ones between the major cities are fine and often, and so this is not a problem. A warning though, if ever in Suzhou, ALWAYS buy your ticket in advance for your way home. The lines themselves can be an hour long wait! And if one line closes, which they do often, there will be people yelling and screaming at each other and trying to cut the line. It's hilarious, but chaotic. 

     Next are the K, T, Z and numbered trains. These are the slower trains that go to remote places and all over China. Our first one was terrible. We first waited in the long line in Suzhou, and then were crammed in a massive group of Chinese people waiting in line. LINES DO NOT EXIST IN CHINA! It's the truth! Just push forward, say “duibuchi,” or something like that, and get to the front of the “line.”

     We then got onto our train. It was a complete shock to us compared to the G train. It was cramped, with small booths where six people faced each other. This was fun, because you could either try and make conversation with those across from you, play footsie with them, or try and ignore their stares (especially if you have blonde hair). 

 

     The train also reeked of smoke. This train allowed people to smoke in the cabin, and so it began to smell terrible to the point it was hard to breath. This was our first and only experience with an unnumbered train, which is the slowest and dirtiest ones. We advise not to take them more than once.  

     Next is the K train. On these you can have a sleeper, or just a regular seat like what I explained before. We took our first overnight one to Huangshan, one of the most beautiful mountains I've ever hiked. 

     The sleeper train was fun. First thing we saw when we walked onto the train was the bathroom. It was the size of an airplane bathroom, but had nothing more than a hole in the bottom of the train which went straight to the railroad tracks. 

 

     We then got to the beds. We had the somewhat nicer ones, where they were in a small, nearly enclosed space. There were six bunk beds per space. Whoever slept on the top one had to make sure they were flexible and strong enough to climb to the ceiling. 

     I, being a little large at six feet in height, was able to lay fairly comfortably on the skinny bunk. If I were any large though I'd be cramped. 

     We first got to sleep, which didn't take long because for me the trains put me to sleep as they rock back and forth on the tracks. It's relaxing to me in a way, yet I know for some it's the opposite. 

 

     All through the night the train stopped, dropping off people and picking up others. This didn't help with our nights rest, but when we arrived in Huangshan at five in the morning we didn't care but were excited to be there. 

     We took many other overnight trains, but the worse one was probably to Guilin, by Yangshuo. It was a twenty-four hour train, and in seats. Hard bench seats that had a flat back that made you keep your posture. After this train ride I never again complained about a train or its comfortability. Twenty-four hours on an old, Chinese train will make you grateful for many things. We’re just glad it wasn't longer, as some trains are. 

     So those are K and T trains, and Z trains are similar, yet they are only for sleeping. 

     One thing fun about these trains are the people you’ll meet. In China we tried speaking Chinese to some people, and kids, yet that was difficult. They would laugh and talk Chinese to each other, but we didn't mind. 

     The best was when we made friends with a couple old guys on our way back from Xi'an. They gave us some sunflower seeds and tried talking to us for the longest time. Somehow we figured out they wanted to see American money, and so I pulled out a dollar bill. I handed it to the man and his eyes widened with joy. He then began passing it around to everyone around us. Before we knew it a group of maybe fifteen people were standing around looking at the dollar and talking about us! I at least could say we were from America, but that was about it. They seemed pretty entertained by us. 

     Later on this same train, which happens on many, a man came down the aisle trying to sell stuff, from toys to balms to food, selling whatever they can. 

     This particular man was selling an electric massager with sticky pads you place on your back. He let me try it, and I guess I put it on the wrong spot and had it turned up all the way, because it really gave me a shock down my back! The Chinese couldn't help but laugh and enjoy watching us. 

     With this train ride and along with others, to pass by the time Ivy write down the Book of Mormon, copying it word for word as her scripture study. She also writes extremely small when she does it. For some reason whoever is sitting near us will lean over, (once again, they have no idea of personal space), nearly laying on Ivy or I, and try and read what she's writing. One time they even grabbed her journal and showed other people, smiling and giving Ivy a big thumbs up. We supposed it was her pretty handwriting that caused this to happen. 

 

     The Chinese trains are a blast, and you always see the oddest things. People sleeping in the most uncomfortable ways, eating the nastiest looking food, and leaving the biggest messes in the already disgusting bathrooms. Chinese, old, slow trains are the real way to experience China. 

Russia Trains: 

     The same is for Russia, with different types of trains. There are some fast trains, which go between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and they are nice and comfortable. There are some nice trains that go between other cities, which are clean and newer, and even have vending machines. They are what we prefer to take if ever possible. The rest are dirty, older trains that are slow and uncomfortable, yet always better than China in most ways.  

     For us living in Voronezh we have to take a train to Moscow just to fly anywhere for vacation, unless we want to pay an extra $100 and fly to Moscow. This requires us to take a six or eleven hour train. It's fairly cheap, but just as entertaining as the Chinese trains. 

 

  In Russia we use an app called Rail Russia, which makes getting tickets fairly easy. You can't buy tickets the day of in Russia usually, and so buying them far in advance is always a good idea.   

   We couldn't use our debit or credit cards though on the app, so set up Apple Pay or something similar depending on your phone, and that is the best way to buy tickets. 

     Every time we’ve been on a train in Russia we have been yelled at. We don't know why, or what for usually, so we smile and say “sorry, no Russian.” They roll their eyes and walk away most of the time. It’s hilarious usually, but can be intimidating and scary. 

 

     We had the chance to take a sixteen hour train from Riga, Estonia to Moscow, which was quite fun. Luckily these sleeper trains have nice, western toilets, and are fairly clean. And there is bedding, or a mat and pillow, which we can put on the bunks to make them more comfortable. In China we just used our coats or backpacks. 

European Trains:

     Now recently we have been on some nicer, and different types of trains throughout Europe. These we usually buy online on GoEuro.com, which is a great sight to find buses and trains all around Europe. 

     Our previous vacation we took twelve different trains to get to our destinations. The trains work a little differently to where most of them are like a metro, where you have to change lines to get to your final destination. 

     Germany has a nice system and nice trains, although we had one break down and we missed our connecting train to Salzburg Austria. Luckily trains in Germany run often, and we were able to catch the next train to Salzburg only thirty minutes later. The tickets also work like a metro where you can get on just about any train for the destination you paid for. It's a little more complicated than that, but basically how it works. It's convenient to say the least. 

 

     Trains can be generally reliable, always being on time and leaving exactly on time. We did have that one break down in Germany though, and then we had another experience on our way to Prague. 

     We started in Salzburg and got on a train early in the morning towards Prague, Czechoslovakia. We got to a small town and ran to catch our connecting train to another small town. This train suddenly stopped near the border, and kicked us off onto a bus, which drove to another train in Czechoslovakia. This train then stopped at another stop and we got off and waited for another bus. We then took this bus to another train station, which finally took us to our destination of Prague, and we arrived two and a half hours late. Luckily we had plenty of time in Prague still. 

     It was a crazy experience and we shared it with two Koreans and two Germans who none of them spoke English. It was entertaining to watch us all try and figure out where to go and we were all very lucky to have found and made each connecting train and bus. We also came upon a man heading to Prague who helped us out. 

     So traveling by train can be chaotic and stressful at times as well. Generally this is not the case, yet this time it was. Direct trains are the nicest, but the other types are entertaining as well and you can meet a lot of nice and interesting people. 

     Our last train in Germany was from Freiberg, where the Freiberg Temple is, to Berlin. That was a neat train where we were able to have our own little cabin space on the train, similar to what you may see in the movies. The window opened and you could control the lights and the heating somewhat. That was a nice ride and the view of rolling hills and green fields was beautiful. 

 

     Overall, the experiences we’ve had in trains have been entertaining, fun, miserable, exhausting, and disgusting, yet they are memorable and quite the experience. If ever in China or Russia, find somewhere you want to go, and buy a ticket. Make some friends with people who don't speak English, play card games with them, or even share your own American food with them and see their reaction. 

     You never know what may happen on a train!