China is BIG, and I don't mean large - I mean bloody massive. I used to think that driving to Manchester from Chester was too far on a school night (though I did it every now and again.) I used to think that Cornwall was too far away to visit - so I never went. Even going to London by train was an epic commitment which needed planning, stamina and a large supply of survival rations reminiscent of Scott preparing to go to the South Pole. Well, I may have to reconsider these notions when I return?
My Chinese tour began with a flight out of Kathmandu. I landed in Lhasa (the former capital of Tibet and now the capital of the 'Autonomous Tibetan Region' of China) and then I flew on to Chengdu. After a few days there, having spent more money on flights than I had planned and being determined to use the train system in China, I booked myself a seat on an overnight train to Xi'an (I could not get a sleeper as they were all sold out.) 16 and a half hours later I stepped off the train, knackered and aching from the experience, but aware that it had only cost me 115 yuan to travel 842km.
I was dreading my next train journey, from Xi'an to Beijing, as it was even further than the first one (1266 km.) That was when I discovered the high speed alternative. The Chinese Bullet trains. They are capable of speeds in excess of 300km per hour and they have made China far more accessible by rail (though seats are far more expensive than their slower counterparts and beyond the budget of 99% of the population.)
Stylish, aerodynamic and not dissimilar to their Japanese counterparts.
Can you believe that in the regular slow train system you can buy a soft sleeper (1 bunk in a small room of 4, with a western toilet at the end of the corridor) a hard sleeper (1 bunk in a small room of 6, with a squat toilet at the end of the corridor and a harder mattress), a first class seat, a second class seat (defined as a 'hard seat') OR you can pay to stand for the entire journey?
On the high speed trains there are first and second class seats and then for the very rich there are Deluxe seats and Business Class seats. Because the journey is so much faster - no-one requires a sleeper and these trains run during the daytime. I travelled second class for approximately £50.00.
China's high speed rail network is one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever tackled and is currently ahead of schedule, with other major cities due to come on line before 2020. It has not been without incident however, and there have been a number of accidents and fatalities caused by collisions and derailments with some people arguing that the drive to complete the network ahead of schedule has come at a cost.
The stations look like futuristic airports. Crash details are often suppressed.
Unfortunately for me, Guangzhou (my next destination) is not yet on the high speed network, so rather than taking the slow train to cover the 1780km by rail with a journey time of approximately 20 hours, I have decided to fly (just 1211km as the crow flies.)
The total distance I will have covered in China (excluding the walking, cycling, metro journeys and the day trips out by coach, boat and taxi) is considerable. I have visited Chengdu, Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai and am about to travel to Guangzhou and then Hong Kong. My 2 flights and 4 railway journeys clock up an impressive 6660 km, but when you consider that China has a land area of 9.6 million square kms - you realise I have barely scratched the surface of this enormous country.
Chinese Factoids:
Total population of China 1.37 billion people (20% of the Earth's population). This compares with a UK population of 63 million and a US population of 320 million people.
Capital City = Beijing - population 21 million (and the city with the second worst traffic jams on the planet after Mexico City)
Largest city in China = Shanghai (population 24 million and growing.)
Night all
Paul
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Wow - I'd love to travel on one of those! Mind you, not the ones that crash though.
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