Voices

Hard sleepers offer cosy weekends away

By Jenelle Whittaker (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-02 07:55

One of the main reasons why my family and friends are jealous of my life, living and working in Beijing, is the travel opportunities. There are endless natural wonders, historic sights and cultural activities to see on a weekend getaway. And I don't just spend the occasional long weekend away, I'm absent from Beijing more often than not. Traveling on overnight trains means I can get away frequently and avoid spending my hard earned kuai on taxis and airfares.

Overnight train travel is the perfect way to escape Beijing. It's cheaper than domestic planes; there is no waiting in airports for connections or departure times, and the stations are located in the center of the city; not in the middle of nowhere. An added bonus is most hostels and hotels will offer free transfer from the train station but not the airport.

There is also something extremely satisfying about waking up in an entirely new destination on a Saturday morning after I've had a hard day at work the previous day.

Then I catch an overnight train home on Sunday night and can go straight to work on Monday full of stories of my adventures or refreshed and ready for another week of work.

While my friends back home tell me their usual cafeteria stories of late nights in smoky bars and clubs, I gloat about seeing ice sculptures in Harbin, city walls in Pingyao, or the terracotta warriors in Xi'an.

From my personal experience, if you catch a train, go for a hard sleeper bed. Forget about paying top dollar for a soft sleeper, I am 90 percent certain, hard sleepers beat their fancier counterparts in almost every measure.

For one, the soft sleeper is deceiving; the bunk bed is not actually soft, at least, compared to Western standards. It is harder to climb onto the top bunk (using a small metal foot hold that pops out half way down the wall) than it is to use the ladder in a hard sleeper.

The train journey is significantly more boring in a soft sleeper. Who wants to be isolated in a little room watching television when there are so many interesting people to meet?

On my trip back from Pingyao, kids were running down the train carriage playing catch-me-if-you-can and role playing "mums and dads", and then they would take turns climbing up my ladder to say "hello," giggle and quickly disappear.

I have had fantastic conversations with university students traveling back to their hometowns and elderly citizens enjoying retirement. Everyone is curious about where I'm from, what I'm doing in Beijing, if I like China and where I'm going next.

When my limited Mandarin fails me and I run out of conversation, I pull out my camera and share the weekend's adventures with fellow passengers, which is a great way to make friends and kill time before the lights go out. More importantly, I am invited to sit on the bottom bunk, which I am extremely grateful for when I have landed the top bunk and am finding it impossible to sit upright.

However, hard sleeper top bunks do have their qualities; on a top bunk I enjoy easy access to the overhead railings and no one steps on me as they are climbing up and down the ladder. It's also easy to keep valuables by my side and out of view, which is difficult on the bottom bunk.

However, if the unfortunate happens, and that Sichuan spice or the dreaded ma la I had for dinner is too much for my stomach to handle, climbing down the ladder taking care not to step on anyone can be difficult. It is also harder to find your shoes - often they have been kicked under the bunk which is slightly awkward if the owner of the bottom bunk wakes up to your behind poking out from under the bed! But believe me, the effort in finding your shoes is worth it; it is inconceivable for someone to use a train toilet, especially squat toilets, without shoes on.

Soft sleeper passengers, on the other hand, are blessed with Western toilets and there are fewer pairs of shoes under the bunk to search through! After five days suffering food poisoning recently, I can't deny disturbing three carriages three times during my trip from Xi'an just so I could enjoy the facilities in a soft sleeper. That was until someone disgraced the soft sleeper toilet with their own food poisoning mishap but I won't go into details!

In conclusion, no one stopped me from walking the length of the train in search of the holy toilet seat, so next weekend, hard sleeper it is!