The train hop to Shenzhenbei took only 17 minutes. We had the whole carriage on the fast train to ourselves! When we got out, we were met by a delightful representative of the Sundowners Tour Company, who presented us with our tickets for the next leg to Xi'an as she took us across to the appropriate part of the station to catch that train. We had a couple of hours to kill, and we did a lot of exploring of the station — and found a Starbucks for a cup of coffee.
Inside Shenzhenbei Station
The fast bullet train from Shenzhenbei to Xi'an Bei set off at exactly 10:00am, due in at 7:30pm. One thing about Chinese trains — they keep ABSOLUTELY to schedule, so much so that after every train leaves there is an announcement for any who have missed that train to go to the ticket office to exchange their tickets.
Because of space considerations, our luggage went first class while we, with our second class tickets, had to slum it. This is a totally unfair description — the train is comfortable, smooth and fast (it got up to over 300kph, but is capable of 500kph, limited only by regulations imposed after a fairly serious accident due to brake failure some years ago).
The stations on our route were:
- Shenzhenbei 10:00am
- Guangzhou Nan 10:35am
- Chenzhou Xi 12:00
- Hengyang Dong 12:40pm
- Changshah Nan 1:15pm
- Yueyang Dong 1:55pm
- Wuhan 2:45pm
- Xinyang Dong 3:30pm
- Zhumadian Xi 3:55pm
- Xuchang Dong 4:25pm
- Zhengzhou 5:10pm
- Louyang 6:10pm
- Xi'an Bei 7:30pm
For virtually the whole trip, which is in a strictly non-smoking train, at least four gentlemen dropped out of the train at every stop for a quick cigarette, coming back in trailing tobacco fumes behind them!
We were met by a young man who communicated with us via a phone app. A long drive into Xi'an and the Forest City Hotel where we have a comfortable room. After this long train trip, we were ready for a good night's sleep.
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