- 5 hours from Kunming to Shilin and back
- 5 hours from Kunming to Dali
- 4 hours from Dali to Lijiang
- 13 hours from Lijiang to Lugu Lake and back
- 18 hours from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou and back
- 2 hours from Liuzhou to Guilin
- 4 hours from Guilin to Yangshou and back
- 5 hours from Guilin to Longji Terrace and back
List of my train rides in China:
- 15 hours from Chengdu to Huaihua (Soft sleeper, lower bunk)
- 4 hours from Huaihua to Zhangjiajie (Hard sleeper, bottom bunk)
- 10 hours from Zhangjiajie to Liuzhou (Hard sleeper, middle bunk)
- 14 hours from Guilin to Shenzhen (Soft sleeper, upper bunk)
99 hours. That was how much time I took to transit between 4 provinces, over 12 cities and counties in China. I must say it was pretty affordable to travel anywhere in China, provided if you had time on your hand. The public long distance bus rides can be thrilling especially at road bends and narrow slopes. The roads may be bumpy and slippery around the mountainous areas. But the drivers were skilled and I felt strangely safe in their hands. There were no toilet in buses so the drivers will stop for 10 minutes breaks every 2 hours. The toilets in these stop areas were bearably clean. Except there were no doors on the toilet cubicles. But no problem at all, since most of us will be busy minding our business and not getting dirty. Squatting skill is required to use the Chinese toilet. So come prepared. If possible, make sure you do not get both ends of the bus. The front most seats will have not enough leg space while you cannot adjust the back rest in the last row seats.
The train rides were a totally new experience to me. Although it took very long hours, but the clean sleeper beds allowed me to lie on my back and catch some sleep. Since the rides were overnight, I saved on hotel accommodation as well. Toilets were not good though. Made sure you get a bed in the middle of the train compartment in order to avoid smelling the stinking toilets located at both ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment