Shanghai to Beijing. (1303 km)

Breakfast doesn't start 'til 7.30 so it was an instant cappuccino and a granola bar this morning. 

Couldn't resist taking a photo of this instruction sheet in the room before I left.
I particularly like the one about not following strangers to "fun" places

Checked out and made good use of the plastic emergency poncho I nearly threw away to get to Nanjing Road East metro station and stay reasonably dry. Naively thought that 8.00 on a Sunday would be quiet but it was standing room only all the way to Hongqiao Railway Station, the penultimate station on the line. The station is enormous and  feels more like an airport terminal. Departures is on level 2, a huge seating area with all sorts of kiosks selling stuff and 26 platforms. I can see restaurants etc on level 3. As expected there is a baggage X ray check and I can see train G14 goes from "Check In"  No 1 at the far end. Most of the seats are taken so I join the queue at the check in gate. About 0940 they open the gates, my ticket and passport are checked and I get escalator down to platform. I am in Coach 2  in a seat next to the window and facing direction of travel.

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station

Is the word "delayed " not in their vocabulary?
Note the number of trains to Beijing! 

The Train

More "Things not to do"

1000 precisely and we are gliding out of the station. Soon up to 300 km/h. Feels fast but not as fast as I had expected. Most of the track is built quite high so nothing very close to the train. It is still a wet and gloomy morning. Since I am travelling "First Class" we get given some Tropicana orange and a bag of assorted nibbles. We reached Nanjing South at 1100 after which I dozed off. Woke about 1200 to see the sun had come out and we were travelling  through a flat landscape of yellow-green fields and poly tunnels. Not sure what the crop is but there is a lot of it. Maize?

Up to speed

Decided to find the buffet car. Go through the Business Class coach which has only three seats abreast which can be configured to lie flat. I was tempted  to splurge on Business Class but glad I didn't since it was a lot more expensive and would only be worthwhile if you wanted to sleep. 2nd class looks ok but not as much space as first. In the rather cramped and full buffet car, the only meals on offer are pre packaged and don't look very appetising so I get a Starbucks Frappucino and a bag of cashews for a hefty 56 yuan. The scenery is more interesting now with some hills but it is wet and foggy outside.

Reach Jinan West Station at 1319. It's another big station with 17 platforms. Lots of men get off for a quick  2 minute smoke despite the announcement that smoking is not alloyed on the platform. We leave at 1322.

At 1455 precisely we arrive at Beijing South station. I stop to get some photos of the train,  find my way out and find the map of the Beijing metro system. The ticket machines for the Beijing Metro, like the ones in Shanghai,  require you to inut the destination station soo it can calculate the fare. Please to say they have an English version. But in Beijing it turns out that whatever your destination the answer is always 2 Yuan. The  Metro works fine changing from line 4 to line 2 at Xuanwumen.  And when I get to Beijing Railway Station Metro there is a sign that points me to the Howard Johnson Hotel where I am staying. It's rather more upmarket than most of the hotels I have stayed in but it has the great advantage of being directly oposite the station from where I will be getting my train to Ulaan Baatar. The room is excellent with a great view over the very traditional looking station, built in the 1950's.

The Train in Beijing

Beijing Railway Station from the Hotel Window