As I said earlier in my previous post, a trip to Guilin from Guangzhou by train takes about 13 hours. Perhaps you are wondering, why it needs 13 hours? There are 2 reasons:
1. According to this website , the distance of Guangzhou and Guilin is 298 miles or about 480 km.
2. As this is the regular train (not the executive one), so the train will stop in several stations.
Captured from www.distance.to
Firman was not really sure, whether this train was a sleeper train or not, if not … we’re gonna sit for hours! lol.
I’ve never boarded a sleeper train before, so in my mind, a sleeper train was just like in the movie:
… there are many rooms in the train carriage with a sliding door
… there is one bed on each side (left – right)
… there is one bathroom inside the room
…
We didn’t need to wait too long for our train to come.
The people in the waiting room with the destination to Guilin, walked with us to the station platform.
We searched for our train … K36.
As we walked to carriage number 14, we could see through the window that it’s the sleeper train! Yeaahhahahaha!!
We handed our ticket to train officer, and she gave us another card with only showed the carriage number, and the room number.
We needed to exchange the train ticket (left) with the right one
Was it similar with my imagination … No! It’s not. It’s more simple than that …
… there were many section inside the train carriage without a sliding door
… there were three beds on each side (left – right), with small table between beds
… the bathroom is at the front and end of the carriage
So ours should be section number 12.
Aahh … What a relieve! A simple bed is much better than a seat, I guess?
So … Here we come Guilin!!!
…
We knew that we would stop in several train stations.
We didn’t see any sign of which bed were ours.
So of course … we chose the first bed – the lowest bed …
At first, looking at the scenery from the window was exciting, but slowly, the day was getting darker and darker until there’s not much too see … 😐
So I thought perhaps it’s best for me to sleep now.
…
When the train stopped in one of the station, I could hear people coming … And I was hoping that no one would sleep at this section … lol 😀
Sometimes I heard the train staff walked in the alley with a cart contains food and drink … So no need to worry, if you forgot to bring drinks and snack.
And after a few stops, I heard footsteps approaching, and stopped in our section.
‘Oh well … they must be sleeping in this section.’
And yes, they did …
But not long after that, they woke us up … It’s an uncle and an aunty.
They spoke in Chinese to us, but we didn’t understand.
They called the train officer.
Now the train officer spoke to us in Chinese too … And she patted the middle bed, and also asked for our ticket … And she showed a Chinese character on the card (which I assumed, its telling us which beds were ours).
Hmm … I guess that’s the sign for us to move, because the lady was quite upset that we didn’t understand her … (sorryyy … 🙁 ).
So we moved up … and …
‘Oh my gosh! The barrier of the bed was too short!!’
It sounds silly, but I was afraid that I would fall during my sleep hahaha!! 😀
I tried many positions, but I still didn’t feel comfortable … Even I tried to hold a hook (to hang our belongings) with one hand, and the barrier with the other hand, but still … I was afraid that I would fall!!
I did fall asleep sometime, but then I would awake quickly.
Well you know how it feels, when you can’t sleep, and hoping that you will reach your destination soon … Yes … It felt like ages haha!!
But finally, I fell asleep, I mean really sleeping, at around 3AM … !
…
I woke up, and looked at my watch, it’s 6:30AM. I supposed that we’re about to reach Guilin.
So I went down, put the sweater, and grabbed some bread.
Apparently, the uncle and aunty were also going to Guilin.
They looked at us again, and smile. They spoke again to us in Chinese, and we just said ‘Guilin,’ and Firman showed the flyer of our hostel in Guilin. Firman said to me, perhaps if we could communicate, they would offer us to stay at their house. It’s possible!!
…
I could see that we’re entering the Guilin railway station …
And the train stopped.
We waved goodbye to the uncle and aunty …
‘Aaah … Finally … Guilin!!’
‘Hello Guilin … !!’ 🙂
My china trip series
- Hello Guangzhou … !! (Part 1)
- Hello Guangzhou … !! (Part 2)
- A River Cruise at Night in Guangzhou
- Guilin … The city of hills 🙂
- Cruising on a bamboo boat in Yulong River, Guilin
- Last Night in Guilin
- One last river cruise in Guilin … 🙂
- Good bye, Guilin … 🙂
- Trains – The Best Way to Travel in China (hereisbeijing.com)
Wow triple storey bed. I wouldnt want to sleep on the 3rd storey bed either!
Lol, me too!! haha.
1) if i suddenly awake and hit the ceiling :D,
2) falling from the bed is gonna be really hurt haha …
yea that would be sooo high! LOL. and reading this post, I can’t forget my experience of taking a seat coach all the way from KL to Bangkok for a 32-freaking-hours! [KL-Padang Besar-Hat Yai-Bangkok combined]
Ouh 32 hours 😐
Yeah I remember reading ur trip, and reading it again now lol …
Very brave travelling in China. We want to do a big journey through there one day… hopefully soon!
Yesss … you should …
I also want to explore China more next year *crossed-fingers* 😮
inspiring journey!! just imagine… there’s a sleeper train too in Indonesia, sumatra from bandar lampung to banda aceh, crossing the rest of sumatran forest
*edisi kebanyakan ngayal*
That would be very nice! I’m in for that journey if there’s any 😉 #kode
waaahh… thanks for the info! Coz I m planning to go to Guilin by myself.. This information really useful! 🙂
That’s great! Enjoy Guilin! 🙂