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killian
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 937
Location: fairmont city, illinois, USA
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 Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:23 am Post subject: 1st week of october holiday |
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| this year around the first week of oct. is gonna be a weeklong holiday. ask your wrangler for details. most all your chinese mates are going away. find out your specs. and do something fun during the "goodbye warmth" holidays. |
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Renegade_o_Funk
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 125
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:40 am Post subject: |
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Indeed it is a week long holiday. I may take a train ride somewhere exotic if my "wrangler" give's back my passport in time. I suppose if I don't get back my passport ill drink all day & try to find a new hooker everynight.  How about the rest of you, anything fun planned ? |
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killian
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 937
Location: fairmont city, illinois, USA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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but..even the hookers will be gone. everyone skedaddles out of dodge. travel in china? good luck getting any kind of ticket. this is perhaps one of hte lonliest times of the year for the newly minted foreign expert.
get in your wranglers face today.
i'm catching a company plane to korea and then going to the PI for some fun inthe sun. |
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Renegade_o_Funk
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 125
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| I actually spoke with my wrangler today, he said I should have it back next week, he has yet to let me down so we'll see. I didnt think about all the Xiao Jie's being gone too, I better call up my favorites to see if they plan on leaving. |
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nobleignoramus
Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 208
Location: On the road
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| Buy your long-distance train tickets early this coming week as most trains to popular destinations will be booked solid from around Wednesday on. |
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teachaus
Joined: 04 Apr 2009
Posts: 54
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Unless like me you are working at a University which has cancelled the holiday due to H1N1. We will finish a week earlier for Winter Vacation but it is classes as normal for us, and at least one other University we know of, in Holiday week. (We don't have H1N1 but others in town do) |
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Halapo
Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 140
Location: Jiangsu, China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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I am under the impression from my Chinese colleagues that travel north to the Beijing ( I am starting near Nanjing ) will be harder than travel south to some place that still feels like summer.
Also I hope to not have to deal with the "You can not buy train tickets until 5 days before the departure date". I have had no trouble buying tickets in Shanghai in advance of 5 days, but every now and then this rule pops up. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| I think the rule is actually 10 days so I'd buy today (Monday) if I were you! |
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Bendex
Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 18
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:34 am Post subject: |
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Actually, it's 9 days before the date of your intended rail journey.
For example, if you plan to depart on the 3rd of October, you should count back 9 days, and so attempt to buy your ticket on the 24th of September.
Oh, and best to line up around 0700 hours that day! Why? Because when the cashiers open their windows for business at 0900 hours, you'll be one of the first to be served. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:41 am Post subject: |
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How to buy tickets at the station...
It's easy to buy tickets yourself at the station, but remember to take your passport with you.
In big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai you should look for the special ticket window for foreigners.
Reservations for the best D- or Z-category express trains open 10-20 days before departure, but reservations for other trains only open 5-10 days before departure. You cannot buy tickets before reservations open. If the train you want starts its journey somewhere else and calls at your boarding station already well into its journey, tickets may only be available 2 days before departure. The exact rules vary by city and by train.
Chinese Railways don't have a central reservation system, only local computer reservation systems based in each city that aren't linked to each other. So a station can generally only sell you a ticket for a journey starting at that station, not for journeys starting elsewhere. For example, the ticket office at Shanghai can sell you a Shanghai-Beijing ticket but cannot sell you a Beijing-Xian ticket. However, at major cities you can sometimes buy a return ticket for key routes - for example, in Beijing you can buy a ticket from Beijing to Shanghai and also from Shanghai back to Beijing. But in most cases, you'll need to book your return journey when you get to your destination.
Tickets are best booked at least 2-3 days in advance, apart from peak periods (the Spring Festival, May Day 1st May, National Day 1st October) when they should be booked as soon as reservations open.
In Beijing, you can buy tickets at Beijing Main station (metro Bejingzhan), or Beijing West station (called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro Junshibowuguan sometimes called 'Military Museum'). At Beijing Main station, the ticketing office for foreigners is on the north west corner of the 1st floor, accessed via the soft seat waiting room. It is open 05:30-07:30, 08:00-18:30, 19:00-23:00. Only domestic Chinese tickets are sold, not international tickets. At Beijing West station, ticket window 1 in the main hall is marked 'English speaking', open 24 hours. Service here is reported as 'fluent & efficient'. Alternatively, you can buy train tickets at BTG Travel & Tours, on Fwai Dajie between the New Otani and Gloria Plaza Hotels, open 08:00-20:00. To buy Trans-Siberian tickets from Beijing to Ulan Bator or Moscow, see the Trans-Siberian page. To buy tickets from Beijing to Hanoi, see the Vietnam page.
In Shanghai, the English speaking ticket window at the main station was window 43 though this has now (2009) been reported as changed to window 10 on the ground floor of the main ticket office to the southeast of the main station. |
I don't know the validity of most of these "tips" but these are from this website:
http://www.seat61.com/China.htm#How%20to%20buy%20tickets
I have bought tickets 10 days before I've left and I've been told 10 days is the norm now. I have bought ROUND TRIP tickets from Suzhou to Shanghai then back to Suzhou again but don't know if this service is available nation-wide. Perhaps only very local routes. |
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Bendex
Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 18
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:14 am Post subject: |
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One morning towards the end of August of this year I bought a train sleeper ticket at the railway station of a provincial capital (A) for travel to another provincial capital (B). It so happened that the train started from A and terminated at B.
As I had previously stated, tickets that morning were only being sold for travel < 10 days later.
However, if you were trying to buy a sleeper ticket in advance at a minor station, that might well be impossible. That would be a major disadvantage of teaching at an educational establishment in a county seat or in a town. Departing from there by train can be an absolute nightmare - standing room only on a crowded car during a long journey! |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| The exact rules vary by city and by train. |
From the previous quote. I advise any and all following this thread to maybe just check on your own or have someone from your school give a call for you. |
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