Korean Job Discussion Forums

[twoofus]

On a bit of a last minute thought, we were thinking of flying to Beijing at the end of July, spending about five days there, then taking an overnight train to Shanghai, spending a day and night there, and then leaving the next morning from Shanghai's Pudong airport back to Incheon.

Has anyone done this? Does it seem to make sense? We haven't booked our train ticket yet and I'm not sure how to do that reliably and cheaply. Is it easy to get to Shanghai's airport?

I'll be working on some research over the next little while, and also finding a country guide, but any tips and suggestions would really help!

Thank you!

[soviet_man]

I recently travelled Beijing-Shanghai on the train in "Soft Sleeper". It was excellent. You get a comfortable bunk bed, hot meal included in the price and the train is fully air-conditioned.

Paid about $68 (US) one way. The train travelled quite fast (perhaps 140km/h) and the time passed quickly.

However it is an overnight train, so you won't see much scenery.

[twoofus]

Thanks - that really helps!

We'll definitely switch our plane tickets so we can see Shanghai, though I'm not sure yet whether we'll go hard chair, soft chair, hard sleeper, soft sleeper on the train.

We were also thinking of now going Beijing - Xi'an - Shanghai - has anyone done that? We thought we could spend three or four days in Beijing, take the overnight to Xi'an, explore that area in a day, and then take the overnight to Shanghai for two days or so.

How did you book your train tickets, online, or through your hotel? (We're staying at a hostel, I'm hoping they would do it for us)

[soviet_man]

I booked it through www.monkeyshrine.com and they provided excellent service. I booked it from Korea, picked them up in Beijing and there were no problems at all.

Not sure about Xian. But I'm guessing probably a much slower, less nice train. And at at a guess, it will be shockingly hot in Xian.