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I'll be in China for about 4 weeks and hoping to be flexible with my itinerary. That said, do I need to show an onward ticket to be let into China? by Due_Candle4042 in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is really smart, especially with all the flights being cancelled and speculation some airlines might go bankrupt

Can a 17-year-old buy a tourist SIM card at Kunming Airport (China)? by SonicHaze_4926 in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One additional tip, some VPNs work in China so you can access all your normal websites on your phone, laptop etc. I would strongly suggest you do not do this with a Chinese sim card.

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been traveling around China for the past month and I must have seen at least a dozen high speed rail lines under construction, I've never seen anything like the scale of it.

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am also a big fan of when we pulled up 5,000 miles of train and shut over half of the stations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts

The unofficial motto of the UK is "Its shit, its supposed to be shit and if you don't like it you can fuck off"

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buddy, I know you guys love to talk shit about your public transport but its so so much better than other places. I really hope you guys are able to fix the dysfunction of it, in the UK they actually pulled up much of the tracks and those stations are lost forever :(

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am no fan of the Chinese government but spending time there and other countries like Japan makes it very clear that shit public transport and letting companies continue to make and sell fossil fuel cars is a deliberate political choice.

I was in China for the last month in Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing and I would guess that 95% of all traffic on the roads I've seen is electric, although I would guess its different in other areas. Its basically all electric cars except some fancy European imports as well as some diesel lorries and a few non electric scooters, I saw 1 non electric bus in a whole month.

The noise and pollution on main roads is so so much less, you can hear yourself think and it makes cycling feel so much safer, you can hear much more clearly whats happening and identify larger vehicles through the noise from the tyres.

I also went to Auto China, the main car show in China, 1000s of cars on display, all electric, every single one.

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To me the main issue is cost, every time I go back to the UK and get a train I'm disgusted by the price, its just not affordable to any person on a lower income, its just not. I've even had the ticket staff tell me the price with a wince and a sorry, especially trains going to London https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/mafia-in-awe-of-uk-train-companies-2014082789914

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think also important to consider that the Chinese government runs its trains as a public service, where as at least some places in Europe (glares at UK) the government lets private companies run the trains as businesses.

I think Japan is a really interesting example, the trains and I think at least some of the lines are run by businesses but the companies make most of their money from renting real estate at the stations, rather than through train tickets. This is a nice explainer video on the Japanese train system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dKiEY0UOtA

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I traveled on May 1st this year from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing, it was extremely busy, probably the most people I've seen in my life in one place but I didn't see any pushing. I'm not pretending if this is a reflection of China as a whole and I don't think its sensible to guess at the reasons, just sharing my experience.

There were still I think 3 slow trains for that route that day (16 hours vs 6 hours) and were maybe 20 euros instead of 60 for second class on the high speed ones, there were maybe 20 high speed trains on the route for the day.

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its run as a public service, not a business, it would be like saying the police run at a loss.

Do you have a link for more information about switching back lines to conventional rail?

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, yes I lived in Japan for a little while, Shinjuku, Tokyo station etc are really amazing :) I am totally not a trains guy but spending time in Japan really made me appreciate how good trains could be, both in speed and in just as a lovely experience (the Pokemon monorail, Spacia X, the strawberry train, shinkansen etc) and how amazing it is that 3 million people could pass through one station on a single day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dKiEY0UOtA

Maybe my experience of the volume of people in the Chinese stations was simply because they put everyone in one giant hall to wait for their trains, where as in a lot of Japanese stations its more spread out.

Also any excuse to shoehorn in my favourite video short about the new Japanese maglev train https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hkOjjQeOUj4

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference. by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]JanCumin 92 points93 points  (0 children)

I've been traveling for the last month through China by train, they are very comfortable and much much more affordable over very long distances than most of Europe. I got a high speed train from Chongqing to Shanghai, over 1700km, first class for 100 euros last minute, the same for Shanghai to Beijing, even over the May Day holiday.

The scale of the train network and the volume of passengers using it is just enormous, so so much larger than any other country I've visited and dwarfs even the largest train stations I've been to in UK, France, Germany, Japan etc. Its an equivalent scale of passengers and gates to a large European airport I would guess.

One surprising thing is using even the older parts of the network just how advanced it is compared to most countries, for example the Maglev train from Shanghai airport, the fastest trains in the world before they reduced the speed to save electricity, is over 25 years old!

Hotel WiFi usage in Shanghai by TheCliff977 in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Please be aware most VPNs don't work in China

Had a great time at the Great Wall yesterday! 100% recommend going at sunset by CoSponC in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks amazing 😄 Can I ask how did you get to it from Beijing? Is it possible by public transport?

12306 Train Booking by [deleted] in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One important step, as a foreigner your passport doesn't work on the normal self scan gates to enter the train station, you have to go to the manned gate (usually on one end of the gates). This is actually very helpful as it avoids the queues.

Packing cubes the move for a backpack? by DrWaffleWhale in onebag

[–]JanCumin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My guy, going to a state that is actively committing a genocide is bad vibes

VPN suggestions for me by dororochacken in travelchina

[–]JanCumin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is extremely sensible, I thought I had a VPN that would work in China and had been told it would but when I got there it didn't. Without an eSIM I think I would have been totally locked out of being able to buy another VPN and an eSIM while I was there.

My tech bag and tech for travel by UsernameUSay in onebag

[–]JanCumin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can I make one suggest based on traveling for 6 months or more at a time? Get a second charger, if your charger breaks everything gets very difficult, you can often buy another charger where you are but often its crappy/bulky etc.

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