Survival Guide - Beijing - page 489

Saturday at 11pm. It arrives in Moscow on Friday at 5.58pm. The return K20 leaves Moscow at 11.55pm on
Saturday and arrives in Běijīng on Friday at 5.32am.
Vietnam
There are two weekly trains from Běijīng to Hanoi ( Hénèi). The T5 (M2 in Vietnam) leaves Běijīng West Train
Station at 3.45pm on Thursday and Sunday, arriving in Hanoi at 8.10am on Saturday and Wednesday.
In the other direction, the T6 (M1 in Vietnam) leaves Hanoi at 6.30pm on Tuesday and Friday and arrives at
Běijīng West at 12.07pm on Friday and Monday. Only soft-sleeper tickets (¥2390) are available.
North Korea
There are four weekly services to Pyongyang ( Píngrǎng; hard-sleeper ¥1164 to ¥1214, soft-sleeper ¥1692 to
¥1737) . The K27 and K28 both leave twice a week from Běijīng Train Station, meaning there's a train on
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each train leaves at 5.30pm and arrives the following day at
7.30pm.
Return trains leave from Pyongyang at 10.10am on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and arrive the
following day in Běijīng at 8.31am.
Visas, Tickets & Tours
Visas aren't available at these border crossings. Ensure you arrange yours beforehand.
You can't buy international tickets at train stations in Běijīng. You'll have to go through a travel agency. For
Mongolia, Russia and Vietnam, buy tickets at the helpful office of the state-owned CITS OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP (China International Travel Service; Zhōngguó Guójì Lǚxíngshè; 6512 0507; 9 Jianguomen-
nei Dajie, Běijīng International Hotel, Dōngchéng; 9am-noon & 1.30pm-5pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat-Sun)
, housed round the back of the left-hand side of the lobby of the Běijīng International Hotel ( Běijīng Guójì
Fàndiàn), one block north of Běijīng Train Station.
Trans-Siberian/Mongolian/Manchurian tickets can be bought from home, using Intourist Travel
( www.intourist.com ) , which has branches in the UK, the USA, Canada, Finland and Poland.
For North Korea, buy tickets at the office of CRTS (China Railway Travel Service; Zhōngguó Tiědào
Lǚxíngshè; 5182 6541; 20 Beifengwo Lu, 9am-4pm) . There's no English sign, but it's opposite the
easy-to-spot Tiānyòu Hotel ( Tiānyòu Dàxià). Walk straight out of Exit C1 of Military Museum subway station,
take the first right and CRTS will be on your left (10 minutes).
For help with booking a tour to North Korea, Běijīng's leading tour company to the area is Koryo Tours
( www.koryogroup.com ) .
Bus
There are numerous long-distance bus stations, but no international bus routes to Běijīng.