TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION - Living Abroad in Beijing - page 342

To buy your tickets, you can visit any of Beijing's train stations, regardless of where
you'll depart from. These often have 24-hour ticket windows, and Beijing Station and
Beijing West Station also have English-language ticket windows. Only cash is accepted
here.
Alternatively, there are around a hundred ticketing offices dotted around town, including
in Terminal 2 at the airport. These are typically open 8am-9pm and charge a RMB5 booking
fee.
There are also online options. Chinese-only site www.12306.cn (view through Google
Chrome for a usable translation) is the official ticketing site and the most trusted. It
is, however, in Chinese only and doesn't accept foreign bank or credit cards. You may
find English sites www.tour-beijing.com , www.chinatrainguide.com ,
www.chinatripadvisor.com , or www.chinatraintickets.net more user-friendly. These kinds
of agencies can also often work the system, allowing you to jump the queue and book far
more in advance than you could yourself. Their prices do vary greatly, however, so be sure
to compare.
If you're traveling with children, tell them to hunch—children under 120 centimeters
(47 inches) travel free, and those 120-150 centimeters (47-59 inches) get a discount. Taller
than this and they're considered big enough to pay full price.
Finally, don't forget; when you both book and travel (even to Tianjin), you and your
companions will need your passports on you.
By Long-Distance Bus
Long-distance buses ( 长途汽车 , chángtúqìch ē ) are an extremely affordable and convenient
option for getting out into the countryside, as well as for taking yourself off on mini breaks
to nearby cities and surrounding provinces, such as Datong or Pingyao in Shanxi province,
Hebei or Liaoning province, Inner Mongolia, or Tianjin. While many will take you as far as
Shanghai (RMB281-340) or Xi'an (RMB259), remember these are vast distances possibly
requiring 10 or more hours on the road. A train or plane might be a better option.
There are two forms of long-distance bus travel—those that operate like public buses
and run to a daily schedule, for which you turn up at the bus station, swipe your travel card
or pay in cash when you get on, then get off at the stop you want; and then there are more
coach-like services, which you can book through a travel site or office.