Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
» Four air-conditioned bunks (upper and lower) in a closed compartment.
» Bedding on each berth and a lockable door to the carriage corridor.
» Meals, flat-screen TVs and power sockets on some routes.
» A small table and stowing space for your bags.
» Each compartment is equipped with its own hot-water flask, filled by an at-
tendant.
Hard Sleeper
Hard sleepers are available on slower and less-modern T, K and N class
trains, as well as trains without a letter prefix. As with soft sleeper, they serve
very nicely as an overnight hotel. There is a small price difference between the
numbered berths, with the lowest bunk (
xiapu
) the most expensive and the
highest bunk (
shangpu
) the cheapest. The middle bunk (
zhongpu
) is good,
as all and sundry invade the lower berth to use it as a seat during the day,
while the top one has little headroom and puts you near the speakers.
Hard-sleeper tickets are the most difficult of all to buy; you almost always
need to buy these a few days in advance. Expect:
» Doorless compartments with half a dozen bunks in three tiers.
Travelling the Trans-Siberian Railway
Rolling out of Europe and into Asia, through eight time zones and more than
9289km of taiga, steppe and desert, the Trans-Siberian Railway and connecting
routes constitute one of the most famous and romantic train journeys of the world.
There are, in fact, three railways. The 'true'
Trans-Siberian
line runs from Mo-
scow to Vladivostok. But the routes traditionally referred to as the Trans-Siberian
Railway are the two branches that veer off the main line in eastern Siberia for
Beijing.
Since the first option excludes China, most readers of this topic will be choosing
between the
Trans-Mongolian
and the
Trans-Manchurian
railway lines. The
Trans-Mongolian route (Beijing to Moscow, 7865km) is faster, but requires an addi-
tional visa and another border crossing - on the plus side, you also get to see some
of the Mongolian countryside. The Trans-Manchurian route is longer (Beijing to Mo-
scow, 9025km).
