Chinese speed trains

Over winter vacation I had the opportunity to travel to China again. This was my third time to visit China in the last year. My original plan was to visit one of my close friends who lives in Shanghai... However, a couple of days before flying out, he contacted me and told me that his parents had surprised him with a trip to Taiwan the same time I had planned to visit him in Shanghai. However, since the flight was scheduled to leave from Beijing not Shanghai he offered to take me with him to Beijing. Considering I would be alone for a week in Shanghai I jumped on the chance to explore Beijing. Prior to leaving to China, I checked the weather report on Beijing and according to Yahoo on my iphone Beijing`s weather was -13C. Thus, I decided to hit up my local Uniqlo store and stock up on heat tech (believe me this stuff really works).

Upon, arriving in Shanghai the first thing I did was head over to Shanghai railroad station and buy a speed train ticket. The ticket itself could only be bought in person or online if you are a Chinese citizen because it requires you to use your Chinese ID number in order to buy tickets. The round trip ticket from Shanghai to Beijing cost me a total of 1110 RMB. Which is the same price as a one way ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto.

After riding the both the Shinkansen in Japan and the speed train in China. I believe they are both very convenient for travel and I cannot really prefer one over the other. The only thing I did not like about the Chinese speed train is that you have to buy it in person and there is not a rail pass available for foreigners traveling to China. Unlike Japan which offers a 7 day free pass for foreign tourists for the low cost of around 300USD. In closing I like both train systems in both countries but I in particular I liked the free entertainment offered on the Chinese speed train. As you can see in the picture below they had movies and TV shows playing. The train felt similar to a Air China flight...