| Just thought of more: The 4-person compartments share communal toilets and lavatories at 1 end of each car. Even the the 2-berth compart. cars have the public toilets, so if 1 is occupied, you should be able to walk until you find a vacant one. The lavatories have 2 small wash basins and no door, so you might be brushing teeth with another person at the same time. The 2-person compartments have a small washroom with a basin and toilet. There is no shower, although if you are adventurous, you would use a bowl or cup to dish warm water from the tap and pour it over your head, since there is a drain in the floor. Pillows, sheets, and blankets are provided, but there are not wash cloths or bath towels. Toilet paper and toilet seat covers are provided. Surprisingly to me, the toilets empty on to the train tracks even in these new trains. If it is daytime and you flush the toilet, you can see the ground below. The toilets do have water flowing in them, though, and they do not smell bad. There are no showers on the train. Smoking is allowed in the corridors between cars. The sleeping compartments have doors, but if you are sharing with strangers, you may find that someone wants to keep the door open until bedtime. In that case, smoke could drift inside. This is true in the 4-berth cars because, but the 2-berth cars have electronic doors that seal off the main hall from the toilets and space between cars. There was no cigarette smoke in our car during either trip except in corridor (outside the sliding doors). There are many other trains between Shanghai and Beijing. They are a bit slower because they stop along the way, taking about 14.5 hours (instead of 12). These are much cheaper and have hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper tickets. In theory, smoking on these is also limited to corridors, but the trains are not sealed and often compete with a crowded bar for smokiness. They also tend to be worn, and fairly unclean by most international standards. On a very tight budget they are the tranport of choice, though. |
Train from Beijing to Shanghai