| I once attempted a day trip from Shanghai to Suzhou during the labor day week. Went to the main train station and lined up with the crowd to buy soft seat tickets. When it was finally my turn, and in between my broken chinese, the clerk wouldn't sell me the return ticket. He said i need to buy it when I am in Suzhou. I was very confused about why but didn't want to take too long at the ticket counter because there were hundreds of people waiting behind me. Once at Suzhou, I then proceeded another long line-up to buy the return ticket. At the counter, wanted to buy soft seats but he said there are only hard seats left and I have no choice. So reluctantly bought the tickets. It was a huge mistake too because that compartment was literally packed...absolutely no seats and passengers were jammed in, smoking, with not much breathing space. My main question is, why can't you buy return tickets and is it possible to find seats in the soft seat compartments once you are on the train by upgrading my train ticket fees? |