Hello. This is travel post 22 in my China travel series. After 4 days and 3 nights in Xi'An we head off to Shenzhen in South China. The original plan was to stay 3 days and 2 nights at Xi'An and then go to Chongqing and Chengdu. We found out during the trip that summer in Chongqing and Chengdu would be similar to Dubai's 40 degree Celsius weather. That is too hot for us. Instead we go to Shenzhen which was planned anyways.
Heading To Xi'An North Railway Station
I don't want to get into too much detail about how we got to the station. One guy in our group gave the wrong directions to the taxi driver. We ended up taking another taxi to get to the correct railway station in Xi'An. At the time I don't understand why not use the metro station to get there. It is easier and simpler even though we had to carry luggage.
Xi'An North Railway Station (Xi'anbei Station)
We managed to get to the correct railway station from the second taxi. Security was fast and there was still some time to spare when it came to finding the correct train boarding gate. Here are some pictures I managed to take.
I think in every major railway station in China there is always a McDonalds and a KFC inside. KFC is not too popular in Canada/Toronto area but in China KFC is almost as common as McDonalds.
This train station is similar to the Hangzhou East railway station. It is bigger than the Hangzhou East one and slightly less crowded.
Train Ride From Xi'An To Shenzhen
The train trip from Xi'An to Shenzhen North station is a bit long. This train ride is 10 hours and 7 minutes. Our departure time was 10:14 AM with arrival at 8:21PM. For this ride I made sure to have instant noodles ready for lunch on the train. This train also had hot water available. You do see some people eat instant noodles or instant rice dishes powered by hot water.
The train looks a little different than the train on the Beijing-Shanghai route. It is white in colour has a giant FOTILE text on it. Speed on the high speed train is still pretty fast at a max speed of 300kph. Not as fast as the Fuxing train on the Beijing-Shanghai route at max speed at around 340 kph but still good.
The price for 5 adults for this train trip was 889.40 CAD after booking fee and a slight savings discount from Trip.com. This comes to 177.48 CAD per adult for a second class seat.
Arrivals at busy train stations is hectic. Many people line up for the escalators. Those without luggage to carry use the stairs.
Shenzhen North Railway Station has a metro station inside. This is really convienient. After clearing security we navigate to the metro station. Then we head to our hotel. It was 4 yuan per person to our hotel.
