Trains

Ancient,
  Don't have a clue about availability. But on the issue of timing...perhaps when she kicks you to the curb would be a good time. That is kind of how I plan my travels. It makes for a natural flow in ones life. You must do your best thinking early as well. The rest of the boys are not even up yet.

bta87 wrote:

Ancient,
  Don't have a clue about availability. But on the issue of timing...perhaps when she kicks you to the curb would be a good time. That is kind of how I plan my travels. It makes for a natural flow in ones life. You must do your best thinking early as well. The rest of the boys are not even up yet.

Hey its a win win. Get to interview replacements on the way to China. Some of my old injuries are early risers. Should have took better care of myself in my young and foolish days, not counting the older and foolish ones....lol

Ancient,
And then some things never rise!! Never thought of the interview aspect, great idea, I'm going to employ that in my scheme from here on out. Rules out planes, can't interview hardly enough in such a short time.

I heard that they have trains from Hanoi to Beijing 2 days/week and it may takes you 3 days but have not been confirmed by anyone. My cousin had taken several times the train to Nanning and they have traineveryday, it takes you more than half day from Hanoi to Naning where you can take the train to everywhere in China.

I was in Beijing twice but have not travelled to Beijing by train. To me the good time in Beijing is from March to early May (the weather is not too cold to me!)

Uhm, I think you may change the topic to "trains to Beijing/China" 

aibiet150204 wrote:

I heard that they have trains from Hanoi to Beijing 2 days/week and it may takes you 3 days but have not been confirmed by anyone. My cousin had taken several times the train to Nanning and they have traineveryday, it takes you more than half day from Hanoi to Naning where you can take the train to everywhere in China.

I was in Beijing twice but have not travelled to Beijing by train. To me the good time in Beijing is from March to early May (the weather is not too cold to me!)

Uhm, I think you may change the topic to "trains to Beijing/China" 

Thanks for the information. Getting there is proably the easy part.  Need to research visa information. March sounds like a good time.

Hi Ancientpathos,

Hanoi - Beijing by train (Tuesday and Friday)

Twice-weekly sleeper train from Beijing to Hanoi...

There is a safe, comfortable & affordable twice-weekly train service between Beijing & Hanoi.  A Chinese express train with modern air-conditioned 4-berth soft class sleepers and restaurant car runs from Beijing to Dong Dang on the Vietnamese frontier.  At Dong Dang you pass through customs & passport control and board a connecting Vietnamese metre-gauge train for the final run to Hanoi.  Note that at Nanning you may be asked to get off and wait on the platform for an hour or two while the train is shunted.

You can arrange your visa with any tour agency in Hanoi.

Btw, it is best to avoid Chinese New Year period!!

You can check out more information on train schedule and pricing.

http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm#.UoRKrCcS7d8

Noah

Yes, AP, your thread title is a little misleading. I don't know anything about trains to China, but I know a lot about China, having lived there before living in VN. If you go, I hope you have no chronic respiratory problems already, because they're gonna get much worse when you get to China. That's one of the main reasons I now live in VN with a Chinese wife.

Also when would be the best time to go?

Reference Aibiet's comment on best time for Beijing. Spring is often the time of the "Yellow Wind" in Beijing and Korea. This is a pre-historic Loess dust that blows in from the Gobi desert and causes all kins of pulmonary problems for those with allergies. FOr me the best time is early Fall, after the monsoon has shifted South and before the frosts.

lirelou wrote:

Also when would be the best time to go?

Reference Aibiet's comment on best time for Beijing. Spring is often the time of the "Yellow Wind" in Beijing and Korea. This is a pre-historic Loess dust that blows in from the Gobi desert and causes all kins of pulmonary problems for those with allergies. FOr me the best time is early Fall, after the monsoon has shifted South and before the frosts.

Agree. September/October. Last year, wife and I were planning a trip to Beijing this year around that time. Didn't happen. Instead, a little one happened. Maybe someday...

My apologies to China for indicating to all of you Ex-pat blog readers that China is nothing but a wasteland of pollution, and that you may end up in the hospital for steroid breathing treatments if you go there. There ARE places in China where the air/water is clean and fresh, and the scenery is magnificent. I've been to one of them, and intend to go back there before I die:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiuzhaigou

I put this on a level of magnificence with the Grand Canyon in the USA. All the more amazing is that it's in China, and is not corrupted by pollution. Being upwind of China's worst pollution probably helps.

SG,
  Thanks for the travel tip.I'll have to bookmark that one, very pretty. I have not been to China really, but want to visit. This be at the top of my list.

ancientpathos wrote:

Need to research visa information. March sounds like a good time.

China visa cost for those of us holding US passports currently stands at $150 USD at the Chinese consulate in HCMC. There are agents (and travel agents) in HCMC who can get China visas without all the associated hassle (China consulate requires you to have a letter of invitation and other assorted documents that the agents can circumvent) for a reasonable upcharge. I know one who will do it for $185 (that's a $35 upcharge for those of you math challenged). That gets you a one year, single entry China visa. Don't ask me why they make it one year, only to give you a single entry. I guess it does give you options if you need to change your travel plans on short notice once you have the visa. And the length of stay in China on that visa is limited to 30 days.

SG,
  Strange! I don't recall ever seeing such a weird visa e.g one year with only a 30 day stay. Obviously the one year, as you say is just for open planning purposes. When I saw one year I thought ,hey, I might go visit for a year. Yet the pollution of HCM is killing me, what would China do….

saigonmonkey wrote:

ancientpathos wrote:

Need to research visa information. March sounds like a good time.

China visa cost for those of us holding US passports currently stands at $150 USD at the Chinese consulate in HCMC. There are agents (and travel agents) in HCMC who can get China visas without all the associated hassle (China consulate requires you to have a letter of invitation and other assorted documents that the agents can circumvent) for a reasonable upcharge. I know one who will do it for $185 (that's a $35 upcharge for those of you math challenged). That gets you a one year, single entry China visa. Don't ask me why they make it one year, only to give you a single entry. I guess it does give you options if you need to change your travel plans on short notice once you have the visa. And the length of stay in China on that visa is limited to 30 days.

Thanks for the information and travel advice. Tried to edit the topic but it is like the spell check button. So October is a better time to visit. Need to travel in March.  Never been to Sri Lanka, maybe that can be my March trip with China for October.

noah83 wrote:

Hi Ancientpathos,
There is a safe, comfortable & affordable twice-weekly train service between Beijing & Hanoi.  A Chinese express train with modern air-conditioned 4-berth soft class sleepers and restaurant car runs from Beijing to Dong Dang on the Vietnamese frontier.  At Dong Dang you pass through customs & passport control and board a connecting Vietnamese metre-gauge train for the final run to Hanoi.  Note that at Nanning you may be asked to get off and wait on the platform for an hour or two while the train is shunted.

You can arrange your visa with any tour agency in Hanoi.

Btw, it is best to avoid Chinese New Year period!!

You can check out more information on train schedule and pricing.

http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm#.UoRKrCcS7d8

Noah

Thanks Noah, great information!

ancientpathos wrote:

Greetings,
Just curious if anyone had travel by train to China. I understand there are scheduled runs all the way to Bejing. Been thinking about visiting China, never been there. Also when would be the best time to go?

I went to Changsha in January, and later Yichang Via Beijing, in March 2008, It was bloody freezing, -6C in Beijing.  When it's cold you can't see stuff all for the mist/fog.

ancientpathos wrote:

...Tried to edit the topic but it is like the spell check button. ....

You'd have to PM a moderator (or anyone on TEAM) to manually fix it for you.  If you're lazy, use the "report" button.  It gets their attention faster but they'll be annoyed.

THD I think we have already done that. Maybe we should walk softly before we all get deleted.

No kidding…walk softly. These police are getting out of hand. Now they shut down a thread because in there view everything has been said. I think I will just shut down the blog on my computer instead. They go way overboard.

bta87 wrote:

No kidding…walk softly. These police are getting out of hand. Now they shut down a thread because in there view everything has been said. I think I will just shut down the blog on my computer instead. They go way overboard.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is not my site. Freedom of speech is not a protected right and in reality it is no longer protected in my home country. The moderators are just doing what they are suppose to do. Maybe we can get THD to build a site without rules?

Ancient,
  Yes I realize they have a job to do. However, when they jump in and push the kill button because THEY feel all has been said on the subject of sugar/MSG/ seems to go beyond. Yes they could invoke that it does not pertain to expat life in Vietnam, yet it does. Who are they to say we have learned all that needs to be learned about this subject. If we have I'm sure people would start dropping out of the conversation. That was my point. Yet I think it is more so a particular member that feels he has been mistreated when he jumps in and ALWAYS says  denigrating thins about someone. Then when when he is told to get off of the bus at the next stop he hits the "Mommy they are being mean to me button" and the police close the thread. Go back and look at the threads that have been closed including a couple of yours. He appears and gets stupid and the thread is closed shortly thereafter. Regardless, the police go overboard in my opinion. If they are so worried about boring subject why do they always arrive to put up there own boring subjects. Of course, we know the reason for that…to get the data for the next chapter on their book " Expat living in Vietnam"
available now for $19.95. Let them do it through one of the paid ads as well.

bta87 wrote:

Ancient,
  Yes I realize they have a job to do. However, when they jump in and push the kill button because THEY feel all has been said on the subject of sugar/MSG/ seems to go beyond. Yes they could invoke that it does not pertain to expat life in Vietnam, yet it does. Who are they to say we have learned all that needs to be learned about this subject. If we have I'm sure people would start dropping out of the conversation. That was my point. Yet I think it is more so a particular member that feels he has been mistreated when he jumps in and ALWAYS says  denigrating thins about someone. Then when when he is told to get off of the bus at the next stop he hits the "Mommy they are being mean to me button" and the police close the thread. Go back and look at the threads that have been closed including a couple of yours. He appears and gets stupid and the thread is closed shortly thereafter. Regardless, the police go overboard in my opinion. If they are so worried about boring subject why do they always arrive to put up there own boring subjects. Of course, we know the reason for that…to get the data for the next chapter on their book " Expat living in Vietnam"
available now for $19.95. Let them do it through one of the paid ads as well.

bta87,
I agree with everything you wrote.

ancientpathos wrote:

bta87 wrote:

Ancient,
  Yes I realize they have a job to do. However, when they jump in and push the kill button because THEY feel all has been said on the subject of sugar/MSG/ seems to go beyond. Yes they could invoke that it does not pertain to expat life in Vietnam, yet it does. Who are they to say we have learned all that needs to be learned about this subject. If we have I'm sure people would start dropping out of the conversation. That was my point. Yet I think it is more so a particular member that feels he has been mistreated when he jumps in and ALWAYS says  denigrating thins about someone. Then when when he is told to get off of the bus at the next stop he hits the "Mommy they are being mean to me button" and the police close the thread. Go back and look at the threads that have been closed including a couple of yours. He appears and gets stupid and the thread is closed shortly thereafter. Regardless, the police go overboard in my opinion. If they are so worried about boring subject why do they always arrive to put up there own boring subjects. Of course, we know the reason for that…to get the data for the next chapter on their book " Expat living in Vietnam"
available now for $19.95. Let them do it through one of the paid ads as well.

bta87,
I agree with everything you wrote.

Wow, just saw Solo1 got banned.    Hope it wasn't because of the boxing match...that was all in fun/jest.  The next time I'm on the TRAIN (see, I'm on topic talking about trains here), I might stop by Nha Trang and visit him.