Seven hour high speed train ride in 1st Class

When I booked the three different trains that we'll be taking in China, I had noticed that the price difference between 2nd Class and 1st Class wasn't huge. So just for fun, when I booked the Zhangjiajie to Guilin leg, I hit the 1st Class button just for the experience.

Plus, this leg was for a full seven hours, so better to be as comfortable as possible!

The seats are larger and more comfortable. Not a huge difference in leg room space, but certainly sufficient. But for the most part, it was much quieter riding in 1st Class. And the larger more comfortable seats made a difference as well, especially on a seven hour trip. Ultimately, we're glad we paid the extra.

Seated in 1st Class.

Cost for this particular train ride was 592 yuan ($124 CAD, $87 USD) per person. I can't remember exactly, but I'm going to guess it was maybe $20 or $25 each more than the 2nd class ticket.

Scenery along the way. We've had a lot of rain here lately and the rivers are swollen.

Zipping right along at 246 km/h (153 mph).

It's hard to take decent photos out of a fast moving train!

We went through a lot of tunnels and over a lot of bridges.

We stopped at several cities that were over 2 million people... and we've never heard of them.

I guess when you've got 1.4 billion people in the country, it makes sense that you have over 55 cities that are over 2 million people!

All this rain sure does make things green.

A lot of people live in these huge apartment complexes.

I made a mistake when I booked the train tickets. The city of Guilin has two different train stations, and I booked our hotel close to the southern train station... and then the train to get off at the northern train station. It wasn't a big deal because we just grabbed a Didi taxi and the cost was 11 yuan ($2.25 CAD, $1.60 USD) for the 7 km (4 mile) drive right to the hotel door.

When we were on the train, it hadn't been raining at all. But we just made it into our taxi when it started coming down. I've been watching the weather forecast, and there was a typhoon down by the southern coast that looked like it was coming our way. Not great timing since our plan was to take the Li River boat cruise on Monday.

The hotel was newly renovated with all the latest modern features

Toilet and shower stalls.

Electric toilet with heated seat and automatic flushing!

The room was small, but very comfortable. We were only there one night.

Cost was 214 yuan ($44.50 CAD, $31.50 USD). Hotel prices rise substantially here in China between July 1st and August 31st. The price was about 25% cheaper in June.

We went out to get some dinner. Tired of the local fare, we found an Indian restaurant that looked really good. It was about 1.5 kms (a mile or so) from the hotel so we put on our rain ponchos and walked over there.

The small lake was actually quite pretty in the rain.

Yup... it's raining.

Really glad we found the Black Pepper Indian Restaurant in Guilin. The owner was friendly and spoke English, they were well versed on allergies, and the food was delicious. A little pricey compared to the local food, but even with a gin and tonic and a large beer the bill was only 152 yuan ($32 CAD, $22.30 USD). Ruth had the lamb curry and the meat was so tender. And I had the chicken biriyani, also great.

Now, the problem is that we are not going to do the 4 hour boat cruise. The typhoon has hit the city quite hard overnight with LOTS of rain!

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