Eric's Beijing Diary

Beijing--Hangzhou Express. "In heaven there is paradise, on earth, Suzhou and Hangzhou." I am out to see if the old adage still holds true. Not sure yet if I will go to Suzhou or not. If I can get a ticket on the canal boat, I probably will go there. China has three "Golden Weeks." One in the fall, built around National Day, one during Spring Festival (traditional Chinese New Year), when absolutely everyone in China goes home, and one in May just after May Day. It's hard to describe what it is like to travel in a country where all working people take their vacations at exactly the same time. Fortunately, the train system in China is very well organized. I think they must have put on some extra cars or something, because amazingly, I had no trouble getting a sleeper ticket to Hangzhou. Didn't have to go through an agent, didn't have to keep coming back day after day. Just walked to the ticket window near the University and bought a ticket. They did tell me that there were no bottom bunks available, but that is a very small problem. Either one works for me.

Perhaps the availability has something to do with the fact that I did not plan to leave until Tuesday of vacation week. National Day was Sunday, so I guess the outbound rush had subsided by the time I bought my ticket.