Traveling in Beijing is a pain in the arse: not only are you stuck in traffic everywhere you go, but the underground system is slow and outdated (there are no ticket machines – only two ticket counters), the airport staff completely void of any useful information, and the train stations are more reminiscent of the annual Pamplona bull run. It is, in short, a real shambles for what is the capital of an increasingly important, and rich, country.
To enter Beijing West Railway Station (北京西火车站), where one takes the train direct to Hong Kong, there are two entrances only: both are so overcrowded you’d be forgiven for mistaking the stampede for a protest demonstration and wondering when the tanks would come. The hold up is due to security implementations – fair enough, better safe than sorry, but they should deploy more than just two X-Ray units for such a large crowd. Once in the station, expect to find nobody at the Beijing to Hong Kong ticket booth around 1pm; the lady would likely be at lunch and no, nobody would have thought of shifting in a replacement either. Here’s a tip though: if you’re traveling to Hong Kong from Beijing by train, turn up more than 45 minutes before departure. And if you ARE narrowly later than that (since you only need to board the train 20 minutes before), and don’t already have a ticket (since you can’t even get one till one week before and from one place in all of Beijing only), tell the lady at the counter to stop arguing and just hand over the damn ticket.
If SHE delays you by 10 minutes, you WILL miss the train.
As for me… it’s off to the airport tomorrow instead now. I expect when I arrive to find ridiculously long queues, a tour guide lining up on behalf of 20 others, people trying to go air-side without a boarding pass (“what? check in?”), passengers shouting at staff who aren’t able to help them – ahh yes… the joys of being in the bureaucratic capital of the world.
Thankfully ShenZhen (深圳), Hong Kong, followed by Sydney will be a nice breath of fresh air. Beijing red tape – see you again in May!
