and had planned to visit a supplier in Shanghai and then go to our Wuxi City Plant and then back to Shanghai and fly home.Wuxi is only about 90 miles or so northwest of Shanghai but if you travel by car this can be a two to three hour adventure depending on how many traffic jams you can find (or how many find you). The solution is to take the train to and from Wuxi (one hour) and the new Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train to the airport (15 mins).
We hadn’t done this before but hey, we’re college graduates so we figured no sweat (yeah, I can hear you laughing now). One of the guys with us really wanted to get a driver to take us, but Drew and I wouldn’t have anything to do with that. “Heck No! We’re Ridin’ the Rails!” In all seriousness; it’s actually pretty easy. Every country in the world except for the US (and well, maybe India; I’ve seen those pictures - ugh) have excellent train systems.
(You have to enlarge the Blue Sign to the left!)
Our Admin had bought us $7.00 First Class Tickets so we knew we didn’t have to sit in coach (wonder what you get for $7?). And after dinner our friend went on up to his hotel room and that’s when Drew and I decided to cheat and go scope out the train station in advance. Our hotel was 1 block from the train station, so we walked over for a look. We found the huge Disney World style queue to get into the station; check. We found the monster sign listing train numbers and what we guessed were the track assignments for each. Check. We found the waiting room (the sign said “Ordinary Section”).
Check. We found the crowd of tomorrow’s travelers stretched out on the sidewalk sleeping with all of their worldly possessions. Check that, too. We thought “Man, it’s gonna be crowded. Wonder how early we need to be here to get through all of that mess?” That was when we saw the sign that read “The Soft Seat Waiting Area.” No crowds here. Hmmmm. We have 1st class tickets. That’s probably where we go in and if it’s wrong, we’ll just play the Dumb American Card and see how we do … anything to avoid all that queuing
up going on way over there. OK, we’re set. Let’s see what else we can find around this part of town. So we wandered around the area and that’s when we found the Kung Fu Burger King (good for a laugh).Wednesday morning, since we were returning to same hotel on Thursday, we left most of our belongs (that’s the way the Chinese say belongings) at the hotel and walked over to the train station. Our friend figured out we had pre-scouted, but he was still hesitant. Yes, we were allowed entry in the Soft Seat Waiting Area where the nice lady punches the ticket and we found the soft seats. Soft is a matter of degree. Anyway, we had figured out the track we needed, so we settled in for the 30 minute wait. At the appropriate time (announced by everybody getting up at once and moving towards the stairs) we headed out for the train.
I admit I am surprised. The train is fairly modern and very comfortable. Nice seats that recline with a small table in front of you. A 30 inch TV screen for showing whatever it is they show on a one hour ride. But this is when my stereotypes kick in. I want the conductor to blow the whistle; I want to hear the doors slide shut; I want the conductor to walk through the cabin and punch your ticket again; but I do NOT want to pass through a tunnel because everybody knows that when a train passes through a tunnel and comes out the other side – there’s been a
murder committed. Laugh if you want to; but go ask Agatha Christie to confirm. In the end, the conductor did blow his whistle. He did walk through the cabin. The doors did make the appropriate closing sound – and no tunnel. We’re OK.
This was an express train with only one stop. The track is pretty much nestled between large bushes along the tracks so the view was pretty much obstructed except for a few places, but it didn’t matter. We cruised at 150 mph and the ride is very smooth. The TV began to show the movie “The Mummy” which was fine, but when we stopped at the halfway point, the movie was restarted. So if you are going to be able to see a whole movie, I guess you need to make sure your train doesn’t need to stop. We did get a good laugh when we found that the magazine provided in the seat pocket featured Michael Jackson on the cover (just can’t get away from him).
Anyway, 61 minutes later we are in Wuxi. We pretty much fouled up the whole “get a taxi” process because we couldn’t figure out where to go to get one since (like airports) the taxis will only pick you up at a specific location and without English signs, well, lets just say we wandered around a bit. Eventually, we got straightened out and made it to the Plant. All in all; this is the way to travel between cities.
The return trip to Shanghai was just as smooth. Our friend still wanted to take a driver (why? I don’t know), but we held firm
on the train. This time we bought a coach ticket (by accident), but still sat in the soft seat waiting room again. In Wuxi, it turns out the soft seats are the same seats as the normal seats so the advantage is really only for crowd control versus comfort-ability. Coach seats are pretty much like 1st class except slightly narrower and no table and no movie and some of the travelers had packed what was probably everything they owned and sat with them in their laps. I shared my peanuts with the guy next to me. He talked and I talked and neither of us understood the other. He didn’t have any teeth. Thought maybe I was in South Georgia. 
Friday morning, we traveled Hi-Tech. We had our large bags and debated the subway, but settled on a quick taxi from the hotel to the Maglev station which would take us to the Airport. This is a very cool train. Top speed of 190 mph in 3 minutes. It’s really fast. You feel a slight swaying left and right, but very smooth. Halfway to the airport, we passed another train headed in the opposite direction. Whoooosh. If you so much as blinked, you would have missed it since it was also traveling 190 mph (that’s 380 mph relative speed for those UGA grads out there). This thing is fast. I liked it. Another Maglev is being built that will run between Shanghai and Wuxi. That trip is supposed to take 20minutes. Cool.
Many people had told me we needed to ride via trains and based on traffic, I agree. Now I wonder if I am brave enough to venture a train for the 13 hour (685 mile) ride from Shanghai to Xiangtan.
This was an express train with only one stop. The track is pretty much nestled between large bushes along the tracks so the view was pretty much obstructed except for a few places, but it didn’t matter. We cruised at 150 mph and the ride is very smooth. The TV began to show the movie “The Mummy” which was fine, but when we stopped at the halfway point, the movie was restarted. So if you are going to be able to see a whole movie, I guess you need to make sure your train doesn’t need to stop. We did get a good laugh when we found that the magazine provided in the seat pocket featured Michael Jackson on the cover (just can’t get away from him).
Anyway, 61 minutes later we are in Wuxi. We pretty much fouled up the whole “get a taxi” process because we couldn’t figure out where to go to get one since (like airports) the taxis will only pick you up at a specific location and without English signs, well, lets just say we wandered around a bit. Eventually, we got straightened out and made it to the Plant. All in all; this is the way to travel between cities.
The return trip to Shanghai was just as smooth. Our friend still wanted to take a driver (why? I don’t know), but we held firm
on the train. This time we bought a coach ticket (by accident), but still sat in the soft seat waiting room again. In Wuxi, it turns out the soft seats are the same seats as the normal seats so the advantage is really only for crowd control versus comfort-ability. Coach seats are pretty much like 1st class except slightly narrower and no table and no movie and some of the travelers had packed what was probably everything they owned and sat with them in their laps. I shared my peanuts with the guy next to me. He talked and I talked and neither of us understood the other. He didn’t have any teeth. Thought maybe I was in South Georgia. 
Friday morning, we traveled Hi-Tech. We had our large bags and debated the subway, but settled on a quick taxi from the hotel to the Maglev station which would take us to the Airport. This is a very cool train. Top speed of 190 mph in 3 minutes. It’s really fast. You feel a slight swaying left and right, but very smooth. Halfway to the airport, we passed another train headed in the opposite direction. Whoooosh. If you so much as blinked, you would have missed it since it was also traveling 190 mph (that’s 380 mph relative speed for those UGA grads out there). This thing is fast. I liked it. Another Maglev is being built that will run between Shanghai and Wuxi. That trip is supposed to take 20minutes. Cool.
Many people had told me we needed to ride via trains and based on traffic, I agree. Now I wonder if I am brave enough to venture a train for the 13 hour (685 mile) ride from Shanghai to Xiangtan.
Hmmmm.
Maybe not.
