Travelling on China's Fast Train in a Snow Storm

Travelling in China was relatively easy even around the Lunar New Year time. But the one thing we needed to do was making sure that our tickets were purchased ahead of time. We are foruntate as we have a family member living in China and could do this for us without much difficulty. During this trip to China, we had two places where we must see. The first one was Gulangyu Island in Xiamen and the other one was Chengdu in Sichuan. However, these two places are quite far apart from each other. J. was very considerate when he was buying the train tickets as he wanted to break up the long train ride for us. Therefore, We made a stop in Nancheng for a couple of days after Gulongyu and then took the fast train to Chengdu, our next destination. We love travelling in China by fast train! Every train station we have gone to was modern and spacious with restaurants and shops to meet our needs while the trains themselves were convenient, comfortable and affordable. We pretty well could get to wherever we wanted to go in China. On our way from Nancheng to Chengdu, we ran into a heavy snow storm.

While the train was slowing down a bit, the cars on the highway were crawling at a snail pace, almost stopped. The passengers on the fast train were well behaved, no one complained as there were food and drinks were available for purchase on the train. Though the slow down was no fault of the train company, it provided the passengers each with a can of protein drink free of charge. We appreciated the courtesy gesture. We looked out of the windows and saw white snow blanketing the houses and the sorrounding area. It looked pretty and reminded me of our home in Canada. Though it looked bleak and cold outside, we were warm and comfortable inside the fast train. I would not like being in one of those vehicles going nowhere on the highway while we were chucking along, though a bit slower than usual.

The slow down was about 2-3 hours. After we passed the snow storm area, the train was back to normal speed. After almost twelve hour ride, we finally reached our destination, Chengdu, couldn't wait to explore this ancient historical city with my family for the many days! RT, on our way to CHENGDU, China