Night Train to Zhangjiajie

Uploaded a video of the first few moments on the 20 hour train trip from Kunming to Zhangjiajie. After this trip I feel I have to review my opinion about the Chinese trains a little. :p

I still think taking the train is relatively comfortable in China if you have beds, but there are some things that are very different from Europe and some of them can be quite annoying. I have listed my annoying experiences below.

1) There is absolutely no way to open a window. The freshest air you can get is thus by sucking it through the cracks at the intersection of the train compartiments. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But, the lack of fresh air is still very annoying, especially when the train stands still, because then the AC doesn't work.

2) This one is not about the train itself, but about the procedure to get on it. Taking the train in Europe is easy, right? You buy your ticket at the train station or online and simply hop on. Well, in China things are quite different... Taking the train is as troublesome as taking an airplane. The procedure is complete with at least one security check, at least two passport controls and at least 3 ticket controls. Why? 你们的安全! For your safety of course. A terrorist might get through the first two ticket controls, but will surely get caught at the third one.
Also: queueing. In big train stations you can expect to wait 1h30 to just get your ticket. Even if you booked it online, you still have to fetch it at the administrative desk in the train station. This is particularly frustrating, because I don't see any usefulness to it.

3) There is music at the most inappropriate times. You wanted to sleep early, because you get off the train at 5 am? Too bad. Here's some tacky Chinese pop music that'll prevent you from doing that. Sometimes it's even worse, because the train staff communicates safety information (安全，安全，安全!) or publicity over the music at a deafening volume.

4) Hot water. This is actually a positive element. I listed it because it so unique to Chinese trains. In every train there is a water boiler. People use it to fill up the tea cans they carry around at all times and to prepare their instant noodles (THE Chinese train and pick nick food). It is actually very useful. I might introduce it in Europe. ;)

Rant over. But take it with a sense of humour, will you? :)