On Sun, 2009-08-30 at 18:53 -0700, Michael Perelman wrote: > In China, I gave 2 different talks about 150 -200 miles away from where I > was staying in Beijing and Shanghai. The trips took less than 2 hours; > very comfortable. I don't know how much they cost. My hosts took care of > that, but they were far more comfortable than a plane. > > David, when you say that trains are uncompetitive at more than 500 miles, > do you mean just timewise for the trip. Security at the train station was > minimal -- just passing a bag onto a conveyor, which hardly slowed me down > at all.
I travelled by train a couple of times when I was in China earlier this year; from Beijing to Changchun in a standard carriage and back at night in a 4 berth sleeper carriage. The train was fast, modern and comfortable but on the way there my travelling companion and I both found the air conditioning too dry and warm. On the way back I was by myself but it was cooler to allow people to sleep and was very comfortable, and the same price. It was very cheap too although my sieve-like memory means I can't remember how much. Both trips cost the same. Ironically, my friend, who's very much into the "modern" China, and is not a lefty, missed the old trains. She'd looked forward to travelling around by train during her trip home but didn't enjoy it (because of the aircon) and wanted the older style carriages where you could open the window . . . When I was to meet up with her again in Xi'an, her home town, she got me an air ticket delivered to my door, for less than the price of the train! Cheers, John ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
