Soft Sleeper

It's been a couple of years since I had to take an overnight train in China. When buying a ticket for an overnight train journey you have 3 options; soft sleeper, hard sleeper and seat. There's actually no difference in the type of bed between the 2 sleeper carriages, the differences are that in soft sleeper there are only 4 people in a compartment, there's a door you can lock and you can switch the lights on or off as you please. Oh and you also get a carnation in a vase on the table.

Another benefit to soft sleeper is that there is a separate waiting room which is much more comfortable and they let you on the train earlier than those with hard-sleeper/seat tickets so you avoid the rush and crush which comes with a few hundred people plus luggage all trying to be first on the train.

For hard sleeper check out the June 11th blip as my return ticket is hard sleeper.

Taken on the Z66 Nanchang to Beijing train whilst still in Nanchang station
(by Andy Meek)