24. China by train: By train from Zhangjiajie to Guilin/Guangxi
After my morning shower and a last breakfast at the Metropolo Jinjiang Hotel in Zhangjiajie, The Wandelgek met again with his guide Gaby and his chauffeur for an early drive to the ZhangjiajieXi Railway Station (the West railway station), from where he was leaving for his half a day journey to the province of Guangxi and to the city of Guilin.
The train with number D3967 left at 7.17 AM local time which was quite early, but the train station was not that far from the hotel.
Zhangjiajie to Guilin High Speed Train (Best option)
There is one daily high speed train running from Zhangjiajie to Guilin. It departs from Zhangjiajie West Railway Station in the (early) morning and arrives at both Guilin North Railway Station and Guilin Railway Station. The whole trip takes about 7 ~ 7.5 hours. I suggest you unboard at Guilin Railway Station because of its great location in the downtown and convenient public transport. (The 11.5 hrs train journey mentioned in the map below is NOT correct anymore. It can be done in approx. 7 to 7.5 hrs.).
For check in information see my 1st railway travel blogpost on China:
Again I travelled with a high speed bullet train, to cover the large distance between Zhangjiajie and Guilin…
After saying goodbye to my Gaby who had been an excellent guide for the past 4 days. I waited for check in and then boarded.
I had become an experienced China train traveller by now and the whole process of traveling began to look very fluent and efficient to me. After leaving Zhangjiajie, I looked at some snacks Gaby had given me for the journey. They all looked delicious and were often wrapped in very colorful wrappings. I started with this cake like bread …
Hunan
The train journey was going directly from the province of Hunan to the province of Guangxi which is futher south (south west China).
Huaihuanan railway station
Remember the last parts of the railway station names which I explained in my 2nd railway travel in China blogpost? I had been to this railway station before when travelling from Changsha to Zhangjiajie. Both, information about the add on’s to town names to create railway station names and information about Huaihuanan railway station can be found in this blogpost:
13. China by train: By train from Huangshan City, via Changsha to Zhangjiajie
So this was the South railway station of Huaihua.
Efficient Sanitary Disposal System
The Wandelgek noticed that at a lot of stations there were these metal boxes with tubes leading into the train. What were they used for? It turned out that these metal boxes next to railway tracks in China were typically part of the train’s waste discharge system. These boxes serve as connection points for vacuum or sanitary hoses that allow for the collection and removal of waste from the train’s toilets at stations or maintenance points. This system helps keep the train’s toilet waste sealed and hygienically transported away without manual handling or discharge directly onto the tracks.
These trackside metal boxes are indeed used to clean toilets, as they connect to the train’s onboard vacuum toilet system via tubes, facilitating the suction and disposal of human waste from the train’s holding tanks. This method aligns with the modern sanitary protocols used in high-speed and regular trains in China, ensuring environmental cleanliness and operational efficiency.Thus, the boxes function as sanitary waste collection points for train toilets, allowing waste to be safely and efficiently removed as trains stop at stations or specific trackside service points.
Again everything is being done to guarantee a quick, efficient and above all punctual train system.
There are similar metal boxes with tubes or cables attached to the trains to provide the train with electricity for batteries for light and heating or compressed air (for the aircondition system).
I remember my travels by railway through Russia, where there was a similar and quite efficient system in place. But this system was executed by people. E.g. coal was supplied to every carriage in large bags and garbage was collected by the provodnitzas and left at the center of the platform where it was collected again. This was efficient too, but not as clean.
See my railway travels with the TransSib and Trans Mongolian Express for more on this:
TransSiberian Express:
TransMongolian Express:
Toilet excrementals were just splashed away with water and left on the tracks below (similar to the dutch way of dealing with this).
The train was moving fast through Hunan toward Guangxi…
Anjiangdong Railway Station
Anjiangdong means East railway station of Anjiang.
Anjiang is the name of a town in Hongjiang City, Hunan Province, known for being the hometown of agricultural scientist Yuan Longping and the “Town of World Rice”.
Dongkou Railway Station
This was probably the only railway station of Dongkou, because it did not have an adition to its name, indicating a wind direction.
Dongkou is a county in Hunan Province, China, under the administration of Shaoyang City. It is located in west-central Hunan and covers an area of about 2,200 square kilometers with a population of around 870,900 registered residents as of 2015. The county includes 11 towns, 9 townships, and 3 subdistricts, with the county seat located in Wenchang Subdistrict. Dongkou is known for its varied climate and several ethnic Yao townships.
I was snacking again and this was a bunch of biscuits with chocolate in between…
Regarding railways, Dongkou has a railway station on the Huaihua–Shaoyang–Hengyang railway line my travel agent did find a direct connection from Zhangjiajie West Railway Station to Guilin Railway Station, without a transfer in either Liuzhou or Changsha, which was remarkably relaxed traveling.
Longhui Railway Station
The western railway station of Longhui county.
Longhui County is a county and the 6th most populous county-level division in the Province of Hunan, China; it is under the administration of Shaoyang City. Located in the mid-eastern Hunan, the county is bordered to the north by Xinhua and Xupu Counties, to the west by Dongkou County, to the south by Wugang City and Shaoyang County, and to the east by Xinshao County. Longhui County covers an area of 2,867.67 km2 (1,107.21 sq mi), and as of 2015, it had a registered population of 1,231,600 and a permanent resident population of 1,100,900. The county has 17 towns and seven townships under its jurisdiction, and the county seat is Taohong Town (桃洪镇). The county was amongst the list of impoverished places of China, and finally got off the poverty list in the early 2000s.
Shao Yang Xi Railway Station
This is the railway station of Shao Yang West.
Shaoyang (traditional Chinese: 邵陽), formerly named Baoqing (Paoking) (Chinese: 宝庆), is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Hunan province, China, bordering Guangxi to the south. It has a history of 2500 years and remains an important commercial and transportation city in Hunan. As of the 2020 Chinese census, its total population was 6,563,520 inhabitants, of whom 1,415,173 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of three urban districts and Xinshao County largely conurbated.
One of the major forest areas in Hunan, Shaoyang has a forest coverage of 42.7%. The 23,000,000-acre (93,000 km2) NanShan Pastures is one of the biggest in South Central China and provide dairy products and meat for Hunanese.
Shaoyang is home to Shaoyang University. The school is composed of the former Shaoyang Normal College and Shaoyang College.
The Shaoyang dialect of Lou Shao group of dialects of Xiang is generally spoken here.
Shaoyang railway station (Chinese: 邵阳) is a railway station, located in the Daxiang District, Shaoyang, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.
Shaoyang is also served by Shaoyang North railway station, though it is much further away from the urban area.
Shaodong Railway Station
This is the railway station of Shaodong (in this case, dong is part of the ciy’s name, not an add on for a station name).
Shaodong (traditional Chinese: 邵東) is a county-level city in the Province of Hunan, China, it is under the administration of Shaoyang City. ShaoDong is located in the central part of Hunan Province, covering an area of 1,778 square kilometers, with a permanent population of 1.0385 million. It is renowned as the “hometown of a hundred trades,” “city of commerce,” and “capital of private enterprises.
Yangqiao Railway Station
Yangqiao is a town in Shaodong county in Hunan.
Snack time: I had brought some Biltong from home. It is always a long lasting treat which I first tried while killing time travelling long distances through South Africa and Namibia …
Hengyang Dong (East) Railway Station
Hengyang East railway station (traditional Chinese: 衡陽東站) is a railway station located in Zhuhui District, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China. It is on the Huaihua-Shaoyang-Hengyang railway, the Hengyang-Liuzhou intercity railway, and the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, a segment of the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway.
Hengyang (traditional Chinese: 衡陽) is the second largest city of Hunan Province, China. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km (99 mi) south of the provincial capital of Changsha. As of the 2020 Chinese census, Its total population was 6,645,243 inhabitants, of whom 1,290,715 lived in the built-up (or metro) area consisting of 4 urban districts, Nanyue District not being conurbated yet.
Hengyang is home to University of South China, Hengyang Normal University, and Hunan Institute of Technology, three major provincial public universities in the city.
The Chinese are very keen on Blueberry sweets. I had already tried Blueberry flavored icecream, but now I had blue berry candy from de XinJiang brand in my my goodiebag …
I mentioned the Xinjiang brand, because I visited the province of Xinjiang back in 2004 while travelling on the Silkroad. I noticed then the agricultural areas for peaches at the oasis’s e.g. the ones at Turufan and Kashi. Now I was wondering whether they were growing Blueberries too.
The taste was strong blueberry like. I had also this larger bag …
… and it contained real blue berries that were dried and thus tasted sweeter…
Qidong Railway Station
Qidong County (traditional Chinese: 祁東縣) is a county and the 8th most populous county-level division in the Province of Hunan, China; it is under the administration of Hengyang prefecture-level city. The county was formed from the eastern part of Qiyang County in April 1952 and was named after the east of Qiyang. Qidong County covers an area of 1,872 km2 (723 sq mi), and as of 2015, it had a registered population of 1,067,000. The county has four subdistricts, 17 towns and three townships under its jurisdiction, and the county seat is Hongqiao Subdistrict (洪桥街道).
During this railroad journey in Paul Theroux’s footsteps, I used Chinese high-speed bullet trains, but on 1 previous railway journey through China in 2004 the bullet train network had not been developed yet like it had been today, specially in West China and I used older, slower types of trains, just like Paul Theroux must have done. Also the trains which crossed borders were often old Soviet train barrels, like the ones I used in 2004 and in 2019. Beneath is such an older train model …
The current journey would not have been possible by train in a time frame of only 15 days. It would have required inland flights and a lot more money.
Yongzhou Railway Station
Yongzhou (Chinese: 永州) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Hunan province, People’s Republic of China, located on the southern bank of the Xiang River, which is formed by the confluence of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, and bordering Guangdong to the southeast and Guangxi to the southwest. With a history of 2000 years, Yongzhou is one of the four ancient counties in Hunan. Its total area is 22,255.31 square kilometres (8,592.82 sq mi), and at the 2022 Chinese census it had a total population of 5,143,700, of whom 1,146,692 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 urban districts.
Beneath another slick, aerodynamic bullet train had stopped at Yongzhou railway station and I had to photographing it in all its glory…
Dong’ andong Railway Station
Dong’an County (traditional Chinese: 東安縣) is a county of Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Yongzhou prefecture-level City.
Located on the south central margin of the province, it is adjacent to the eastern border of Guangxi. The county is bordered to the north by Shaoyang County, to the east by Lengshuitan District, to the south by Lingling District, Quanzhou County of Guangxi, to the west and the northwest by Xinning County. Dong’an County covers 2,204 km2 (851 sq mi), as of 2015, It had a registered population of 643,179. The county has 13 towns and 2 townships under its jurisdiction, the county seat is Baiyashi (白牙市镇).
Dong’an County is the source place of Dong’an Chicken (东安子鸡), which is one of well-known Hunan foods.
Did I say “Food”? Well there were still some snacks left in my goodiebag…
This one was toffee like with a hint of coconut …
The train now left Hunan in the south and entered the north of:
Guanxi
QuanZhouNan Railway Station
Quanzhou County (Chinese: 全州县) is a county in the northeast of Guangxi, China, bordering Hunan province to the north and east. It is under the administration of Guilin City. Quanzhou is the biggest county in Guilin both in size and in population. The dialect here belongs to the Xiang Chinese.
Historically, Quanzhou was under the administration of Hunan Province. It was only after the Ming Dynasty (1368CE – 1644CE) that it was removed from Hunan into Guangxi.
The landscape in northern Guanxi was changing dramatically, because the train now entered the huge karst mountain area that stretches all the way to northern Vietnam (Halong Bay).
Guilin Railway Station
Guilin has several high-speed rail stations, Guilin North, Guilin West, Guilin, and a new station in the Lingui District. Guilin station and Guilin North station are on the Hunan–Guangxi railway, Hengyang–Liuzhou intercity railway, and Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed railway, the main railways connecting Guangxi with central and southern China. Arriving at North Station, high-speed trains between Guilin and Changsha and Beijing came into operation in December 2013. In December 2014, high-speed operations began connecting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Guiyang, and Shanghai. This made it more convenient for people to come to Guilin. It takes only about 2 or 3 hours from Guangzhou to Guilin, 9 hours from Shanghai to Guilin, and 13 hours from Beijing to Guilin. Trains traveling between Kunming South and West Kowloon stations (for example) stop at Guilin West railway station.
Guilin’s central station was also the end of this railway travel section and the destination for The Wandelgek’s travels of this day. He quickly unboarded.
The train really looks quite impressive. After checking out at customs, The Wandelgek met his new guide for the next week. Tao was the 1st guide on this journey who had kept het own name without chosing an English substitute and I liked that.
After meeting with the cab driver too, Tao explained that there was enough time to first lose the luggage at the hotel in Guilin, before visiting the next adventure site, but I’ll write more about my hotel and my next adventures in upcoming blogposts.