Sleeper Buses vs. Sleeper Trains

We were told that taking overnight trips to new places is a great way to reduce cost since you don't need to pay for a hotel and you are moving while you would not normally be doing anything. It is so true and here in China there are two ways to go. Sleeper buses and sleeper trains.

We had only taken sleeper trains up until just recently. Being in Hotan on the Southern Silk Road, there were no railroads in that part of Xinjiang Province and so our only choice was to take a sleeper bus. It was the "express" bus (which really means it stops in less cities as opposed to going direct) and was set to take 20 hours to go from Hotan back to Urumqi.

What the heck is a sleeper bus right? Right! I had never seen one until we hit China. They're the size of a Greyhound bus but instead of seats, they've got a bunch of beds 2 high in 3 rows running the length of the bus and NO washroom (that's what the road is for.) I pictured us stopping by the road side and everyone getting off and scattering for cover, but that wasn't always the case. Although sometimes it might have been better! :)

We didn't know what to expect going in. From the outside, you think the beds are high up off the ground so when we bought the tickets we asked for the lower beds thinking you can sit with your feet on the groud like a chair. Well, once getting on the bus, we found out the lower bunk is about 3 inches off the floor! Nice. And you (well, I) couldn't sit up straight without hitting the top bunk. I guess you're supposed to lie down the enitre trip. In any case, take the top bunk. It's much less stuffy and a wee bit more headroom.

We also got yelled at because we didn't take our shoes off. But we had no idea that they do that and provided a little bag to put them in too! Cool.

I tell you there's not much room to move! The beds not much bigger than your body width. And for those with motion sickness? Don't even think about this. You feel every bump and roll of the bus so much more while lying down. When turning corners, you almost have to hang on.

Now, being an overnight bus, you think you can sleep right? Other than the bumps keeping you up, the bus stops about every 3 hours for washroom breaks. You want to sleep but the driver is screaming at you to go pee!

I didn't mention that there are 2 drivers and they take shifts driving throughout the trip. They were in the bed behind mine and I guess when one of the guys shifts ended at 2:30 am, he wasn't sleepy and proceeded to try to talk to me. For some reason the usual "I don't understand" didn't work and he kept going and going. I kept not understanding but by the end of my conversation, I know that he thinks Canada is a good country, and that I have a great wife (his thumbs up to me was what gave me the impression!). Don't get me wrong though, these 2 drivers were really nice to us and always made sure we were back on before heading out, it's just; it was 2:30 am man! :)

We have taken many sleeper trains recently as distances between cities have been quite far. The shortest ride has been about 10 hours with the longest coming today. Our trip from Turpan to Lanzhou is going to be 24 hours. Within these trains, they have hard sleepers and soft sleepers.

Hard sleepers have beds stacked 3 high (6 per compartment) while softs have 2 and doors to separate the compartments. Softs also have nicer washrooms, attendants to do stuff for you, slippers to wear etc. Hards have a bed.

Of course the soft is more expensive than the hard sleepers. Almost double the price. We decided to try it once on a 23 hr ride and found that it's not really worth the extra money. The room was stuffy with the door closed and you end up being locked in a room with up to two other people you don't know. Are they gonna rob you? Who's gonna hear? etc...I admit the beds were wider, you get a reading light and less noise but double the price?

I didn't mention that prices (trains and buses) for the bunks are different with the lower bunks more expensive than the upper ones. Don't know why but that's the way it is. There's usually about a 10-20 Yuan difference in the bunks.

Overall, I would say, if you can go by train, do it! Much more comfortable, less bumpy and we have actually come to enjoy it a bit. Cool scenery and you get to walk around. But go hard sleeper instead and spend the extra money you saved on food and beer!