Day 180: Picking up rail tickets in advance

One thing that I do not like about taking the high speed rail is waiting in line at the train station to get the ticket. As a non-Chinese national, I am not able to use the ticket kiosk to validate my ID and print the ticket. (Think of this step similar to using an automatic kiosk at an airport in the USA.) The only reason I can think of for why this is the case is the kiosks are not equipped with passport readers. Having to get to the train station early to get your ticket is a bit of a crapshoot: The line can be a quick five minute wait or 30-45 minutes long. This gets quite annoying as you wind up rushing to your train platform so not to miss the ride or you have a lot of down time in a not-so-comfortable environment.

Fortunately I asked around and heard there is a ticket office near my neighborhood. No one could remember the name of the ticket office or the address other than “It’s near Euromart“. You know what that means: Time for an adventure!

This adventure was pretty smooth, but I did walk right past the ticket office without realizing it. The ticket office, or 火车票代售处 (huǒchē piào dài shòu chù) in Chinese (pīnyīn), turns out to be located below Lisa’s Bar (nope, haven’t been there yet) and it’s pretty small with only one ticket window.

Just like at the actual railway station, you will need your approved ID (passport) and ticket purchase order number if bought online. (I use CTrip for booking my train tickets, they have an English website and phone app.) The only difference is picking up the tickets here will cost you an extra 5元 (per ticket issued) which, in my mind, is totally worth it not to stand in line at the station!