Day 32 – 您好，上海！

Hello, Shanghai! 

Today is my first trip to Shanghai with the main reason being an evening poker match at a coworker’s place. I didn’t have much else going on today, so why not!

Getting there

Based on where I’m staying in Suzhou, getting to Shanghai is a bit of a process that involves three separate train systems:

1. Suzhou subway to Suzhou rail station
2. Bullet train from Suzhou rail station to Shanghai Hongqiao rail station (and airport)
3. Shanghai subway from Hongqiao to final location

First, I hopped on the Suzhou subway to get from Moon Bay (月亮湾) to the Suzhou Rail Station (苏州火车站). Getting a ticket for the Suzhou subway is easy: You walk into the station and find one of the automated touchscreen kiosks. There’s an option for English, so no struggling with learning the Chinese characters of where you want to go. Put your money in the machine after selecting where you want to go and grab your ticket then walk to the security check. If you have a bag, place it on the conveyor belt so it can be scanned. Closed bottles of liquids are OK to bring on the subway but for open ones you may need to prove it’s not a dangerous item by taking a sip or using your fantastic Mandarin skills to explain what the liquid is; I just leave the liquids at home, unless I bought a bottle of wine or six… Once past security, tap your ticket at the gate, walk through, and make your way down to the subway platform.

Riding the subway is easy as almost all sinage is in both Chinese and English and there’s an LED display indicating which stop you’re at and where the next one is. There are also announcements in Mandarin and English. For getting to the rail station I opted to change from Line 2 to Line 4 to cut about 15 minutes off the trip. Both lines stop at the Rail Station, however, so I could’ve just stayed on Line 2 all they way.

Once at the Suzhou Rail Station (苏州火车站), I needed to pick up my train ticket from the ticket office that was prepurchased using the CTrip phone app. (It’s in English and accepts credit cards!) I went to the North Ticket Office which is outside and to the left of the security check point. That’s very important to know as when I first attempted to find the ticket office I passed through security and was completely lost! (Good thing I gave myself a a full hour to navigate the rail station before my train left…) 

After waiting in line for a bit, it was my turn at the ticket counter. I handed the clerk my passport and my phone which displayed the “ticket pickup information” from the CTrip app. The clerk handed both those back along with my ticket. Time to walk through security again.

The train station is pretty massive with many platform, restaurants, seating areas and signs. Sadly most of these signs, including the depatures board, are in Chinese. It took me a while to figure out that my train departure wasn’t listed on the departure board because I was there a bit too early. Phew, nervous energy gone. Twenty minutes later my departure gate was announced and so I went to the waiting area. A little bit later it was time to scan the ticket and walk down to the platform where I somehow needed to find carriage 15 before the train arrived. (Carriage spots are not marked on the platform…)

The train arrived and I took my seat in the first class car. Hey now, that ticket upgrade was an extra $0.80! So why not 🙂 Seating in first class is 2×2 vs 3×3, very similar to a USA-based airline flying a domestic route. There’s also more legroom in first. But don’t expect beverage or meal service. (Maybe on longer routes those items are offered, but not for this short hop.)

The train was very quiet and fast. Max speed was 244kph (about 150mph) on this trip. There was only one stop between Suzhou and Shanghai Hangqiao (上海虹桥) station and the entire train ride was less than 30 minutes including the one stop.

Shanghai Hangqiao rail station also connects to the Hangqiao airport (SHA) via one stop on the subway. Sadly that airport doesn’t have many international flights. The main international airport for Shanghai is the Pudong Airport (PVG) on the eastside of Shanghai. Anyway, I queued up for buying a ticket for the subway, entered the security line, and found my way to Subway Line 10 as that route will take me within a couple of blocks where I’m meeting my coworker and a number of her friends.

The trip to Shanghai was pretty easy, but a bit long. I left my place at 10:45am and made it to the Hongqiao rail station (ostensibly the westside of Shanghai) by 1:30pm. It took another 45 minutes or so to get to the Shanghai Library subway stop.

Thoughts

Traveling by train is pretty easy and far less boring — and cheaper — than taking a taxi. Not sure about the intercity or long distance bus routes as I’ll likely avoid those. 

While staring out the train windows I got my first glimpses of the Shanghai skyline, including the building that looks like a bottle opener and the completely massive Shanghai Tower.

With this huge metropolis less than two hours away (now that I know how to navigate the Suzhou Rail station), I’ll likely spend some weekends here taking it all in: the shopping, the nightlife, the food, the museums, and the people!