China's sleeper bus

First time in our life, we caught China's long distance over-night sleeper bus. First from Menghai to Kunming and then from Kunming to Shangri-la.

Unlike the other long distance coach that we have taken, the sleeper coach we have caught in China has beds. I really mean bunk beds instead of reclining seats. 3 sets of bunk beds in a row and there were about 30 beds on a bus. No toilets but the bus driver will stop when you advise him for urgent stop. If you are not too tall, it is not too bad. But the beds are really made for Asian height so I pity anyone over 1.75m.

A word of advise, try not to have too many hand carry on board, there is not much space for anything else. When you book your ticket, try to get middle seats, as smoking is permitted at the front door and the rear seats suffer many bumps.

Advise for other travelers with children: there are child prices for tickets both on trains and buses. Most of the time, it is judged by height of your child. Child of height under 1.5m normally get half the price and under 1.2 m maybe free. It is advisable to bring your child along, so that the ticketing officer could judge what you need to pay.

Sansan who is quite tall, sometime has to pay adult fare and sometime she get half price. Whereas Jon is free from time to time.

China's transport system has been pretty reliable. We have not felt any dangers in term of children safety. Chinese have been very friendly and accommodating with our children.

Advise on buying tickets in China - China do not operate a queue system like western countries. It is very much get your feet into any space when you can. Even when you are in a queue, someone else can still cut you by squeezing in the little space you left in front of you or ordering their tickets before you could speak. So in order not to get frustrated with the local custom, firstly don't leave any space when you are in a line; secondly have your money ready, wave and shout your order as soon as the officer is almost finished with previous customer.


- Posted by Mich using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Pedestrian Streets,Deqen,China