With the help of the Beijing Bus website I have listed the following bus routes on my iPhone so the next time I’m stood on the street at Tuanjiehu and can’t find a taxi, I can hop on a bus.

Or the times when I’ve been playing football, it pours down with rain and suddenly every taxi driver in Beijing either hides indoors, is scared to drive in the rain, or doesn’t want to pick up a dripping wet foreigner, then I can take the bus instead.

Bus #682 travels from Chaoyang Park West gate (just outside Jenny Lou’s) north to Nuren Jie, then along Xiaoyun Lu, stopping at Xiaoyun Qiao, then stops just past Side Gongyuan, before continuing on it’s journey to Wangjing or wherever.

Bus #416 travels in a small circle around Sanlitun, stopping at Xing Fu San Cun (opposite the German Embassy on Dongzhimenwai Dajie), on to the 3rd ring road and then along Xiaoyun Lu across Xiaoyun Qiao and onwards. On the way back, it stays on the same route to the 3rd ring road, but then travels down to Changhong Qiao, along Gongti, past Sanlitun Village, onto the 2nd ring road at Dongsishitiao and back onto Dongzhimenwai.

There are a number of buses I can take from Tuanjiehu to Pingfang on Yaojiayuan to get me to the Chaoyang Sports Stadium: #686 (5 stops)/ #214 (7)/ #758 (7)/ #350 (9)/ #406 (8)/ #672 (7)/ #673 (8)/ #750 (8).

Bus #302 from somewhere behind Goose and Duck and the east gate of Chaoyang Park, across the 4th ring road to Tuanjiehu then north on the 3rd ring road to Zhongguancun, then up to the 4th ring road through Haidian ending up at Bagou Cun.

Bus #31 from Tian Shui Yuan Bei Kou (which is just by the south gate of Chaoyang Park), the bus turns right, past the big Jingkelong, travels south to Dawang Lu and to Baiziwan Qiao Dong (Tesco) and next stop is Baiziwan, ideal for the Ole Football and Climbing Gym.

Bus #31 comes back from Baiziwan to Dawang Lu, Yaojiayuan Lu and to Tuanjiehu Lu Bei Kou.

Bus #43 starts at Tuanjiehu, passes Landao and then down Dongdaqiao to the Friendship Store on Jiangoumen, along to Chongwen Men, then down to Fa Hua Si (Tiantan East Gate) and finishes up at Wu Jian Lou (end of line 5 area).

Bus #43 comes back almost along the same route, but needs to do a big u-turn on Jiangoumen and on the 3rd Ring Road. A bus route definitely to avoid during rush-hour.

Bus #115 is my regular bus for the 5 minutes trip to work. From Kangjiakou it travels along Chaoyang Lu, through Tuanjiehu and along Tuanjiehu Lu and across Changhong Qiao to Sanlitun. It continues over Dongsishitiao and turns round just past the south end of Jiaodaokou Nan Lu and heads back same way.

Bus #675 passes Tuanjiehu and heads along the 3rd ring road as far as Yansha Qiao before going past Xinyuan Li and to Xinding Lu (just by SOS clinic and Tori Tei) and stopping at Zuojiazhuang by the airport expressway. It comes back the same way.

Bus #635 travels from Kangjiakou (somewhere past the east 5th ring road) to Tuanjiehu, along Dongzhimen Wai as far as Gulou, then up along Deshengmen, over the 2nd ring road, over the 3rd ring road and all the way north to Erlizhuang which is close to the north 4th ring road. So useful for Guijie or for Dongzhimenwai Daijie.

Bus #673 travels past Ping Fang (Chaoyang Sports Stadium) to Tuanjiehu and through the south of the City on congested roads to Beijing Xi Zhan (Beijing West Station). It comes back mostly the same way spends some time on the East 3rd ring road before turning at Changhong Qiao back east.

Bus #758 from GuanZhuangHuiHeJianCaiShiChang (east 5th ring road) to Ping Fang, past Tuanjiehu to Dongsishitiao towards the centre of the city then heads North past Jiaodaokou, straight over Andingmen at the 2nd ring road and up to the Olympic Park and beyond the 5th ring road to TianTongBeiYuan. Back the same way.

Bus #731 from south east between the 5th/6th ring roads and close to Jingshen Gousu over to Tuanjiehu and then heads north around the 3rd ring road to Haidian and Xiang Bai Qi Qiao (which is at the north east corner of Yuan Ming Yuan and the Old Summer Palace. It comes back same way.

Bus #984 is a long distance bus that starts off around the north 6th ring road, just south of Huairou. It heads South on a minor and busy road to 3rd ring road, the cuts across Tuanjiehu down to Dawang Lu and at Sihui Qiao on the 4th ring road it passes Baiziwan Qiao (Tesco’s) it continues South and ends up south-east of 4th ring road at Xiao Hong Men Pai Fang Cun. It comes back the same way.

So, there’s my crib sheet, I wonder if I’ll ever use any of them apart from maybe #115 (to Sanlitun), #635 (to Dongzhimen) and possibly #682 (to Xiaoyun Qiao).

And they are just the buses that pass my house at Tuanjiehu, there must be 100′s of others criss-crossing the city and going to crazy old places here and there .. maybe I should do some random bus hopping and see where I end up in this beautiful city – if it wasn’t for the traffic congestion. hmm.

Train K26 – Shenzhenxi to Nanjingxi
Originally uploaded by yabbox

My last entry explained my stressful journey from Hong Kong to Shenzhen Xi Train Station. That is where I boarded this train to Huangshan.

Shenzhen Xi is a little used train station in the industrial part of Shenzhen. The K25/K26 train service is a privately run route from ShenZhen West ??? to Nanjing West ???. I’ll be travelling as far as Huangshan ??.

I didn’t know there were private train lines in China and apart from the branding in the restaurant car, it is little different from any other train journey in China.

My soft sleeper cabin was tidy enough, but the carriage was certainly showing it’s age and not as clean and practical as the modern soft sleeper carriages found on more popular ‘tourist’ routes. Just little things like an electric outlet in the cabin, electric touch open doors, cleaner toilets. But it is quite serviceable and not very busy, so I’m sure the overnight journey will go by without problem.

Train Warnings
Originally uploaded by yabbox

Probably the most interesting thing on the train are the bilingual signs, like, ‘please take good care of your kids’. There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of social guidance popping up in strange places now is there!

It reminds me of other signs I’ve seen on trains, telling you to ‘throw garbage in it’ or to ‘beware of nipping hands on sliding doors’.

I ate in the dining car twice, first for lunch with the rest of the train crew and secondly for dinner, with the rest of train who were mostly army cadets. The food was cheap and spicy. The staff cheerful but sour.

Despite travelling north through China from the relative humidity of Shenzhen to the desperate cold of Anhui, the air conditioner stayed on throughout the night, humming away and keeping the cabin like a fridge.

Huangshan Rice Terraces
Originally uploaded by yabbox

I woke up at around 6am the next morning and peering back the curtains of the cabin had a lovely view. It’s not every day in China you see green mountains and picturesque rice terraces. My camera was lying on the coffee table and I snapped this through the hazy window.

Dried Spice
Originally uploaded by yabbox

The train was meant to arrive in Huangshan at 07:33 but strangely it was a little delayed, pulling in to the small station around 15 minutes late. I had an hour to wait for Chris and after checking my bags into left luggage in the main hall (for ¥5!) I set off in search of a bank and breakfast. The Bank of China was on Hehua Lu, and just next door the morning market, which sold all sorts of fun and strange foodstuffs from pickled vegetables like bamboo, seaweed, to fresh fruit, live birds, dried spices, fish jumping from their bowls and more. The staff were all super friendly and welcomed my photo-taking.

Just outside I found a little shop selling some delicious hand pulled noodles in a spicy meaty broth (for ¥6!). A perfect breakfast and a perfect hour killed waiting for the train from Shanghai to arrive. I went back to the station, saw how much of Huangshan is being redeveloped and arranged a taxi to take us to the foot of the mountain…

K26 train route is as follows:
ShenZhen West ??? – Bantian ?? – Dongguan East ??? – Huizhou ?? – Heyuan ?? – Longchuan (Guangdong) ?? – Ganzhou ?? – Jian (Jiangxi) ?? – Xiangtang ?? – Yingtan ?? – Lepingshi ??? – Jingdezhen ??? – Huangshan (Anhui) ?? – Jixixian ??? – Xuancheng ?? – Wuhu ?? – Maanshan ??? – Nanjing ?? – Nanjing West ???.