We couldn’t find much information about how to buy this ticket online – so we decided to buy the ticket in Urumqi once we arrived.

Remember to bring your passport for registration.

Ya-Ou Hotel 亞歐酒店

Ticket office at the Ya-Ou Hotel: The hotel is located right next to the Urumqi South Station. If your face towards the station, the hotel is on your right-hand side. (As shown in the above photo, the Hotel is the building with a big red spot on top of its name) The ticket office is located inside the reception hall.

Ticket office opening time: 10:00-13:00, 15:30-18:00
Tickets are NOT on sale every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday.

Price: 750 RMB

You can call the ticket office with the number: 13579977019 (cited on 18 June 2016).
They only speak Mandarin, so make sure you write down which date you want to take the train. and show it to them.

Our Saviour – hot water for tea and noodles!

Market at the stops.

Almaty – Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Train No.: (INT) 369NJ (08:56 – 07:25+1)
Duration: 22:29 hours
Cost: 18071 Kazakhstani tenge
Tickets: Find your preferred time on OEBB site, then find a local travel agent and buy the tickets – you will see a lot of places with English sign saying they are selling tickets in Almaty – no matter which one you go for, the price will be much cheaper than you buy through online agents from abroad. Remember to bring your passport for identification.

Journey Tips: There are stopovers during the journey where you can buy food at the station’s market. We bought cup noodles, water, bread and other snacks with us – and it was not a problem as there is a hot water tank on the train.

As we took the train in late June, it was relative hot in the cabin as there is only a small window that can be open – make sure you have comfortable breathable clothing you can sweat in for the journey!

Urumqi – Almaty, Kazakhstan

Train K9795 (23:41-08:30+2)

Length: c.a. 33 hours

Ticket Type: Second Class (新空調硬卧-中鋪)

Price: 754 RMB

Where to buy: This ticket can only be bought at the Ya-Ou Hotel next to Urumqi South station, please refer to the post, how to get the Urumqi-Almaty tickets.

Our Cabin – all to ourselves as it was the low season

Waiting hall for late trains

our train!

Tips: Prepare every single meal for these 33 hours, there is no food being sold on this train. However, you can get to buy a wrap at a small store at the stop-over station (the train will stop for an hour or so for shifting the train track). (The shop is next to the station entrance, see pictures below)

We did not have any Kazakhstani tenge with us, so we exchange RMB to Tenge with the Chinese staff – they were very friendly and actually gave us a fair exchange rate – remember to bring cash and check the exchange rate, so you can exchange a bit of tenge on board with staff/ passengers.

During the first stop, you will find a little shop (with the yellow sign outside), where you can buy a tortilla wrap.

The tortilla Wrap actually tastes decent.

Once your meals are sorted, then just relax and enjoy this pleasant journey!

Relax and read a book!

Tulufan Bei (Turpan North) to Wulumuqi Nan (Urumqi South)

Train Z105 (09:58-)
Length: c.a. 1 hour
Ticket Price: 23.5 RMB
Ticket Type: Aircondition Hard Seat (新空調硬坐)

Tips: We booked the cheapest class for this short train journey, which is worse than we imagine. But you will get to experience the grassroots style traveling in China.

Lanzhou Xi (West) station to Tulufan Bei (Turpan North) Station

Train D2703 (8:30 – 18:19)
Length: c.a. 10 hours
Ticket Price: 499.5 RMB
Ticket Type: Second Class (二等坐)

Tips: The scenery in this train trip was quite interesting, the train went through dessert area – So a window seat would be highly recommended.

Scenery on the way

Newly built Lanzhou West train station

Guangzhou Nan (South) Station

Hong Kong Hung Hom Station – Guangzhou East – Guangzhou Nan (South) – Xi’an Bei (North)

Leg 1: Hung Hom Station, Hong Kong to Guangzhou East by MTR High-Speed Express Train
Ticket Price: 210HKD
Length: c.a. 2 hours
Tips: Sit back and relax. The easiest train ride you will have through the whole Chinese train journey.

Leg 2: Guangzhou East to Guangzhou South by Guangzhou Metro
Ticket Price: 5RMB
Length: c.a. 1 hours during non-peak hours
Tips: You can only buy tickets at the ticket machines now, so get yourself ready with RMB coins (cause some machines do not accept money notes), as well as the destination on the subway map. There will usually be long queues at the machines, so watch out for pickpockets near the ticket machines.

The interior is new and nice, but remember your headphones as Chinese play their phones in loud volumes.

Awful Chinese lunch box on train (55RMB per box)

Guangzhou Nan (South) Station

Leg 3: Guangzhou South to Xi’an
Ticket Price:813.5 RMB
Length: c.a. 9 hours
Tips: Allow yourself with at least 30 minutes to find the boarding gate for your train, because the station is considerably big with two floors. Remember to get some food for this journey, because the lunch box on the train is awful and expensive.