Today, my railway journey from πΉπ Bangkok back to π«π· Alsace finally begins.
-
Today, my railway journey from
Bangkok back to 
Alsace finally begins.Marking the start of my trip, I visited the Hua Lamphong railway station. The beautiful building with a huge departure hall, flowers and fountains is sadly only served by
commuter trains and the 
subway in present times since the mainline operations were completely moved to the new Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal in 2016.Nevertheless, the railway station nowadays hosting a museum with beautiful old Thai trains serves as an excellent location to start my trip : I will spend the next two weeks all on trains : Sleeper trains, high-speed trains and adorable regional trains will hopefully safely guide me for 17.000 km on rails spanning from Thailand via China, Siberia and the Ural to Europe.
Follow #FOSSRail or this account to travel along with me in this thread !
@lewd insane? /pos
-
@lewd is my spirit animal
-
While travel agencies are *really* a thing here, currency exchange seems to be strange here.
Finding a travel agency who could issue me a cross-border ticket to Russia took me less than 10 minutes, I was searching for a currency exchange for over two hours - unsuccessfully. Even the banks were astonished when I asked them whether I could exchange money.
After three hours, I was finally told that the regional headquarter of the Bank of China does currency exchange and this is where I'm waiting now. It btw. took almost 10 minutes until I could clarify that I don't understand Russian.
I'm slightly nervous because my
train is leaving in less than an hour and I know how picky Chinese railway workers are when it comes to international trains. I will time-gap waiting here to 15 more minutes and otherwise cross the border with just my 20.000 spare Ruble hoping for an exchange opportunity in Russia even though the rates will be much worse there.While I expected a boring printout of an
online ticket, I was handed a wonderful classic ticket booklet consisting of the cover booklet ticket, distance fare, sleeper ticket and transport remarks - all written in Chinese, Russian and - of course - German. -
While travel agencies are *really* a thing here, currency exchange seems to be strange here.
Finding a travel agency who could issue me a cross-border ticket to Russia took me less than 10 minutes, I was searching for a currency exchange for over two hours - unsuccessfully. Even the banks were astonished when I asked them whether I could exchange money.
After three hours, I was finally told that the regional headquarter of the Bank of China does currency exchange and this is where I'm waiting now. It btw. took almost 10 minutes until I could clarify that I don't understand Russian.
I'm slightly nervous because my
train is leaving in less than an hour and I know how picky Chinese railway workers are when it comes to international trains. I will time-gap waiting here to 15 more minutes and otherwise cross the border with just my 20.000 spare Ruble hoping for an exchange opportunity in Russia even though the rates will be much worse there.While I expected a boring printout of an
online ticket, I was handed a wonderful classic ticket booklet consisting of the cover booklet ticket, distance fare, sleeper ticket and transport remarks - all written in Chinese, Russian and - of course - German.@lewd do you have any idea why they have German as a third language on the ticket? I was already surprised when my ticket from Bukarest to Chisinau featured German text, but on a ticket from China to Russia I donβt see any reason why you would use German as a third language.
-
While travel agencies are *really* a thing here, currency exchange seems to be strange here.
Finding a travel agency who could issue me a cross-border ticket to Russia took me less than 10 minutes, I was searching for a currency exchange for over two hours - unsuccessfully. Even the banks were astonished when I asked them whether I could exchange money.
After three hours, I was finally told that the regional headquarter of the Bank of China does currency exchange and this is where I'm waiting now. It btw. took almost 10 minutes until I could clarify that I don't understand Russian.
I'm slightly nervous because my
train is leaving in less than an hour and I know how picky Chinese railway workers are when it comes to international trains. I will time-gap waiting here to 15 more minutes and otherwise cross the border with just my 20.000 spare Ruble hoping for an exchange opportunity in Russia even though the rates will be much worse there.While I expected a boring printout of an
online ticket, I was handed a wonderful classic ticket booklet consisting of the cover booklet ticket, distance fare, sleeper ticket and transport remarks - all written in Chinese, Russian and - of course - German.Goodbye
China, hello 
Russia !The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.
I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my
353Π¬ train hopefully bringing me to Irkutsk.I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between
Manzhouli and Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed 
.In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe
. -
@lewd do you have any idea why they have German as a third language on the ticket? I was already surprised when my ticket from Bukarest to Chisinau featured German text, but on a ticket from China to Russia I donβt see any reason why you would use German as a third language.
@zugreiseblog_eu Germany is the UIC standard language for international tickets. Any UIC member issues classic booklet tickets in German. Another interesting remark : Where every you are in the world, if the railway still issues classic ticket booklets, the agents *will* understand the German terms "Buchfahrkarte", "Streckenfahrschein" and "Bettkarte". This already avoided lots of trouble on my travels in countries where we didn't find a common language.
-
Goodbye
China, hello Russia !The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.
I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my
353Π¬ train hopefully bringing me to Irkutsk.I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between
Manzhouli and Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed .In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe
.@lewd be safe
-
@zugreiseblog_eu Germany is the UIC standard language for international tickets. Any UIC member issues classic booklet tickets in German. Another interesting remark : Where every you are in the world, if the railway still issues classic ticket booklets, the agents *will* understand the German terms "Buchfahrkarte", "Streckenfahrschein" and "Bettkarte". This already avoided lots of trouble on my travels in countries where we didn't find a common language.
@lewd thatβs interesting, didnβt knew that until know. Is that also part of the reason why they use the word βPlatzkartβ in Russian?
-
Goodbye
China, hello Russia !The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.
I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my
353Π¬ train hopefully bringing me to Irkutsk.I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between
Manzhouli and Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed .In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe
.@lewd fuerza!
-
Goodbye
China, hello Russia !The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.
I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my
353Π¬ train hopefully bringing me to Irkutsk.I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between
Manzhouli and Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed .In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe
.@lewd stay safe!
-
Goodbye
China, hello Russia !The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.
I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my
353Π¬ train hopefully bringing me to Irkutsk.I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between
Manzhouli and Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed .In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe
.@lewd ah conductors carry rosahajs there too
-
@lewd I thought Russia didnβt use containers
-
@lewd Problems with passports in Latin letters?
"Just transcribe my name to 'ΠΡΠ΅ΠΉΠ΄' ".
-
@lewd I already assumed that.
