As you cannot get the train directly from Xian to Hong Kong I had to get the train to Guangzhou. The train took 7 and a half hours. This was definitely a food sharing train, I was given a peach and some brown dried things in a packet, not sure what they were but they tasted fine.
The hostel in Guangzhou was definitely the strangest I have stayed in. It felt like I was staying in some ones apartment. The father sat in the corner and painted. The mother seemed to be the cleaner and the daughter dealt with the bookings. Most of the other guests were young Chinese girls who had moved to Guangzhou for work or to look for work and seemed to be permanent residents of the hostel, and some seemed to have been there so long they were part of the family.
I'm not sure why, but this seems to be the only photo I took in Guangzhou
The next day I headed to the border. Guangzhou to Shenzhen is about an hour by train. I managed to purchase a ticket very easily. When I was walking away from the ticket office, I checked to see what time the train was leaving. The ticket said 12.03, when I looked at my watch it was 11.52, so I had 11 minutes to go through security, find the departure lounge, go through the ticket check, get to the platform, find my carriage and get on the train.... I am used to getting to a station at least an hour before a train departs so having just 11 minutes sent me into a mild panic.
Once in Shenzhen, Hong Kong is clearly sign posted, which I found slightly amusing. You just walk to the Chinese passport control, get your passport stamped, walk through customs, go along a covered walkway, show your passport to Hong Kong Passport control, they staple a bit of paper to your passport, and you are in.
Four MTR trains later I arrive in Causeway Bay.
And find my hostel which happens to be located between Aesop and Burberry.
