We caught a train from Cheng Du to Xi'an. Took about 16 hours and cost for hard sleeper was 200RMB but can differ depending if you get top-mid-bottom bunk. Plus there is a surcharge if you buy from a location OTHER than the train station.
For the trains in China you can only book a train from the actually departure city. So buying tickets in advance is impossible. Basically you need to arrive at a city and immediately try to book you next train out. The trains are ALWAYS busy and it seems that now in end of SEPT and OCT is it FULL because of the independance day holidays. The holiday goes on for 10days so trains are hard to come by.
In fact we had to book our ticket to Beijing with a HARD-SEAT - err well is only 12 hours so is easier if I remember the trauma we went thru in India.
Not sure yet about a train from Beijing to HKG. I have to get lucky I guess everyone is thinking we won't have a chance - but then they all doubted we had a chance to get one to Beijing either - so we will see!
Cost to fly is ALOT higher but recommended if you are only travelling for a short time. Why waste the time? hehe
We had a great time on the train to Xi'an as we met a great local who spoke alot of english. So we got to learn quite a few things.... will update this later hehe
Ciao for now!
