Wikitrain

From Wikimania 2013 • Hong Kong

The Wikitrain is a way getting to Hong Kong for Wikimania 2013 by train from Europe by travelling with European trains, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Chinese trains. This page is meant to help travelers to coordinate and exchange advices related to this travel.

Previously

In 2010 a Wikitrain has been organized by European people to and from Wikimania Gdańsk. See en:Wikipedia:Meetup/Wiki-train.

Attendees

If you are looking forward to join wikitrain, please sign your name on the talk page.

Travel

The standard travel is Europe - Moscow - Beijing - Hong-Kong. There are two lines to go to Beijing: by traveling across Mongolia or not (see [1]); a Mongolian visa can be needed if the former case.

For the Trans-Siberian it is possible to buy tickets for the whole trip (easier) or for each section (more difficult if you don’t speak Russian, but cheaper). Note all clocks in the railway are aligned on the Moscow timezone.

Note that when purchasing Chinese train tickets, Chinese citizens need to present their national ID card, while foreigners need to present their passport.

The details of train options are listed in #Train options.

It may be necessary to live in cities of transit for few days (some trains may arrive too late or plan to take tours), for information about hotels and hostels in those cities, see /Accommodation.

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Visas

For European people, visas needed are the Belarus, Russian, and Chinese visas, and Mongolian where applicable.

Belarus

See en:Visa policy of Belarus

Russia

See en:Visa policy of Russia

Mongolia

See en:Visa policy of Mongolia

China

See en:Visa policy of the People's Republic of China

Hong Kong

See Visas (no need for EU people)

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Train options

The venue of Wikimania 2013 (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) is at Hung Hom Station (Kowloon, Hong Kong).

For train tickets reservation in China, see Talk:Wikitrain#Train_tickets_booking_in_China.

Berlin-Moscow

  • Oneway second class ticket Berlin-Moscow – 166 euro [2]

Moscow-Beijing

The costs are very different depending of the website you buy it or if you buy it in the train stations. The maximum found if 4300 € :-), the minimum about 150 € (in 3rd class) (70 € for Moscow-Irkoutsk [3]).

Option 1: Trans-Siberian

Direct train Moscow–Beijing (Oneway second class ticket Moscow-Beijing – 610 CHF (ca. 490 euro) [4]):

Option 2: Moscow-Chita-Zabaykalsk-Manzhouli-Beijing

Moscow–Chita
Train No 340ч. Every odd day of month from from Yaroslavsky railway station at 13:05. Travel time – 4 d 11 h. Minimal one way ticket price – 4090 rubles. (There are also a number of transit trains to Vladivostok, Blagoveschensk and Khabarovsk.)
Chita–Zabaykalsk
Trains: No 602Ч/340Ч daily at 12:37, 650Ч daily at 14:00, 322И every third or fourth days at 16:03. Minimal ticket price is 539 rubles in 650 train. Travel time is about 11 h.
Zabaykalsk–Manzhouli
By bus (across boarder).
Manzhouli–Beijing
  • K1302 (Manzhouli Station to Beijing Station)
    • Departure: Manzhouli Station at 1:16 p.m. everyday
    • Arrival: Beijing Station at 9:18 p.m. (next day)
    • Duration: 32h02m
    • Price: from 414 CNY (for sleeper)
    • Notes: The Tickets can be both bought online and bought at any China railway station. Tickets are sold 20 days before departure online, and 18 days before at railway stations. IDs or a copies are needed.
  • K278 (Manzhouli Station to Beijing North Station)
    • Departure: Manzhouli Station at 3:49 p.m. everyday
    • Arrival: Beijing North Station at 11:29 p.m. (next day)
    • Duration: 31h40m
    • Price: from 381 CNY (for sleeper)
    • Notes: The Tickets can be both bought online and bought at any China railway station. Tickets are sold 20 days before departure online, and 18 days before at railway stations. IDs or a copies are needed.

Beijing-Hong Kong

Option 1: Beijing-Hong Kong (direct)

Beijing-Kowloon Through Train (T97)
  • Departure: Beijing West Station at 1:08 p.m. every even day (of August) / every odd day (of July)
  • Arrival: Hung Hom Station (Kowloon, Hong Kong) at 1:01 p.m. (next day)
  • Duration: 23h53m
  • Price: 1191 HKD for Deluxe Soft Sleeper (recommend, because it's comfortable & safe), other price see: [5] (Tickets are sold by MTR not China Railway)
  • Notes: The tickets are sold 60 days before departure in Hong Kong, and 20 days before departure in Beijing.(see [6]) Tickets can be bought at any railway stations in Beijing or Hong Kong, but can not be bought online. IDs or a copies are needed if tickets are bought in China (aren't needed if bought in Hong Kong).

Option 2: Beijing-Shenzhen-Hong Kong

Beijing West Station to Shenzhen North Station (G71)
  • Departure: Beijing West Station at 8:00 a.m. everyday
  • Arrival: Shenzhen North Station at 6:16 p.m.
  • Duration: 10h16m
  • Price: 936.5 CNY
  • Notes: The Tickets can be both bought online and bought at any China railway station. Tickets are sold 20 days before departure online, and 18 days before at railway stations. IDs or a copies are needed.
Shenzhen North Station to Hong Kong POE
There're two POE in Shenzhen: Lo Wu Control Point and Futian Port (also called 'Lok Ma Chau Port')
Transport: Shenzhen Metro Longhua Line (takes about 20mins to Lok Ma Chau Port) / Longhua Line and Luobao Line (transfer at Convention & Exhibition Center Station, takes about 32mins to Lo Wu Port)
Hong Kong POE (Lok Ma Chau Port / Lo Wu Control Point) to Hung Hom
MTR East Rail Line (takes about 45-50mins)

Option 3: Beijing-Guangzhou-Hong Kong

Beijing West Station to Guangzhou South Station (G71, G79 or G81)
  • Departure: Beijing West Station at 8:00 a.m. (G71) / 10:00 a.m. (G79) / 1:05 p.m. (G81) everyday
  • Arrival: Guangzhou South Station at 5:38 p.m. (G71) / 5:59 a.m. (G79) / 10:32 p.m. (G81)
  • Duration: 9h38m (G71) / 7h59m (G79) / 9h27m (G81)
  • Price: 862 CNY
  • Notes: The Tickets can be both bought online and bought at any China railway station. Tickets are sold 20 days before departure online, and 18 days before at railway stations. IDs or a copies are needed.
Guangzhou South Station to Guangzhou East Station
Guangzhou Metro Line 2 & Line 1 (takes about 50min)
Guangzhou East Station to Hung Hom Station
Guangdong Through Train - too many trains and T819 (6:20 p.m)/T827 (8:30 p.m.)/T811 (9:32 p.m.)[7] is suitable (from 190 HKD[8], Tickets are sold by MTR not China Railway)

Note1: Beijing West Railway station is also called Beijingxi Railway Station (as 'xi' is Chinese of west). In the same way, Beijing North Railway Station (in XIZHIMEN of Beijing) is called Beijingbei Railway Station (as'Bei' is Chinese of north). Guangzhou South Railway Station is called Guangzhounan Railway Station (as 'nan' is Chinese of south). Shenzhen North Railway Station is called Shenzhenbei Railway Station (as 'Bei' is Chinese of north). The names like "Beijing West Railway Station" can be seen at the metro station, while the names like "Beijingxi Railway Station" can be seen at the railway station.

Note2: Because of the adjustment of China Railway, the price and the other things of tickets may be changed. Please notice the latest price.

Costs

Currencies

Country Currency ISO 4217 code to Euro to GBP to CHF to USD
Poland Polish złoty PLN 1 PLN = 0.2429 EUR
1 EUR = 4.1177 PLN		 1 PLN = 0.2035 GBP
1 GBP = 4.915 PLN		 1 PLN = 0.3047 CHF
1 CHF = 3.2819 PLN		 1 PLN = 0.3251 USD
1 USD = 3.0757 PLN
Belarus Belarusian ruble BYR 100,000 BYR = 8.6 EUR
1 EUR = 11627.4711 BYR		 100,000 BYR = 7.21 GBP
1 GBP = 13878.8125 BYR		 100,000 BYR = 10.79 CHF
1 CHF = 9267.3115 BYR		 100,000 BYR = 11.51 USD
1 USD = 8685 BYR
Russia Russian ruble RUB 1 RUB = 0.0247 EUR
1 EUR = 40.4451 RUB		 1 RUB= 0.0207 GBP
1 GBP = 48.2762 RUB		 1 RUB= 0.031 CHF
1 CHF = 32.2355 RUB		 1 RUB = 0.0331 USD
1 USD = 30.21 RUB
Mongolia Mongolian tögrög MNT 10000 MNT = 5.38 EUR
1 EUR = 1858 MNT		 10000 MNT = 4.51 GBP
1 GBP = 2217 MNT		 10000 MNT = 6.75 CHF
1 CHF = 1481 MNT		 10000 MNT = 7.21 USD
1 USD = 1388 MNT
China Renminbi CNY 1 CNY = 0.1201 EUR
1 EUR = 8.3279 CNY		 1 CNY= 0.1006 GBP
1 GBP = 9.9404 CNY		 1 CNY= 0.1507 CHF
1 CHF = 6.6375 CNY		 1 CNY = 0.1608 USD
1 USD = 6.2204 CNY
Hong Kong Hong Kong Dollar HKD 1 HKD = 0.1 EUR
1 EUR = 10.22 HKD		 1 HKD= 0.08 GBP
1 GBP = 11.83 HKD		 1 HKD = 0.12 CHF
1 CHF = 8.32 HKD		 1 HKD = 0.13 USD
1 USD = 7.76 HKD

as of January, 18th 2013 [1]

  • 1 EUR ~ 40 RUB / 1 USD ~ 30 RUB
  • 1 EUR ~ 8 CNY / 1 USD ~ 6 CNY

Visas

See #Visas

Train

See #Train options

Accommodation

See /Accommodation

Others

Beijing Subway: The subway is the most convenient and budget traffic method in Beijing, it costs 2.00 CNY with unlimited transfers applies to all lines (except the Airport Express, which costs 25 CNY).

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Organization

China Section

Organizer: User:Shujenchang, User:Park1996

We're volunteering to provide these services:

Links

References

  1. ↑ Exchange Rates
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