BULLET TRAIN TO BEIJING, CHINA JOURNEY

That morning we got up and got ready to say goodbye to Xian, we had our breakfast and plied into the van with our luggage.

We were instructed to reach the Xian North Railway Station at least an hour before the train departure because security check would take time and we wouldn’t like to miss our bullet train journey to Beijing and upset our travel schedule

Xian North Railway Station is the only high - speed railway station in Xian. It is also one of the largest railway stations in China.

My first impression on seeing it after getting down from the van was whether we reached the airport by mistake 

China began planning for its current high-speed rail system in the early 1990s, modeling it after Japan's Shinkansen system.

The first high-speed rail system of the world, the Tokaido Shinkansen, began operations in Japan in 1964 and was widely known as the bullet train.

Chinese high-speed rail service began operation in 2008, running at speeds from 250-350 km/h and traveling from Beijing to Tianjin which was 117 km distant.

Construction of the high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai, the world's first high-speed rail with a speed of 380 km/h, began on April 18, 2008.

China has built over 37,900 km of high-speed rail, accounting for more than two-thirds of the world's total.

We went into the station, the security check was relatively fast thanks to our guide and we waited for announcement of our train, luckily the sign boards were in Chinese and English too

Xian railway station was indeed like an airport with departures and departure gates listed on a big screen.

I had plenty of time to notice the passengers and interact with some of the Chinese, most of them knew English well

Whenever I travel abroad my Bindi gets a lot of attention, people ask me whether it was a tatoo prompting me to remove the sticker and show them, I have had experience of some loving husbands taking it and putting on their wife's forehead for a snap

While traveling we come across some interesting questions like whether we are married or staying together. When I was asked about my wedding ring, I displayed my Mangalsutra which I said was tied by my husband at the time of our marriage, immediately the question was did I tie one on my husband too? It is very amusing to know the perception of others about India, once I was asked whether I went to my medical school on an elephant and snakes roam around freely on the roads

The railway station was immense with multiple shops 

 I noticed that next to the rest rooms there was a booth supplying boiled water 

According to traditional Chinese medicine, every human body is made up of yin and yang elements. Hot water, for example, is a yin beverage. 

It is believed to actually lower the body's internal temperature, restoring the balance and with it, the person's health.

The modern generation in China don’t believe in drinking tap water directly as they feel it may cause intestinal disturbances, so they prefer boiled water

I saw many of the Chinese carrying thermos flasks and fill them with the boiling hot water

I have not seen such booths in any other country, in India Tamil Nadu people have a habit of drinking warm water which they call Vennir ,few of the Northeastern states also drink boiled water

Finally we got an announcement that our train was due to arrive and we queued up at our designated gate number and board 

Walking through the gate we put our tickets through automated machines, went down an escalator where the train was clearly marked with the carriage letter, the train number and destination.

The platform and the train too were sparkling clean was silent except for the passage of the passengers there were absolutely no hawkers offering chai and Samosa

We were in the second class which was very full and seats comfortable with push back facility and a tea table to keep a laptop and a socket for charging our phones

Each compartment had a display showing the next station along with announcements about the next station coming up in English and Chinese.

We didn’t even know when the train started. It was fast, running at a speed of 250 to 300 km/h and the 756 miles bullet train journey between Xian and Beijing was covered in about.5.30 hours

I felt that travelling around China in a bullet train saves times and effort and is a very good experience