Yo

I took a trip alone to the city of Changchun in Northern China. Instead of sitting on the high speed train for over 4 hours, I decided to take one of the overnight sleeper trains. The benefit is that it acts as my hotel and train for that night. Killing 2 birds with one stone. It took about 8 hours, but it's more comfortable than sitting in a chair. At least I get to sleep and stretch my legs out.

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I opted for a Soft Sleeper which is one of 4 beds inside a secluded room. The Hard Sleepers are an arrangement of 6 beds per section, but it is open, meaning people can walk through it in the aisles. I recommend the soft sleeper because of the added privacy and it's more comfortable.

The bed's a pretty comfortable but the downside is that the train is quite bumpy. It isn't smooth like the high speed trains, which means that it was difficult for me to fall asleep. You feel the train swaying back and forth and switching tracks and all that. Overall, it wasn't too bad though.

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I was situated on the top bunk. They are automatically assigned to you. When you book your ticket, it automatically chooses a spot for you on the train. I would prefer the bottom bunk because of convenience and it is a little more spacious.

The ticket costs 263 RMB ($37.79 USD) and that is a steal because you won't need to spend a night in a hotel, as opposed to taking the high speed train. I highly recommend anyone in China to experience the adventure of taking one of these trains. It's a lot of fun and you never know what strange individuals you will meet in your room!

I arrived in one piece and I will be happy to try this out again in the future. Everything went well.