u/amituofo948

Recently, I went on my very first trip to China. Before going, I diligently researched every topic under the sun, including how to use the high-speed rail. 

Now that I’ve actually been to China and ridden the rail, I’ve learned a lot of things that you don’t see in the how-to guides you find online. These tip would have been super useful to know ahead of time, so I am sharing them here.

This isn’t a beginner’s guide because there are plenty of those out there already, so I won’t cover the basics that everyone teaches you. These are more bonus tips that will really enhance your planning and experience. Hope you find this helpful!

PLANNING AHEAD:

• Official railway website (12306.cn) only shows schedule up to 2 weeks ahead, but Trip.com shows schedule 2 months ahead, so I used that to plan even though I ended up buying tickets from 12306.cn. 
• On Trip.com, when you choose your location from the drop-down menu, keep in mind that “[insert city name] (any)” is different from “[same city name]”! For example, there is a specific station named Guangzhou, but choosing “Guangzhou (any)” can get you other stations like Guangzhou North, Guangzhou Baiyun, etc which can be miles away.
• Not all trains stop at all stops. You can have two trains going to/from the same cities but one be double the travel time, so pay attention to the trip duration.

SEAT ASSIGNMENTS:

• You can only see your specific seat assignments after you click “Confirm” to book, but before you have to actually enter your payment information.
• You won’t necessarily get assigned seats next to your entire party. I had a few bookings where we were assigned to totally different cars.
• Since you can cancel out for free, I just cancelled and tried again over different days to see if I could get better seats.

CHANGING / REFUNDING TICKETS:

• Very easy to cancel or refund on the 12306 app or website if you booked through there.
• For ticket changes, you can only change the date/time but not the station. If you want to change stations, you have to book an entirely new ticket and cancel the old one.
• If you CANCEL within 8 days of departure date, fees apply (which increase as you get closer to departure date). 
• If you CHANGE (date/time) within 2 days of departure day, fees apply (which increase as you get closer to departure date).

 

BOARDING THE TRAIN:

• Check the info board to know what gate to head to AND confirm the color of the train.
• Many trains stop for less than 5 minutes, so be prepared to hurry on board. There are literally staff members on the platform yelling at people with megaphones and rushing them to enter through other cars if the closest doors are too crowded.
• When you get to the platform, there are signs on the ground giving the approximate location of each car number, so stand by your assigned car. 
• The location for each car varies by train model, which is why you need to take note of the train color on the info board. I wasn’t paying attention to the color once and it turned out car #3 was on one end for a certain color train but mine was a different color where #3 was on the opposite end, so I had to board where I was and walk the entire length of the train to actually get to my car.

BEING APPROACHED BY DRIVERS UPON EXIT:

• When I exited the stations in smaller cities, I was often approached by pretty aggressive drivers who wanted me to hire them instead of calling for a taxi or ride-share. Their pushiness was really intimidating to me at first, but I eventually learned to tell them I already ordered a rideshare and to keep walking/ignoring them.

Hi all, I'm really in the mood for a good vegetarian lasagna. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

Hi, I am reading mixed things about Didi's 6-seater option.

I have a party of 6 people and we want to ride in the same car. When you pick 6-seater, does that mean:

1. 6 seats FOR PASSENGERS + driver = vehicle seats 7
2. 6 seats FOR EVERYONE, so 5 passengers + driver = vehicle seats 6

Hi all, I have a few questions about the public transportation payment cards.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I know you can use Alipay and Wechat to avoid the hassle of physical cards, but we need the cards because we have children & adults in our group who aren't bringing their own phones.

Thanks in advance.

===========================

1. What is the difference between the Lingnan Pass and the Yang Cheng Tong (YCT) card? Seems like the Lingnan card can do more and costs exactly the same. Is it only available to Chinese residents and/or way harder to find or something?

2. Can I use the YCT in both Guangzhou and Shenzhen? I think I read somewhere that you can use it for Shenzhen buses but not for the Shenzhen metro?

3. What else can you use the YCT for besides transportation and convenience stores? I read that it can be used at stores and restaurants (maybe like a pre-paid debit card?) but is that only at a few places? If it can be used pretty extensively, seems like it could be a way to work around the "over 200RMB" Alipay/Wechat fee, by simply topping off the YCT $200RMB at a time and then using the YCT as my main payment method.

4. Are there discounted fares for children/seniors that are tourists? If so, do I simply get my card at customer service desk to prove their age?

5. Any other tips for using the physical cards?

Again, thank you!

Hi all, in general, if I want to attach supporting documents/explanations to my tax return, is mailing in my return the only option? Or is there any tax software or other method to attach supporting documents to an e-file tax return? From what I see online, looks like there is no electronic option even with professional software. Thanks in advance!

Additional context: I normally use the IRS's fillable forms. In the past, I just mailed in the attachment explaining that the Free Fillable Forms doesn't allow for attachments and I would get a letter from the IRS stating no further action is needed. This is the first year that the letter said I need to file an amended return to have the supporting documents added to my file. I definitely prefer e-filing my return in general for its speed, accuracy, and certainty of receipt by the IRS, but this may be a problem if they won't accept my supporting explanations separately. And yes, this is for information that I am specifically asked to provide by the tax forms and/or rules.

EDIT TO ADD: This is for documents that I want to include with my initial filing, not in response to an IRS notice.

Hi everyone!

Look for guidance for using AMAP to do public transportation as a tourist:

1. To make sure I am interpreting the suggested route correctly, can you confirm that I have the letters in the picture correctly labelled? That A means Metro subway, B means above-ground train, and C means city buses?

2. Does AMAP display high-speed trains differently than how it displays normal above-ground trains? For example, does it use a different color or have a different icon? Or is using the "high speed" filter the only way to know?

3. AMAP says plan duration includes wait time. Does that account for adding 45-60 min before being at a high-speed train station to go through security?

4. I once saw an icon that looked like a vibrating train (like the regular train icon except that it also had parentheses-like marks on each side). I forgot to screenshot it, but what does that mean?

5. In your experience, are the projected route times fairly accurate?

6. Any other advice for using AMAP for public transportation?

Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/03dflp97kqzg1.jpg?width=946&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58e8bafaec8b20598d58a2bbbdd7259ffaa2a9f6