04/12/25
Hong Kong to Zhangjiajie – 23°C low of 15 at night
We stayed on the Kowloon side so we would be closer to the train station for easier movement to the next destination – China – more specifically Zhangjiajie.
I booked the high speed train from Hong Kong to Zhangjiajie – Hong Kong West Kowloon Station (香港西九龙站) – Zhangjiajiexi/ Zhangjiajie West Station (张家界西站) via Trip.com. Since I was organizing this trip myself much earlier, I put in a reservation request earlier (more than a month ahead) and when the ticket sales opened, trip.com sends you an email notifying you. They will send you a confirmation rather quickly if it is successful. When you do a reservation request before the ticketing timeframe, you will need to pay in full first. If they are unable to obtain the tickets, you will get a full refund. For 5 seats, we paid RMB812 ($161.76CAD) each for 2nd Class. Normally, train tickets are only available for your specific date 2 weeks prior.
We reserved a Gogovan for 6AM to bring us over to the West Kowloon Train Station. We arrived in 8-10mins. Our train was scheduled for 830AM.
For our process from the moment the gate opened at 630AM, we made it through the whole immigration process in 30mins. I would say April is low season so the time may vary depending on travel dates.
Highly recommend to arrive at least 1-2 HOURS earlier – especially as a foreigner, you will have to manually go through the lines with your passport for customs and ID check.
On B1 we were told to line up in priority line because we are checking in with passport.
The initial passport checking gate opens at 630AM. First check of passport. You get an arrival card from them. Bags go through the security scan. Walk through and head to elevators to take you to B3. Make sure to fill out your arrival card before lining up for China customs. Go to the right side into the foreigners line up and proceed through China Immigration. They take a photo and take prints of 4 of your fingers on your left hand.
You then proceed to go through baggage line or non-baggage line. I carried a backpack & duffel bag as opposed to a roller luggage and went through the non-baggage lane. Then you are in the waiting hall and head to your train. If you go through the baggage check they have a roller scanner that goes over your bag.
There is a large holding area and 3 gates that light up with the train vessel that is boarding. When your train is up, you go through the gate and line up for another line and you will need to scan your passport or ID. Our train was scheduled to leave at 830AM and the gate to scan your ID opened only 15 mins before.
An attendant will help scan your passport. When cleared, you go downstairs via elevators or Escalators. As we came down the Escalators, the closest entrance of the carriage starts the beginning of the seat rows (we were row 6 on carriage 6 so we entered from the closest carriage 6 door). Large luggage storage is limited but there is an overhead compartment for everything else. There is plenty of leg room so if you happen to have a large luggage and there is no space, you can lay it down within your seating area.
The train is rather smooth. The high speed train was going an average of 198KM/H. Our train ride to Zhangjiajie was 6.5 hours. There is a QR code on the arm rest where you can order food & drinks to your seat or walk to the carriage where you can personally purchase.
Once we alighted from the train, so many people lit up their cigarettes. The station is quite pretty but the design for exiting the platform is horrible. One area for exiting with 1 escalator and 1 set of stairs.
To exit the station, you have to go through and scan your ID or in our case with our passports, had to go to the far right of the gates to the attendant who just waved us through. There is a larger courtyard and oh so many tourists. To catch a cab or Didi you need to go down the stairs/escalators to the designated area. You will be inundated by drivers telling you to go with them. The taxi drivers are aggressive with 2 literally all up in my phone trying to get me to hire them when I had already booked a Didi driver.
With Didi, you need to confirm payment and enter your pin to authorize payment. It is not automatic like Uber.
Once we made it to our hotel, our next traveller joined us – Gayaanan. For this little stretch of the trip we were now at 5 people. We stayed at KC Hotel – Kai Cheng Hotel 张家界凯成酒店（天门山索道站店 – located on the 5th floor with 2 elevator options.
We checked-in & immediately went to eat. Went across the street for the first meal of the day. Muslim Lanzhou Stretched Noodles (Station Branch). Lanzhou fried rice x2, Beef Noodle, Braised in soy sauce Beef Noodle, a green onion pancake type dish & a Dayao drink (similar to Fanta). The noodles were Hand pulled ¥105 ($21CAD).
The weather was less humid than Hong Kong with cooler temperatures as we had made it into the countryside.
We booked the Tianmen Fox Fairy Show via Klook ($35.37CAD/pp) that uses the Tianmen mountains as a backdrop with 500 performers telling the love story. There is a screen to the side with English translations during the performance. Our hotel receptionist said they could book it cheaper and it also includes transportation around ¥780 ($31CAD/pp) so if it is low season, you can get a better deal when purchasing when you have arrived. You will need to get a taxi to get to and from there (10mins drive from where we stayed). So many tour groups. Great lighting & performances. Be warned there are strobing lights at times.
Be careful or attentive of Didi drivers trying to upsell your rides by adding in parking & tolls. Both gayaanan & I had cases of it and we disputed it right away. What should cost ¥11 they tried to get ¥65 for.
Our whole eating schedule was off that we had dinner at 1020PM. We ate at Restaurant Youwei (Zhuyuanli Commercial City Branch). Potato hash, braised chicken w rock ear soup, farm house self produced pork with veggies and a veggie plate. All super delicious ¥345.
We all tried to use Alipay to pay via scanning but failed as certain smaller businesses sometimes don’t take foreign credit cards so be warned to carry some RMB! They didn’t have change so I was given a can of apple juice as change which was equivalent to the change they owed.
04/13/25
Zhangjiajie & Wulingyuan – 12-28°C overcast
The morning’s activity was Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park. We purchased tickets for 9-10AM entry via Trip.com. We purchased the Line A route tickets (adults – $54.04CAD/ seniors $45.10CAD).
From our hotel, we walked over to the Cableway station. We picked up food along the way from small vendors. Some tea eggs, steamed buns and steamed sticky rice in bamboo leaves.
When we arrived at the Cableway station, there was a quick bag scan. Go to the right side line to scan your passport & get your photo taken. Our QR code wasn’t even looked. When booking on Trip.com I had to enter everyone’s passport information so our passports become our tickets.
So many lines. The cable car going up holds 8 people & journeys for 30 mins.
We walked the West line. We made our way to the Tianmen Mountain Temple and from there ended our West line trail.
We took the sightseeing cable car (additional ¥125) to Yunmeng. It is a little 2-seater cable car with a bar that goes over you. We checked out Yunmeng Lookout point. From there, we took the Elevator down to the cable cars but go right to the East line. You will need to walk up a bunch of stairs then down to make it to a resting platform. Walk through the garden & take the throughout mountain Escalators. You need your passport for these Escalators.
The Escalators go on forever – about 7 sets of them. You get off & you have entered heaven as in you are in the giant mountain crevice. You can either walk down the 999 steps or for an additional cost take the Escalator down. I opted for the stairs down. The steps are small & slippery even with the perfect weather day so be careful. There were so many seniors in suits and more formal wear climbing the stairs so kudos to them.
Once you’ve made it to the bottom of the steps, you have the iconic stairway to heaven view.
You walk down to the very bottom and this is where majority of the bus tours start from. You get such a nice view from the bottom as well. It’s about a 500M walk from the entrance to the cable car that will take you down the mountain. This cable car is a 28 person seater and takes you to the base where the Fairy Fox performance happens. Now I understand why there is an option to purchase the 2 activities as a combo.
We went back to our hotel to grab our bags and the lady working was amazing and organized a driver to take all 5 of us to Wulingyuan instead of taking the bus. The drive is about 30-45mins.
We stayed at Wulingyuan Yijingju Humanistic Inn 依景居人文客栈 the Zhangjiajie Yijingju Renwen Inn 张家界依景居人文客栈 that is run by Cherry and her husband. We booked the Family Suite.
We had dinner at Manpo just down the street. We ordered Ribs with corn soup, fried tofu, eggplant & beef, fried spare rib and pork belly with preserved veggies. 229RMB ($45.60CAD). We were told they could tell we were Cantonese folk as Cantonese folk tend to order more soups than the mainland Chinese.
It gets confusing in this area as Zhangjiajie is the region however Tianmen Mountain is in Zhangjiajie however the Zhangjiajie National Park is in Wulingyuan.
-Zhangjiajie (pronounced – jong ja jaw in mandarin or jurn gai guy in Cantonese)
-Wulingyuan (pronounced – wu ling yu on chew in mandarin or no ling yuun in Cantonese)
If it is low season you can wait to book your tickets when you arrive as your accommodation will have hook up’s. If it is high season, you should book ahead of time.
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
-MAKE SURE TO CARRY YOUR PASSPORT! It is needed for entry – then your face becomes your ticket afterwards
-Zhangjiajie National Park 张家界 (7AM-6PM) gets super busy after 10AM – South Entrance Gate is the main gate. East Entrance Gate 森林公园门票站 also known as Sign Gate (is very close to Wulingyuan downtown)
Zhangjiajie National Park ticket – can purchase online – All-in-One Pass (Recommended for families with children)
Includes: Park Entry + Eco Bus Combo, Tianzi Mountain Cableway, Yangjiajie Cableway, Huangshizhai Cableway, and Bailong Elevator.
Prices:
Adults: 518 RMB (peak), 442 RMB (off-peak)
Children: 442 RMB (peak), 230 RMB (off-peak)
Seniors: 442 RMB (peak), 230 RMB (off-peak) – OPENING HOURS – March 1 – November 30: 07:00 – 18:00 (last entry at 17:00) December 1 – February 28: 08:00 – 17:00 – you need to put the intial gate entrance you are entering from but can enter from any of the others after that. Luggage storage services are available at the main entrances of the park, such as Wulingyuan Ticket Station and the Forest Park Ticket Station. Near visitor service center near ticket office – 10-30RMB/item
***There are over 330 buses – free environmental shuttle buses – 7AM-6PM
The loop road of Tianzi Mountain is more than 40KM long
it takes 40 minutes to travel from Yuanjiajie to Tianzi Mountain and vice versa with the sightseeing bus-
-Yangjiajie is the newly discovered and the smallest area of Wulinyuan. The pillars there take on a different shape to those you can see in other parts of Wulingyuan, like Tianzi Mountain and Yuanjiajie. Rather than being that tall, narrow and straight, the pillars in this area gather and stand like a wall. This is because the erosion process in Yangjiajie hasn’t reached the same stage as elsewhere in Wulingyuan.
***Try not to have food exposed while walking/hiking in this area as there are many wild aggressive monkeys around
I think this would have been my itinerary however I had to change it up considering I went through the National Park with my 75+ parents.
Day 1
Arrive for 7AM – Itinerary – Day 1 of park – Tianzi Mountain Cableway – Tianzi Mountain – Yangjiajie – Yuanjiajie – Bailong Elevator
Enter via WuLingYuan Entrance. Start off by taking the eco-bus to Tianzi Mountain Cableway
Explore Tianzi Mountain – eco-bus to Tianzi Mountain from Yangjiajie Scenic Area. 2HR – Helong Park (goto all the viewing decks), Imperial Brush Peak, Tianzi Pavillion & Fairy Presenting Flowers
Explore Yangjiajie Scenic Area – 2HR – Take a eco-bus from First Bridge parking area to Yangjiajie – The Natural Great Wall (near the cable way station) & Air Corridor. *** ONLY ATTEMPT THE REST IF YOU ARE PHYSICALLY FIT – Wulong Village, Tianbo Mansion, The Natural Great Wall & Air Corridor – If you were to see all these attractions, it can easily take the whole day as there is a fork in the paths and takes time to get to the northern point of the Village and back. The road to Wulong Village is really narrow and steep so only attempt if you are in shape. The monkey are more fierce here as not as many tourists come through as it is a newer development scenic area.
Explore Yuanjiajie Scenic Area 袁家界 – 1HR – Up top, take the eco-bus from First Bridge parking area to Yangjiajie – First Natural Bridge under Heaven (2M wide spanning 20M between 2 peaks), Yuanjiajie Scenic Area (Heaven pillars), Hallelujah Mountains (made famous by the film Avatar), Back Garden
Bailong Elevator – tallest outdoor elevator at 325M tall and takes 1M32S to get up but the queues can be long
Day 2
Arrive for 7AM – Itinerary – Day 2 of park – Huangshizhai – Golden Whip Stream & Ten Mile Gallery
Take a Didi to the LuoGuta South Gate Entrance 锣鼓塔 / 森林公园门票站
Huangshizhai – Huangshi Village – Take the eco-bus to the Huangshizhai Cableway and ride cable car to the top. 1000M cablecar (10mins) – not worth going up if it dense fog – can opt for RT cablecar to go back down – This atraction offers exploration, sightseeing & cultural activities (Tujia ethnic culture) – Heavenly Book Treasure Chest (Tianshu Baoxia), Stabilizing Sea Needle (Dinghai Shenzen)
Up top – Big Loop – 2.5KM – 2HR – Five-Finger Peak, Six Wonders Pavilion, and Star-Plucking Platform
Walk down or cable car back down
Golden Whip Stream 金鞭溪 (Jinbianxi) – 5710M long stream – Starts from Oxygen Bar Square for this hike/walk – 2HR – Drunken Monk (Zuohan Rock), Golden Whip Rock, Water Curtain Cave & Meeting-from-Afar Rock – This area is cooler as its closer to the waters
walk to Shuiraosimen Bus Station OR take the eco-bus to Ten Mile Gallery
Ten Mile Gallery – hike/walk 3.6KM to see the sights of the Medicine Man & Three Sisters
Take eco-bus back to East gate back to WulingYuan
Day 3
extra day to explore in case the rain and clouds didnt allow views
* might want to make it so itinerary covers some areas twice – this is because it’s common to get bad weather so there’s a chance you need to visit places twice!
Yuanjiajie – best views of the entire park is at the of Back Garden if hiking up/down – providing a view of the floating mountains (narrow sandstone pillars * peaks) with barely anyone there
Itinerary – 2 days + a buffer day in case its foggy and we don’t see anything.
04/14/25
Wulingyuan – 17-32°C sunny
Zhangjiajie National Park I
Cherry who runs the hotel we stayed at came in clutch to help us tackle Zhangjiajie National Park with seniors.
We chose the 7-8AM entry timeframe. We walked over from our hotel to the entrance.
Your passport is your ticket. Once we entered, we hopped on the ecobus for 30 mins to our first stop – Bailong Elevator. The roads are windy and they drive fast.
Don’t get off at the first stop unless you want the golden whip stream. One more stop to the Bailong elevators. There will be a line to get up 32 floors in an elevator to get to the Bailong elevator. You go through security again but no need to scan your passport as your face is now your ticket.
Once up the elevator, if you go left down the stairs, it’s a photo op area but oh so crowded.
Once up, a 5 min bus to Yuanjiajie. We walked the inner loop (roughly 1.5HRS). Start at fascinating terrace. A somewhat easy walk path with stairs to multiple lookout points. We made as many rest stops as food stops (Gayaanan likes his snacks).
The steps are uneven in places and they try their best to paint each step yellow for less tripping. The steps are slippery at times and I’m sure worst when wet.
Number 1 bridge – stay up to the left for the newer path which is better for seniors. We stopped for a light snack that serves their drinks and desserts in bamboo cups ¥81 for 3. I got the peach fragrant drink. They were kind enough to rinse them out afterwards so we could take them with us.
10 min bus to Yangjiajie. The line was long and people just push their way through even if there was an order to the line. The old Chinese ladies here got on my last nerve.
We had lunch at Pala Burger land. We got 1 combo for 2 (2 burgers, fried shrimp, chicken wings, fries & drinks) & 1 combo for 3 (3 burgers, fries, chicken wings & fried chicken) ¥258.53 (51.53CAD).
We also took the cable car roundtrip to see the views. It is an incline to get up to the cable cars. It’s an 8-person cable car. When you are in the cable car, this is the only time you are able to see that view similar to the Line A cable car ride at Tianmen Mountain.
To the left of the cable car exit back up top, you will walk towards the natural great wall.
At Yangjiajie, the natural great wall is the highlight there. If you have more time & fitness level is higher, there is so much more to trek around there.
Back on a bus (bigger bus that holds more people) for 30 mins to make it to Tianzi Mountain. Our driver was fast & furious on the super windy road whipping around corners.
To get to Helong Park, you will walk through a food stall pavillion. Go right and it will feel like you went the wrong way but it is correct. Head to Helong bronze statue and behind it are 2 sets of stairs leading to 2 viewing platforms. We checked out the Tianzi sightseeing platform – it has steeper stairs & a small platform but worth the views. Last spot was Yubi peak. You pass the McDonald’s and there are 2 views. Finally take the bus to the Tianzi mountain cableway station via a bus. So many steps and still a line. A cable car (holds 8) to head back down. You end up having to queue inside the stalls selling things to get to the bus. And alas, a final ecobus to take us back to the main gate of the Wulingyuan entrance. To get on it was a race of the masses.
Made it out of the park by 5PM. 15 min walk from our hotel. Dinner at Xiang Jian Tu Cai Gian. We got seaweed & egg drop soup, fried small fish, fried beans, eggs with tomato & hunan styled braised pork. ¥239 ($47.64CAD).
We did laundry at night but only realized there was no dryer so we have to wait for it naturally to dry.
Not going to lie, everything started looking the same at the park.
Bought tea from the zhangjiajie region from cherry. It’s floral and is especially good for males. ¥150.
Don’t rely on the wifi available as it only works sporadically. Our Airalo esim works well.
Having my parents on this trip to China came so clut h as they can communicate in mandarin. Funny thing is trying to translate the info to me they look at me and speak mandarin thinking I’ll understand when my Cantonese is already subpar to say the least.
The roads are windy & the drivers drive w a purpose so of you get motion sickness beware.
04/15/25
Wulingyuan – 16-32°C sunny
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park II
I had initially planned to start at the park at 8AM but trying to wrangle 5 adults to leave a hotel room takes a bit more to it to get them ready to go. We grabbed the bus (¥10pp) at the bus station with the clock tower above it in Wulingyuan. The mini bus took us to the LuoGuta South Gate Entrance (30mins).
My mom was insistent of eating before going up into the park because it’s cheaper. Grabbed some tea eggs, fried potatoes, corn dumplings, green onion pancake, 5 grain congee in a cup ¥85 (16.94CAD). Turns out, there aren’t many if any food options in there. There are a few kiosks once you enter the golden whip trail or up the cableway.
Super easy to get in as our face became our entry ticket.
Being on the base level, the weather was much cooler so best to layer until the sun comes out.
At the main level, Andrew & Gayaanan tried the VR Meta verse which apparently the graphics were already outdated.
We didn’t really get started until later in the day which meant more tours coming through. We took the bus over to the cable car & were queued for longer than we’d like. When we finally made it up to Huangshizhai it was already 1055AM. We were trying to go the shorter route as it was quite hilly with stairs going up & down repeatedly. The maps aren’t quite accurate. It felt more intense than the previous day. We ended up doing the outer loop.
There are loads of wild monkeys at Huangshizhai. You shouldn’t feed them but many do. They get aggressive and will go after your bags if they smell food.
We ended up finally returning to the cableway by 130PM. By the time we got down & took the bus back to the main lower level, we were famished. We couldn’t find food inside so we exited and ate at KFC before returning back in.
We walked the Golden Whip Stream (3HR). It is for the most part flat but also included is the barrier-free passages where you could walk on flat surface as opposed to stairs.
We started the Golden Whip walk around 330PM & were surrounded by so many kids on field trips.
The walk was really nice but once the sun started going down, it got chilly. The last few KM feel like it’s an incredibly long stretch.
After passing the rocks people use to cross the water, it opens into a large area with parking lots. Go far right and grab the bus heading towards the Tianzi cable way to get back to the East Gate.
When we finally got out of the park, we went to Maoshi Restaurant Characteristic Cai for dinner. We ordered mushroom with pork, pot herb veggies, wild mushroom pork soup, tofu meat foam pot and wok beef ¥257 ($51.22CAD).
04/16/25
Wulingyuan – enroute to Beijing
We all kept waking up around 5-6AM so we had time for a sit down breakfast. We ate on the street & had a bunch of congee with fresh yeow tiew (dough fritter sticks), wonton soup, seasoned eggs & an assortment of steamed meat buns ¥85 ($16.94CAD).
Luckily we had 2 really good weather days at Zhangjiajie National Park as the day was overcast (the sun did come out around 230PM). Usually it’s recommended that you should plan an extra day just in case one of the days at the park is overcast as you wouldn’t be able to see anything which is quite common. Since we had 2 clear days at the park, we had a day to do anything we wanted before leaving in the late afternoon to our next destination.
Cherry helped us book another tourist attraction – The Grand Canyon.
We checked out of our hotel room & stored our things.
Hopped on a bus at 930AM from Wulingyuan Bus Passenger Transport Station
武陵源 汽车客运站 (left at 945)(¥12pp) to make our way to the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon & the famous glass bridge. It took us about 25mins drive.
Once we got there, we went onto a shuttle coach bus to take us to the base of the entrance into the Sky Bridge (10mins). They have a designated red sign on the front of their driver window.
In our ticket pricing (¥136 ($27.11CAD) for seniors and ¥278 ($55.41CAD) adults with Cherry’s hook up) it included love enjoy fly vr, ziplining or sightseeing elevator, glass slide or elevator, south red flag canal or rainbow lake cruise & sky marvelous spring lake. You can also book Ala carte.
Our route for the day w our tickets:
-glass bridge
-glass sky
-VR in a hot air balloon
-Ziplining (super long lines)
-strip of sky slide way – (I don’t suggest the slide especially for older people if their fitness level isn’t high – it’s a core workout) there are 2 sections to it. My father opted out of the 2nd portion with the alternate of walking down a lot of stairs (the second portion is rather steep)
-Rainbow lake cruise (it is incredibly short but you can also ride it roundtrip)
-Sculptural elevator to the treasure hunt elevator
-glass bridge again to exit.
Mind you, to get to any of these locations were sets of stairs.
For the adventurous type, you could add on 260M bungee jump, via ferrata (360M of a small ledge you walk across cliffside) or rock climbing.
Apparently I get my gung ho attitude for adventure from my mother. At first she didn’t want to zipline the said she didn’t want to go first then saw a shorter line and said I’m going. Even with the 2 days at Zhangjiajie National Park, she just kept going. My father was struggling to go at a fast pace but my mom just kept going at times she wouldn’t wait.
Overall an 4 hour activity my parents enjoyed with less walking than the previous 2 days which we finished off the days between 23-29500 steps.
When you exit, make sure to take the free shuttle bus back (shuttle bus waiting area – upper to lower station) down to catch the buses instead of private drivers. We made it back to the area we got on the shuttle bus and walked down the stairs and across the street to find a red sign placed on top of the window of the same bus we took that morning with the same person who collected money for tickets. Finally got back by 530PM.
We had dumplings for dinner. 5 plates of 15 dumplings each for ¥75 ($14.95CAD).
Cherry helped organize us a driver ¥130 ($25.91CAD) to take us straight to the Zhangjiajie Xi West station to take our overnight train to Beijing West. We booked a 6 person hard sleeper which meant it was an open area bunk bed carriage. 18HR20M ride. Knowing what I know now, I should have reserved the 4 bed private sleeper rooms especially having seniors.
Our train was scheduled for 935PM. The gate started accepting passengers at 9PM. With our passports, we had to go through the manual check-in gate (far left) to scan our passports. Once through, we were platform 13 at the very end. Walk all the way down then a set of Escalators to get down to the train platform. We were carriage 6. Getting in the carriage is literally a single sized person throughout the cabin. We came in one way and a person needed to pass us, we had to tuck into one of the bunkbed rooms for them to move past. There are also folding seats in the hallway.
In a 6-person sleeper, there are 3 levels – upper, middle and lower. Middle and upper require you to climb. There are foot holds and handles but for older people it can difficult to maneuver. I booked the overnight sleeper train tickets via Trip.com for $83.71CAD/pp in a 6-person sleeper option. Our booking randomly booked 3 uppers & 2 middles.
After watching my father struggle climbing to the middle bunk, luckily enough a slightly younger lady offered to switch and gave him a lower bunk. The beds are hard and narrow. You can sit up with headroom on the lower bunk. Middle & upper you can’t fully sit up. There is a storage ledge on the upper and a table in the middle between the 2 lower beds. There is an outlet beneath. I claimed the 2 prong outlet with my mogics power bar and attached my phone charging cable to reach the top. The lights go out at 10PM. You get a pillow and a thick blanket. There is a toilet area and hot water available. But there is no Wifi.
Luckily I’m athletic to get up to the upper berth. It’s too high to throw your bags or luggage so you have to put it on the middle berth & when you are already on the upper to lift it up. Maybe there is a better strategy. There are 2 foot holds per side and hand rails. Coming down, I can hang from the over door bar & my feet don’t touch the ground.
There is a subtle cigarette musk everywhere. The upper bunk has vents pushing air which also unfortunately pushes the cigarette musk there as well. I slept on the upper bunk. The next configuration to figure out is which direction sleep. Do you sleep with head towards the doorway or feet towards it? I did feet towards the doorway but it also felt like the train was tipping and I felt like I was slightly upside down. The vents kept drafting over my face. I stuck my backpack furthest in behind my pillow so it felt more secure at least. But honestly, it felt super safe. Being 5’5 at most, I couldn’t straighten my legs as it touched the luggage stored in the upper luggage compartment with my backpack on the bed portion.
