Day 1: Napier to Shanghai to Train ( to Xian ), Saturday 20th/ Sunday 21st September 2025
PROLOGUE:
This trip was prompted by Liz watching a couple on Youtube who were travelling through China, and seeing how advanced and traveller friendly the country was. We had always planned to go back to China after our visit on the way home to NZ from the UK in 2007, so this felt like the right time to do this. There were a lot of challenges in planning a trip to China in 2025, mainly to do with restrictions around bookings ( for example train tickets in China do not go on sale until 15 days before the date of travel…so it is tricky to plan a trip months in advance ) and the knowledge that the ‘great firewall of China’ makes staying connected with the outside world a little more challenging.
But spoiler alert; it is worth it. The view we are shown of China in the ‘west’ is quite different to the reality and the country is generally tourist friendly and the people are genuine, warm and friendly. The most surprising thing to me was why more ( white ) people are not travelling in China.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
If you don’t want to read all the blog posts in this series to find out what we thought of China…here is a summary
friendly people; always willing to help
tourist friendly; most signs are in English, metro announcements in English, menus in English etc.
amazing scenery and variety of scenery
great train system, always on time and clean
great food
cheap ( the rough estimate of costs so far ( there will be a wrap up of costs at the end ) is NZD$13,000 for 28 days, of which NZD$100 / day was the spending costs ( food, travel around towns, tickets to things, shopping etc ))
So on with Day 1 ( well the first 2 days rolled into 1 ).
Final note: All photos are shot with my phone, but I will try to include ‘proper’ photos as well.
17° Fine in Napier, 17° in Auckland, 27°, cloudy in Shanghai
NZ$1 = Y4 ( Yuan / RMB )
Y1=NZ$0.25
Headed to Napier Airport at 2:15pm ( Uber $30 ) , checked in etc ( bags checked through to Shanghai ). Waited. Plane was due to leave at 4:35pm delayed due to having to reboot the planes computer. Left at 5pm. Took off fine, but never really climbed to a normal height. The pilot came on saying there was an issue with the pressurisation system, and we were on the backup system, and that we were flying low to make the trip comfortable; flew at 10,000ft the whole way. Landed in Auckland at 6pm
Walked to International ( bags checked through already ), then up and through immigration ( quick process ) then into the shopping mall. Went to PBtech and Liz bought a powerbank ( to comply with new CCC requirements of Chinese airlines ) ($51 )
Had dinner ( Japanese NZ$76 ) then waited, drew Y750 cash ( NZ$207 ), moved up to more comfortable seating ( watched our plane be towed to the gate ), and waited. Then down to the gate, and waited. Plane due to leave at 10:45pm. Onto the plane at 11:25pm, finally left at 12.
Flight was ok, bumps all the way, but we both got some sleep. We diverted east to avoid a typhoon off the coast of the Philippines ( Super Typhoon Ragasa, which slammed into Hong Kong a few days later ).
Arrived at Shanghai at 7am ( on time ), into the gate, through face scanning, heat scanning then immigration ( all straight forward with a 30 day entry without visa ). Then out into the terminal.
The plan for today to was to get things sorted for the rest of the trip, as we had nothing planned for the day other than catching the train to Xian at 4:30pm.
Tried to get an esim for phone ( to get a Chinese phone number ) to find only physical sims available, so we didn’t bother. Bought some snacks to test Alipay; Liz’s worked AC’s didn’t.
Note: Alipay and WeChat are the 2 main forms of payment in China; these work as direct transfer systems using a phone based app, using QR codes. For Alipay the 2 ways of paying are to either generate a qr code in the app on your phone and scan that code into a camera on the till/counter and the store gets a notification in their system to show payment has been made( this is the most common way ) , the other method involves scanning a QR generated by the store ( either a printed one or on an screen ) then entering the amount to pay and showing them when the payment goes through. WeChat is similar. Both systems and methods in Alipay work well and quickly, although sometimes the payment doesn’t go through properly and you need to reconfirm it before you can make your next payment in the app.
The Alipay and WeChat apps also have other apps in them such as Didi ( for cars ) and a system that generates a QR code to use on the metros etc so you don’t need tickets for trains etc.
Seems to work well and is simple once you get used to it.
Back in the airport we went to Tourism Financial Helpdesk and they sorted out the set up on AC’s Alipay ( they also set up the metro QR code in Alipay to use in Shanghai ( scan the QR code at the ticket gate, then scan again to get out and it bills you ). Went back to the shop to test the Alipay and it worked.
Walked through to the other terminal through the linkways looking for a shower, nothing to be found. The 2 terminals at Pudong are next to each other and linked by walkways, and the trains etc are in this link section as well. Back to Terminal 2 then sat for a bit and sorted bags, tested Holafly ( our esim ) etc. All seems to work.
We walked to Maglev ( Magnetic Levitation train ) in the centre of the 2 terminals then through the gates ( using the Alipay QRcode, Y50 ea ) then down to the Maglev train. We used the Maglev train last time we were in Shanghai and it travelled at 450km/h, but now it is limited to 300km/h for some reason. Still a fast and smooth way to get towards town. Unfortunately the Maglev stops at Longyang Station ( not in town ) and we switched to the metro line ( Y4 ) and went through to Shanghai Railway Station on line 2 to Peoples Square, then Line 1.
Got out at Shanghai Station and into the south square, left our bags at a left luggage hole In the wall ( Y130 ) at 10:30am.
We walked south and east from the station heading towards Nanjing Rd, but it was further than we thought. Walked along Wusong River / Suzhou River for a bit then through lots of new construction work. Gave up walkng and caught metro from Xinzha Rd station 1 stop to Peoples Square. Up to ground level and walked across to the western end of Nanjing Rd E. Walked along a little bit then found a noodle restaurant down a side alley ( Y50 for 2 big bowls of noodles with beef ) at 11:30am
Back to Nanjing Rd at 12 and carried on walking east towards the Bund. Nanjing Rd is very tourist orientated but is also full of Chinese tourists. The shops are large and are mainly western brands such as Gucci, Nike etc. Not our scene at all and we weren’t tempted to even go into any of them.
We walked to the end of the Nanjing Rd to the Bund, went up on the walkway overlooking the Huangpu River and Pudong. Took some photos then back to Nanjing Rd to a small colourful food court to grab some fruit juice drinks and a rest. Today is hot and steamy which we aren’t used to, so trying to take it easy.
Back to the metro East Nanjing Road then back to Shanghai Station station via 2 new lines ( 10 then 4 ). We came out the wrong exit ( North Station Square instead of South Station Square ) to find we couldn’t walk around the building to get to where our bags were as the railway lines were in the way, and to go through the station we would need a ticket. We weaded west along streets, found an underpass under the railway then back around to the South Square ( took about 40 minutes in total just to go what was a few hundred metres in a straight line ).
Got our bags and into the Station ( through security and ticket check ; all metro stations and trains stations have bag and body scanners at the gate line ). All our train tickets and tickets for attractions in China are linked to our passports ( for locals they use an ID card ) so we don’t have any physical tickets for most of our bookings.
Up to concourse, a large space with waiting rooms off each side and the train lines underneath. Grabbed a coffee and cake at Pacific coffee ( Y106 ), then to waiting room 10 and watched the fun. Not many white faces in the room. A lot of chatter, arguing, and noise in general.
A crowd ( a sort of queue ) started forming at 4:20pm ( train was due to leave at 4:54pm ), we joined. We had already seen that the gates closed 3 minutes before the time the train was due to leave so we didn’t want to be late. The gates opened at 4:34pm, so we went through passport scan which need a guard to scan it for us and down to the platform ( platform 8 ).
Our train was Train D216 and we paid NZD$400 for 2 people. We originally tried to book a 2 berth cabin on a different train but there were none available, and the booking agents ( China Highlights ) booked this alternative for us.
Found our carriage ( 11 ) and our cabin ( 4 berth, we had beds 3 & 4, one lower one upper) with power and USB sockets for each bed. Our room had 2 local men in it, both pretty quiet ( especially by Chinese standards ) and both going to Xian.
We left on time at 4:54pm. Went for a walk in train to have a look. A mixture of cabins ( soft sleeper 4 berth like ours ), hard sleeper ( 6 beds per cubicle, no door ), soft seats and standing only tickets. Into bed at 8, and both fell asleep easily, despite the cabin being very hot. Nice to lie down.
Apparently our route took us through Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Bengbu, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou and into Xian ( but we saw nothing until Xian )
