By now, everyone knows that you have to present your identification when you buy a train ticket in China (at least for the fast trains, 动车组 and above). That policy came into effect on June 1 and is supposedly aimed at curbing scalping. But it also turns out that if you're a foreigner, not only do you need a passport, you can only buy a train ticket from three places: Bejing Railway Station, Beijing South and Beijing West.

This we found out after being denied tickets at both the small kiosk in our neighborhood as well as the bigger tourist kiosk in Sanlitun. Why? The pathetic excuse we were given was that the system wasn't able to handle the two types of documentation that foreigners usually possess: passports and temporary residence permits. So now while your neighbor pops down the street and buy his tickets to the seaside in 15 minutes, you have to take 2-3 hours out of your day to stand in line at the train station. What's even more appalling about this is the fact that in Shanghai it's totally different: foreigners can purchase train tickets at kiosks around the city with a passport in hand. The system which is available, there's just no political will to implement it in Beijing.

Oh yeah and over the weekend the power went out on the new Beijing-Shanghai fast train causing a two-hour delay and a near riot.