Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have said, “An army marches on a full stomach.”
Although the French emperor did not have the luxury of rail travel at the time, the principle remains sound today.
So when I boarded the D910 sleeper train to Beijing West Railway Station at 6:24pm last Saturday, my first thought before settling in was to find the dining car.
07:10
What will it be like to ride the new sleeper train from Hong Kong to Beijing or Shanghai?
What will it be like to ride the new sleeper train from Hong Kong to Beijing or Shanghai?
The dining car displayed a long list of food and drinks, ranging from spicy chicken rice for 15 yuan (US$2) to a reasonably priced stir-fried beef for 68 yuan.
With a total of 50 choices, I figured we could satisfy just about every taste on the 12.5 hour trip.
But it wasn't until I boarded the G79 high-speed all-seat train back to Hong Kong from Beijing at 10am on Monday that I got to experience the unique dining experience of having piping hot food delivered directly to my doorstep.
Passengers can order their preferred dishes through the train's service platform (12305 app) two hours before the train departs from the cities it passes through and stops in.
Other food delivery companies are also offering mini-programs on WeChat to cater to hungry travelers.
The eight-hour train from Beijing to Hong Kong stopped in Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou east, Wuhan, Changsha south, Guangzhou south and Shenzhen north, and traveled at a speed of 348 kph (216 mph) for most of my journey.
Traveling with a Post photographer and video producer, we ordered hot dried noodles, a Wuhan specialty. Leganmian In Chinese.
It's a bowl full of chewy spirals of vegetables coated in a sauce with toasted sesame seeds, spicy red chillies and pickled vegetables, and served with beef or dumplings.
We, along with 20 other journalists from other media organisations on the trip, ordered iced milk tea from Changsha.
To my surprise, when the train arrived, a delivery man pulling a cart full of takeaway goods was already waiting on the station platform.
The two crew members of my carriage quickly gathered about 50 bags of food and were back on the train before the doors closed.
The noodles were still hot when they were served, but the milk tea was cold.
I was amazed at the efficiency with which they distributed the food according to seat numbers, which allowed passengers to have an orderly and convenient dining experience.
According to estimates by Guangzhou-based iiMedia Research, China's food delivery market is expected to reach a staggering 1.5 trillion yuan in 2023, 2.3 times its size in 2020.
It's a huge market. But to me, it's amazing how food delivery has permeated the lives of people on the go, providing the ultimate convenience for train passengers.
The creativity and technology behind it is truly amazing.
Looking back, when I was traveling on the sleeper train to Beijing, I noticed that there were passengers eating food other than that in the dining car.
I noticed they also ordered takeaway, which they picked up at Shenzhen North Station and Dongguan South Station, the first two stops on the train to Beijing.
However, I have to say that if the flight time was significantly shorter, I probably wouldn't choose the long train journey, but the dining experience on the train just can't compare to in-flight dining.
Next time, I'll order food delivery from the train station before my destination.
