Once in Beijing, how can I travel to Harbin?

[gato]

You might want to try buying a plane ticket to Harbin at the Beijing airport first when you land. A plane ticket to Harbin would cost around USD 100, about the same as it would cost for a night in a hostel plus a train ticket.

It would save you the hassle of finding your way around Beijing with luggage and then figuring out how to buy a train ticket. You will much more likely to find someone who speaks English at the airport than the train station.

[ChTTay]

Gato, which hostels are you staying in? 100 big ones?

[James3]

@ChTTay sounds like he was saying if you stayed in a hostel and bought a train ticket, it'd be around 100 USD. Yeah, first time I read that I had the same reaction, "since when is a night at a hostel $100?"  And then I saw he was including the train ticket too. :-)

[gato]

Yes, the two together. Train ticket alone costs about USD 50 or 90, depending on the type of train, and the trip takes about 7-8 hours.

[Lanchong]

But I think thanks to you now I have a kind of plan, getting Peking, taking my lugagge, look for a " official" taxi, getting train station, buy a ticket on a high speed confy train (to get in my lugagge) hopefully ticket seller will understand english, if machine, then ask somebody to buy me a ticket, if I have to wait for train some days, get a taxi to a near cheap hotel (adviced by taxi driver?),

You can buy the train tickets at Beijing airport. Somebody on baidu said there's a ticket office in the departures area, fourth floor, area L-22.

You'll also be able to try gato's idea and ask about plane tickets in the departures area. Once you check the prices/availability of trains and planes, you can then make your decision at the airport.