China’s High Speed Trains: Faster and Smoother Than Expected

train \nticket wise from your passport. They're very, very \n\nefficient. So, you don't get a physical ticket or \na separate barcode. You just scan your passport \n\nand they'll know what train you're boarding, which \nmakes life so much easier for us. You've just got \n\nto remember one thing. Right, Eve? Should we have \na look at this checking gate and see if we can see \n\nour train? We're here quite early. What time is \nour train? Uh, our train train's at 1:28, platform \n\n8. So, platform 8. Okay. So, we've got access to \na business class lounge

with our business class \n\ntickets, but it's looking very uh very bare up \nhere. I'm wondering whether we have to go through \n\ncheck-in first. I think it could just be the \ntrains down there, but I'll ask this lady. Let's \n\nsee. No. Okay. Okay, no worries. Okay, thank you. \nOkay, so there's no business class lounge, which \n\nis a slight disappointment, but not to worry. I \nthink we could grab something from one of these \n\nshops over here. Oh, I'm so sad. Our bags down. We \ngot here so early as well. We're like an hour and \n\na half here

before our drink. We wanted to use the \nlounge. Freshly baked cake, which sounds good to \n\nme. So, let's see what they've got in here. We've \ngot a menu on the screen. Your classic egg tart. \n\nOh, mochi. Lots of different bits. Uh, can I get \nplease? Um, one of these and then one of these.\n\nOh, okay. I picked them up from here. \nSo, we've got different flavors here. \n\nI'll go with this one. That looks good. Yes. Yeah. \nUm, and that's probably all we need, isn't it?\n\nThis how\n\nWow, I can smell these. They've just been \nfreshly baked.

freshly baked cakes and they \n\nsmell delicious. So, I think now I've got \nthese and we'll get a drink to go with it.\n\nSo, I've used Google Lens to translate. And I \nthink we're going to go with the yuzu and orange \n\ntea. Let's try that. Can I get um this one? \nSorry. Oh. Oh, large or medium? Uh, medium. Hot. \n\nGood. Yeah. People in China are so accommodating \nof the fact that we have so little Chinese. This \n\nis so cool. So, she's making my tea right now and \nshe's measuring out little bits and she was just \n\nbashing and crushing up some

of the ingredients \nso it's all really, really fresh. And then \n\nThey come over here and put a lid on it \nin this machine. We've never been to this \n\nplace before. I don't know what it's called, but \nI'm really impressed. Cheers. Thank you. Okay, \n\nI've got a drink and a snack. Let's take these \nback to Bob and try them out. I bring goodies. \n\nWhat have we got? Oh my lord. This makes \nme feel a lot better about no lounge. Oh, \n\nwow. You got us food as well. Got us a little \nbreakfast. Oh, look. They're like muffins in \n\nlike muffin uh

wrappers. Oh, they're cool. \nUm they look a bit like a Yorkshire pudding.\n\nOoh, look at that.\n\nIt's a freshly baked cake. Could I? Yeah.\n\nOkay. It's quite eggy. It's got quite \nlike an eggy flavor to it. Eggy, \n\nbut good. These are pretty good. Yeah, \nthey're they're quite um plain and simple. \n\nI've never ever seen Eve order something \nlike this that looks so milky. Normally, \n\nyou're like a black coffee drinker or a black like \nI don't know. This just I thought I was ordering \n\norange and yuzu, which that could be, but um \nit's a

bit difficult with Chinese menu. So, \n\nwhat do you mean? You don't speak You don't \nspeak Mandarin. I can't read Mandarin. Um, \n\nbut let's try it. Looks good. They made it fresh. \nOh, it does look really milky. It looks milky,\n\nright? Who knows?\n\nWhat do you say it was? Orange and yuzu. Yeah, \nit is. Actually tastes bloody lovely. Oh, \n\nreally? We were a little put off by the color, \nweren't we? Yeah. Wrap your lips around that. \n\nThat's all right. Oh yeah. Yeah. That is really \nnice. That's actually really refreshing. Okay, \n\nlet's

go. Oh, wow. I was going to \nrecognize your face as well. Hey\n\ntime. Okay, platform 8. I believe that's us. I \ncan see the train. Oh, we Oh, we are. We're here, \n\naren't we? Let's uh let's see if we \ncan see the the long nose on the front.\n\nIt's awesome. You know, all bullet trains \nlook the same to me. The big nose. Right. So, \n\nwhat what seats are we eating? We are car 8, \n\nseat 2 A and 2 C. Okay. Car eight. I have a \nfeeling. I have a feeling it's this one just \n\nhere. Are we right on the phone? Wow. Just \nlook at that. That is a

sleek little number, \n\nisn't it? Yeah. Okay, let's see what this is \nlike. God, I'm glad we don't have far to walk.\n\nUh, thank you. \n\nOh, look at this. Where these two? Yes. Right. \nSo, we've stuck our bags just behind the seats \n\nthere. And these are the most epic looking train \nseats I think I have ever seen. I'm I'm not too \n\nsure about the red leather, but uh yeah, these \nare almost like a little pod. And I believe they \n\nshould go lie flat as well. You've got so so much \nroom in this place. Look at this. Oh, I think it's \n\nso cute

as well that we got the only two seats \nhere that are together. And 2 minutes early, \n\nwe are setting off. Oh my god, we've set off 2 \nminutes early. Do you know that's very scary for \n\npeople like me and you because we are usually \ncutting it very very fine. So, I'm glad we were \n\nhere on time. That's such a smooth takeoff though, \nyou know. Couldn't even feel it moving. There was \n\nno jolt or anything. So smooth. And also, we're \nthe only people in here. We've got we've got \n\na business class a business class carriage \non this train,

not just the seat. Bye-bye.\n\nDo you have a coffee? Yeah, I have. Oh, can I \nhave coffee? Okay. Look at it. It's such a nice \n\ntemperature on this train considering it's so cold \noutside. Oo, we're getting comfy, are we? Well, \n\nI am. I'm very comfy today, actually, Bob, because \nI'm wearing my Halara outfit. I like to wear this \n\non travel days because there's pockets in \nit. So, I can keep my phone in here and I \n\nknow where it is at all times. I struggle \nto find women's clothes with pockets. So, \n\nhonestly, this is such a lifesaver.

Also, this \nis such a versatile outfit. You guys know we \n\ntravel with backpacks, so I need to be able to \npack light. But this I wear on travel days. I \n\nwear when I go to the gym. I wear when I'm out \nand about. It's honestly so good and really, \n\nreally comfy as well. Um, should we see what's \nin our little goodie bags? Yes, let's do that.\n\nLook, this sticker is so cute. It's got a bullet \ntrain. A little bullet train. So, let's see what's \n\nin our little goodie bag. Wow, it's really packed \nfull in here. Oh my god, there's so many so

many \n\nthings. Okay, first up, mixed beans and nuts. \nOkay, not seen them before. This is I have no \n\nidea, but that's interesting. I like trying the \nChinese snacks. Okay. Yeah, we need to get more \n\non board with these. We've not actually seen most \nof this before. Raisins. Okay. Standard. Again, I \n\ndon't know what these are, but I'm really looking \nforward to trying all these different Oh my god, \n\nthese are like dashen. I don't know. They're like \nlittle balls or something. And two more. Amazing. \n\nRight. What should we try first?

Oh my god. This \nis Should we try these ones that I had no idea? \n\nYeah. Yeah. I think we try I think we tried these. \nI think we tried little balls. Little balls. Also, \n\nthe very nice lady looking after us who feels kind \nof like a little private VIP service gave us this. \n\nNow, this is Chinese Coca-Cola. I have never seen \nCoca-Cola that does not have our normal English \n\nalphabet on there. Wow. Look at that. That is \nIt's just incredible. Anybody that's thinking \n\nof coming to China, let this be your sign. This \ncountry is just

insanely beautiful. Especially \n\ntaking trains to get around the place, you just \nget these incredible incredible views. But going \n\nback to my coke, uh yeah. Have you Have you ever \nseen that before? This? No, I haven't. But I've \n\nalso not been in China, so Okay, let's try one of \nthese little things. Oh, it's sweet. I don't know \n\nif it's like sugar. Oh, I thought it looked like \na pork scratchy type thing. No, it's not. Okay.\n\nOh, it's like um it's like a really hard cookie. \nYeah. Almost. Sweet biscuit. This is good though. \n\nThis

is really good. I'll definitely eat them. \nShould we try something else? Yeah. Should we \n\ntry this one with the with the angry cow on? \nYeah. Okay. I do love trying snacks from Oh, \n\nthis is going to be like beef \njerky or something, isn't it? Oh, \n\nyour your worst nightmare. That's not \ngoing to be me for me. There you go. Oh, \n\nwell, I'm trying this. Yeah, I think it \nis some sort of uh some sort of meat.\n\nJust be glad it was me that ate that. Not I \nknew I wouldn't like this. It actually smells \n\nreally good. It smells like

barbecue. There's \na test you can do to see how smooth the bullet \n\ntrain is where you put a coin on the edge of the \nwindow. So, that is what we're going to do now.\n\nThat doesn't move at all. Look at that. So \nsmooth. And look at those. Oh, and the views \n\nare incredible views. That coin has not moved at \nall. That's how smooth it is. This is a really \n\nsmooth train. Yeah. Do you know compared to \nsome trains in the UK, you're getting like \n\nthrown around all wobbly, but this is just it's \nso slick, silky. I'm almost I'm just mind blown

\n\nby this. It's still here, by the way. This coin, \nit's just it's still going. It's now 232. So, \n\nlet's see. The main reason we booked this class of \ntrain is because they may look like little eggs, \n\nbut I believe these seats go fully lie flat. So, \nwe're going to give it a go. You get given quite \n\na long cushion. This I can only assume is for \nyour phone, which I think is incredibly useful \n\nwith the fact that these chairs slide up and down. \nI think that losing your phone down the side of \n\nthe seat would be a very big problem. So,

that's \ngood. You've got here your controls for moving \n\nthe seats, which we'll look at in a minute. Uh, \nlook, we've got power supply here, which is good. \n\nI think we've just got one of them between two. \nI'm going to assume that's my number. Oh, we're \n\nuh we're off, Eve. We're off. Oh my god. This is \na whole process. Let's see how long it takes me to \n\nget fully laid flat. Oh, you know, just imagine \nimagine doing every train journey like this. It \n\nwould change your life. I think this would be \nreally good if you had like a long

train like 8 \n\nhours. You could get like a proper good night's \nsleep on this. Oh my god, it goes further. This \n\nis proper lay flat. Wow. Surely it can't go any \nfurther. Do you know I actually fit on the whole \n\nthing as well. My legs don't have Oh my god. You \nonly just fit in the frame. Wow. Wow. This looks \n\nI tell you what, guys. It's actually quite comfy \nas well. I've got I've got a little reading light \n\nhere. Look at that. There you go. This superb. \nI've got a little enclosed roof on the top of my \n\nhead. And this is my view.

Look at that. Oh, I'm \nkind of glad we only have ourselves in here, Eve. \n\nIt's like a little private I could I feel like \nI could have a little sleep in here if I really \n\nwanted to. You could definitely sleep in one of \nthese. This would be amazing. Yeah. So this uh \n\nthis train journey to Chongqing is actually only \n2 and 1/2 hours, but like Eve said, if you had \n\na longer one, I mean, China is an absolutely huge \ncountry. If you had a train journey that was like, \n\nyou know, 10, 11, 12 hours, this would be perfect. \nI wanted I wanted

to join you. I was feeling quite \n\nleft out. Yeah. So, but there's three buttons and \nI've gone with the middle one, which is kind of \n\nlike laidback but not flat. Do you know? I can't \nhelp but look at the look at you doing that and \n\nthinking that you look like a little old woman in \nlike one of those robotic armchairs to to assist \n\nthem getting up. Oh, this is well comfy. Yeah, \nlook at that. Oh, I I'll just be here for the next \n\n2 hours. Traveling fulltime means we're constantly \non the move. Like today, taking the train in

\n\nChina. This means different climates, different \nactivities, and always packing light. Finding \n\nclothes that keep up with this lifestyle has \nbeen a mission. But as you guys know, I love to \n\nwear Halara, who are the sponsor of today's video. \nHalara's whole philosophy is about ease, feeling \n\ncomfortable, confident, and completely yourself \nwherever you are. And that is exactly what I need. \n\nI wear their yoga tops, leggings, and shorts for \nworkouts, lounging, and of course, travel days. \n\nBut what I love the absolute most is the

leggings \nand shorts have pockets. Finally, somewhere to put \n\nmy keys and my phone, so I don't need to take a \nbag when I go to the gym or worry where my phone \n\nis while I'm on the move. They're comfy to wear \nbecause the fabric is soft, stretchy, breathable, \n\nand not see-through. And with the tummy control \nfeature, it holds up whether I'm out exploring or \n\njust working at my laptop. Plus, Halara clothing \ncomes in a load of colors with a really inclusive \n\nsize range. All the items I wear are linked in the \ndescription down below.

If you're looking for top \n\nquality products at a fair price, then try Halara \nand use our code BF20 for 20% off full priced \n\nitems. We've just pulled into a station now. And \nif I'd wanted to, I could have ordered food to \n\nbe delivered here to my seat on the train. I'll \nshow you how. We were actually a bit slow, so we \n\nmissed the cut off point. But basically, you have \nthese QR codes on here. As with everything else \n\nin China, you get Alip Pay up. Scan it on Alip Pay \nand it it shows you lots of stuff on here. You can \n\nsee like

your journey, what time you get into what \nstations, all of that. But the the key thing with \n\nthe food is that if you go along here online food \nordering, right, it gives you all the options for \n\nthe different foods you can order. I just this \nis blowing my mind. You can order on a moving \n\ntrain food. It's crazy, isn't it? Like this this \none will be off the train after we get here. So, \n\nwe can't look. You can literally order McDonald's \nto a specific seat on a specific carriage on a \n\ntrain that is moving. That is mental. I can't get

\nover this. And I'm actually I'm really sad that we \n\ncan't do this because I just think that would have \nbeen mindblowing. You have to order it. It's like \n\nan hour in advance to when you get in at least. \nSo yeah, but this is honestly it's the is this the \n\nfuture? I know. Do you know what I was going to \nsay? Imagine if we had this on trains in the UK. \n\nI feel like our trains don't really go far enough. \nMaybe. I mean, I don't know. Things just work in \n\nChina. Like things just work smoothly and easily. \nI feel like in the UK people

would be like this \n\ncan't be done. Yeah, but you know, China, here we \nare. All you need is a barcode. Bloody barcode. \n\nIf you see a barcode anywhere, just scan it. See \nwhat happens. Time for a coin update. It's still \n\nhere. It has hardly moved at all. And it's now, \nlet me tell you the time, 53 minutes past. So, \n\nit's like 20 minutes later. And this little \ncoin is still here. If it's moved at all, \n\nI think it's when we got up out of the seats and \nback in the seats. Right. So, I'm going to tell \n\nyou exactly how much we paid for

these train \ntickets. So, per ticket, they were ?83. So, we \n\npaid ?166 for us both to do a 2hour train journey, \nJanggha to Chongqing in business class. To put \n\nthat into perspective, if me and Eve flew business \nclass between those two cities, instead of \n\n?83 a ticket, it would have cost ?350 a ticket. So \nbig big savings and I would argue the service and \n\nyou know the the actual experience is very very \nsimilar. Yeah, it's better to take a train. The \n\ntrain is good. The train is really good. Wow. But \nthe economy class tickets were

about 20 poundish, \n\nmaybe like ?23. So it's a lot cheaper to go \neconomy. You don't get to lie flat on the bench. \n\nSo it's almost four times more expensive to go \nbusiness class than economy. And one thing that's \n\ninteresting with China in terms of the train \nclass system, you actually have premier class, \n\nwhich is the first class, and then business class \non top of that. So it goes economy. Yeah. First \n\nclass, business class. Whereas when you were to \nfly, it would be the other way around. It would \n\ngo business and then first

would be like the top \ntop. Yeah. That's weird. And also, so we tried to \n\nget these tickets and they all sold out, but then \nwe looked again like a week later and there was \n\ntickets available. So if you're wanting to do one \nof these trains, like just stick with it and keep \n\nlooking for the tickets. Just keep looking at the \ntickets. Yeah. I think they just sort of come come \n\nand go. Yeah. I mean, we were heartbroken when we \nfound out we couldn't get a business class train. \n\nWe were like, but we've heard so much about them. \nSo, uh,

yeah, keep checking and you'll be able to \n\nget one eventually, I'm sure. The coin, it fell \ndown. I don't know when it was going so well. \n\nDo you know, I would say as well, it was a pound \ncoin, so it is actually quite a thick coin. So, \n\nmaybe it's not quite as smooth as what we were \nled to believe. Wait, what's the time? So, it's \n\n10 3. So, it was up for like half an hour or like \n40 minutes. It's still good, you know. Wow. Look \n\nat that bridge behind you. Luxury aside, this is \nobviously a bullet train, so it's very fast. The

\n\ntop speed of bullet trains in China is 350 km per \nhour. At the minute, the speed is going up and up. \n\nWe're on 283 km per hour. So, let's see if we make \nit to the top speed. We stop at a few stations, \n\nso we'll find out. Let's see what the toilets \nlook like on a business class bullet train.\n\nToilets. Uh, okay.\n\nOkay. Well, I think I surprised them coming out of \nthere. So, it looks like a pretty standard train \n\ntoilet here. I mean, I've been on trains in the \npast where you actually get a different level of \n\ntoilet, a separate

toilet from kind of the economy \nclass, but this looks like it's shared. So, it's \n\nvery standard toilet, air freshener, soap, sink, \nyou know, nothing nothing too glamorous really.\n\nLet's have a look at what amenities you get \non this train. So, there's some slippers in \n\nhere. Nice. And then there's also what are \nthese? These are nice. Oh, this is like a \n\nlike a towel. Like a like a wet towel. These I \nthink are eye masks. Yeah, that's an Yeah. Yeah, \n\nthat's definitely an eye mask. Cute. So, you could \nuh you could get some really

good sleep on here. \n\nYou could sleep like a baby on this thing. I wish \nI could stay here for longer. Yeah. You wish you \n\ncould have this on a flight. Oh, Chance would be a \nfine thing. I feel like we're leveling up slowly. \n\nWe'll uh I'll just go go to sleep now and dream \nthat I can do this on a flight one day. A Yeah. \n\nRight, it's time to say goodbye to \nthis train coming into Chongqing. Now, \n\nwe're really excited to see the railway station \nat Chongqing because it's less than a year old \n\nand it's the largest high-speed rail hub

in the \nworld. So, I think it's going to be pretty crazy. \n\nYeah. And what a way to arrive. I mean, we are \nliterally arriving in style here. Look at this.\n\nWell, uh, I don't think Eve's going to \nbe too happy looking at the weather when \n\nshe comes back because it looks colder and \nwetter than where we've just come from. So,\n\nEve, it looks nice and sunny in Chongqing.\n\nOh dear. We have arrived at Chongqing. there. \nThank you. Wow, we have arrived. Chongqing, baby. \n\nOh, I can't believe we're here. We've waited to \nbe here for so long,

and we finally made it. Wow, \n\nlook at this station. This is incredible. \nIt's so uh it's like brand spanking new, \n\nisn't it? It is new, but you know, like it's \nreally new. One thing I do think is pretty joke, \n\nhow everybody buns a sigy, stands off the \ntrain, smokes a sig for like a minute, \n\n2 minutes, and then jumps back on the train. Have \nyou noticed that? Very China. Very China. There's \n\njust a group of people smoking as soon as we get \noff. So, everyone's going down here, but I can see \n\nbehind there there's a sign that says

transfer. \nSo, I think I think it's the transfer that will \n\ntake us up into the station, but we'll see. Let's \nlet's go down and have a look. Oh, okay. Well, \n\nit is looking extremely swanky here. I love these \nlights. These actually remind me, you know, when \n\nyou go to a cinema and you get a cinema room. This \nis the kind of vibe this gives me. But number 29, \n\nthat's got to be like the 29th platform. So, it's \na big place. How nice is this? This is just little \n\nbit about Oh, is it uh Oh, yeah. It's actual 3D. \nLook at that. Really

nice. So, we've got the exit \n\ngates here, which we're going to need our passport \nfor, but hopefully we're still within the station \n\nwhen we get through. So, on the way here, we \nhad to go through a manual person. But here, \n\nit looks like there might be auto gate. Shall we \ntry? Oh, it worked. Well, there you go. So this is \n\nthe newest the newest highspeed hub. So convenient \nand easy honestly. So it is absolutely huge. We've \n\ngot up here you've got a longd distanceance bus \nnormal bus over here. Looks like you can get the \n\nmetro.

See line 6 24 27. So it really is a hub by \nthe looks of it. Do you know I love the reflection \n\nof the lights on the actual uh on the actual \nfloor. I just want to poke my head over this \n\nand see what this is cuz this looks like it could \nbe quite interesting. Again, just like an airport, \n\nwe've got the big departure gate. And wow. Yeah, \nit's uh it's all looking clean and swanky. I feel \n\nlike we don't quite get the the sheer scale \nof it here, but this is actually 1.2 million \n\nsquare m big. So, it's uh it's fat. It's huge. If

\nyou're coming here to get a train, you probably \n\nwant to budget quite a bit of time in. Yeah. \nIf you came in one entrance and your platform \n\nwas like number 99 or something right down the \nother end of the station, you might get stuck. \n\nWelcome to Chongqing, Eve. This has been a great \njourney to get here to Chongqing. I am so excited \n\nto be here. But we're going to leave this video \nhere for now. Make sure you check out the rest \n\nof our China content and please give us a like \nand subscribe and we'll see you next time. Bye.