In this video titled “OUR UNEXPECTED JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA (biggest high-speed railway in the world)” the popular travel vloggers Jason and Nikki Wynn take us on an adventure across China via the largest high-speed rail network in the world. Starting from the southeast oceans of Xiamen, the dynamic duo heads across the country to the Southwest mountains of Tibet. Travelling through China isn’t something they ever thought they would do, but with their boat nearly ready for sea trials, they decided to take a one-week hiatus from the factory and explore. China is a huge country with some of the most incredible landscapes the Wynns have ever seen. Luckily, China has the biggest high-speed railway network in the world, which makes traveling across the country a breeze.
The video takes us through their trip, showing the sights and experiences they had along the way. From the high-speed train ride from Xiamen to Shenzhen, exploring the Stone Forest UNESCO Park in Yunnan, and even participating in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, the Wynns take us on a whirlwind adventure through China that is both unexpected and beautiful. The video showcases the natural beauty of China and the diverse experiences travelers can have in the country, despite any preconceived notions about traveling to China.
The Wynns are known for their adventurous and sustainable lifestyle, living off the grid and exploring the world in unique ways. Their journey through China is just another example of their dedication to “cultivate curiosity” as they seek out new experiences and share them with their audience. So, buckle up and join the Wynns on their unexpected journey through China via the biggest high-speed railway in the world.
Watch the video by Gone with the Wynns
China has the largest high-speed rail network in the world and when I say that I mean take the rest of the world combine it and China’s is still bigger it’s just like today we’re taking on our biggest adventure in China and when we told our Chinese friends what we planned
On doing they looked at us like what are you sure you want to do that because we are hopping aboard a train we are going from the southeast oceans of sham Min all the way across the country to the Southwest mountains of Tibet ready ready I’m a little nervous it’s also
New what’ you say I got special check in cuz we’re American passports we’re foreign that’s that’s all that matters yeah anybody not Chinese now I know what you might be thinking seriously wins China is a level three reconsider Travel location but if we went by this map we
Wouldn’t have sailed to most of the places we’ve been do you have any idea what we’re doing we are going to go through a gate and then we are going to follow the people that’s what’s the easiest thing to do feeling a little out of our element here just a little bit so
Hang in there with us because while this isn’t our first rodeo China isn’t at all what we expected com so what’s our seat numbers you’re 513 seat okay so this is the first leg of the journey we are going from Shaman to Shenzhen which is about a three-hour
Journey and then we are going to transfer and get on an even faster train and this is by far like the biggest train trip I have ever taken the think that we have ever taken in our entire lives and that’s because well normally our preferred mode of travel is by
Sailboat for those of you whove been around for a while and you know that we are building a boat here in China and it is almost ready but we had just a teeny bit more time and we thought we can’t be here and not go explore some of this
Mysterious country to us so and we thought if we’re gonna explore there’s just we can’t do it any other way than by train so that’s why we’re here so where are we going well we can go anywhere you throw a dart at the map of China and you’ve got Mongolia you’ve got
Terracotta warriors mountains and plains and the great wall and so much history and just a amazingly beautiful country and I started digging around and I thought we don’t want to go too far north because it’s winter and it’s probably gets pretty chilly and then I thought okay what else maybe let’s go to
Tibet let’s head towards the Tibetan mountains and then I found yunan which is in the southwestern part of China it’s just above LA and Thailand so they have like a lot of that style of cooking and then they’re right near sesan which is super spicy and I’m like oo the food
Sounds good it’s like a moderate climate it’s not too cold I was like okay this is looking pretty good I dug deep deeper I found out that that’s the coffee growing region and then even better that’s where they grow parade tea parade tea is like oh man we found it maybe 20
Years ago and I remember my very first cup of parade tea it was that special and I have no idea but it’s actually made in this little town called pare in China in Yan maybe not all of it but at least some of it or a lot of it is grown
There so I’m very excited to go to Yan it is full of stone forests it is full of caves mountains beautiful Greenery and being in the city of Shaman and at the factory we just wanted an escape where we can sort of reconnect with nature and that is why we’re going to
Yan I can’t wait it’s going to be magical actually I have no expectations okay I have no expectations it’s going to be magical but I have no expectations okay Red button to unlock and green button for water okay you read the instructions it’s the one thing about China is it’s like no matter where you go you can always get hot water hot water is the thing cold water is not a thing ice is not a thing but hot water is a
Thing So this isn’t a direct like non-stop train the stops are very quick and it gets a little chaotic because people are going off and getting on and then I’m technically not in my seat so every time we stop I’m got like this anxiety like oh somebody going to steal my spot I
Won’t be able to sit by Nikki anymore I got to go to a totally different car she’s just back there watching movies she’s totally chilling cuz she’s in her Seat so this is what they call second class and I will give you a quick tour before we get to our destination first we have the little food St where you can order food there’s not a lot of vegetarian options so for us it’s we were fortunately able to
Bring our own food it was quite tasty Mediterranean plate from a little local spot ladies and gentlemen and the seats are set up with five in each train I don’t know what you call train car so you have three on one side and two on the other side they’re comfortable yeah
Kind of like an airplane they’re comfortable as an airplane you get more leg room and you definitely get maybe a little more space in a bigger trade so it’s better than economy on a flight help we’re coming to another stop so I get out of the way there’s also an
Outlet at every seat tons of storage for small luggage and then you can even bring big luggage it kind of sort of has a place to go so welcome to the toilets somebody actually had a little bit of fun here with the water but anyway got a regular toilet there you go
And then they have another one that’s across the hallway which actually is more popular because it’s like The Squatty Potty the style where you have to like stand over the hole and squat down because well that is kind of just the more typical Chinese thing but in a
Lot of the public places they all have regular kind of Western flush toilets so anyway it’s not bad it’s nice very much like an airplane which is a bit more comfortable and you get a lot more freedom to roam around than you do in an airplane so they do have first class and
Business class seats and our next train which is our longer route we actually splurged for first class so we’re going to be pretty fancy on the next one it’s our longer route and it’s a faster train so I think it’ll be uh a very fun experience for us and we get to sit
Together so that’ll be great cuz that’s the only way you can choose your seats yeah yeah you can choose your seats if you have first class you choose like first class and then you have to click like a VIP button and then you can choose your seats wow and then it’s like
The craziest thing when the train slows down it’s like your ears pop it’s cool it’s cool I mean it’s not it’s weird but it’s neat science one train down still a lot to go I’m excited about the next one these train stations are massive and feel reminiscent of an airport and if you’ve
Ever traveled on any other high-speed trains then this will all feel very familiar hey that’s us the signs are surprisingly in both English and Chinese so it’s actually not that hard to navigate the only real downside here is that absolutely nothing thing is vegetarian so pack your snacks kids but that’s getting
Nitpicky apparently Crocs aren’t allowed they love Crocs here I’m surprised they’re just not allowed on the escalator I guess that’s so weird yeah I wonder why it’s got to say something else Surly it’s not like a an offense against Crocs I mean although Crocs are pretty offensive sorry
Everybody loves them I have owned a pair willing to admit it it says don’t wear soft shoes it’s not Croc specific one thing that’s very interesting about booking your tickets here is uh your passport is your ticket so you don’t really have to like have a
Paper ticket or go pick one up it’s just attached to your passport number so it’s kind of nice actually that’s for the locals that’s for us obviously much faster if you’re a local fair enough fair enough so this will be like maybe my second time ever to be first class that
Includes all the flights you’re always first class to me honey I am but financially I’m an econom class person just not the kind of person that can Splurge I can’t spend that kind of money on Transportation says the person buy a brand new boat but that’s different that’s a home that’s a
Home it’s not just transportation Come Aboard okay 31 AC that’s us oh Front Row Joe bigger seats just the two of us this is definitely much more like first class [Applause] wiang settle in and buckle up because we are on this train for like the next seven something
Hours oh yeah except for we’re on a train you don’t have to buckle up okay well supposed to get snacks and drinks on this little leg here and we’re going to figure out how to entertain ourselves for the next 7 hours okay well let’s see I’ve got some
Sort of audio video they were playing movie or TV or something on our last one as well and there’s a little TV screen in front of me there’s no foot rest or anything on this one but it is just like a day train these are not like overnight
Trains so guess makes sense we’ve got a little coat rack here obviously the blind for when the sun is peering in and then of course we have our little snack tray table oh yes there’s an outlet right underneath our feet so you can plug in charge up this
Is not like their newest nicest fanciest train right they have those they’re between the bigger major cities generally and they go a lot faster in fact there is one that is the mag which is yeah which is like magnetic levitation that thing looks insane and goes like 600
Kilm an hour or something like that it’s incredibly fast and it’s like the fastest land vehicle in the world so yeah maybe next Chinese trip we take we’ll do that one but you can put the back now that I have some cold water I was joking earlier they really do have
Cold water and ice in China but they definitely always have hot water for sure now that I’ve got this I can take my ag1 which is also sponsor of today’s video because the pollen counts have been so high in sham men and it has absolutely wrecked my allergies which is
Why I have these like red sad puffy eyes uh then it makes me feel really drained very tired so I took my dose like I do every morning first thing in the morning uh but going to take a second one for a little bit of a pick me up I’m feeling
Like I need it so it is just wo that is full water 8 to 10 of water and one travel pack cuz that’s what we got right now and then we just shake till it’s froy yeah and enjoy and it is a tasty little beverage and it is loaded 75
Vitamins and minerals and probiotics prebiotics and Whole Food storees superfoods and you’ve heard me say this all before so it is just whole body nutrition which is especially important right now because we are going to be traveling about eating who knows knows what but not going to be like probably
On like the aame of our diet so this at least ensures that we are getting everything that our bodies need I’ve been taking ag1 for years but before that I was never really a big supplements person because I just didn’t necessarily trust in what I was taking
Because supplements are kind of like the wild west they’re just really not very heavily regulated but ag1 is NSF certified which is a third party that verifies what they say is on the label is actually in the powder and that kind of gives me some confidence knowing that
I am actually getting what I’m paying for no more and no less and if you would like to give ag1 a try if you use our discount code in the link in the description box below then ag1 will give you a year supply of vitamin D3 plus K2
And five travel packs for free with your first purchase so so thank you very much to aj1 for your support and making this video possible and to my body and I’m going to enjoy this beverage D eat some fried cheese probably will eat some fried I don’t know Every time it’s like a beautiful view and then it’s boom tunnel it’s just tunnel after tunnel after tunnel little glimpses of beauty think we miss the sunset see what I mean what the heck oh my gosh okay so this train takes us to King which will be our first stop and it’s
Like the big Hub of unan all the flights all the trains go there and that’s why our friends that live in China thought we were crazy cuz they’re like you can take a flight in 3 hours for about a th000 Yu on why would you take a long
Train trip and for us it’s kind of an adventure we’ve never really done a train trip like Nikki said before so it was just interesting but I think this is really interesting when I went to book you can take the same trip we’re doing
You can do it in 40 hours it’ll cost you 263 on you can do a direct one and that will take you about 14 hours that’ll cost you 900 the one we’re on where we stopped we get there a little bit faster and it cost us to the same price however second
Class is about 923 first class is $529 and business class is almost 3,000 so that’s quite a quite a a big difference there it’s a little bit of a Splurge but it’s quiet back here it’s not very busy it’s it’s calm and it’ll it’ll be really nice when it’s time to
Take a nap in a little bit going to go for a little exploration see what else is here I think this is probably business class because it’s like glassed off somebody in there did you say there is somebody in there got our trash our hot water dispenser got our Western toilet and
Then it’s bacon see take a look at this that’s The Squatty buddy oh she’s going there so you come here this is The Squatty Potty very kind of traditional toilet in this part of the world that lady was looking at me like why are you filming in the
Bathroom okay so now we’re in second class and then this will be where the bar car is oh this one has Tables it looks beef probably chicken yeah Fork yeah probably there’s one more I wonder let’s see maybe they have a bch oh nope no not tofu tofu tofu tofu tofu no yep I don’t know what any of it is this is where um Google Translate is your
Friend looks like a lot of meat though that concludes the tour that’s that’s that the bar car was neat on that one just because it actually did have seats in there so you could like order and then sit and eat so I like that it’s getting really pretty outside Sun
Set now I’m kind of bummed that it’s going to get dark because it’s actually been really pretty to see the the countryside go from rural areas and then into the major cities and then back out into the more rural areas and now we’re going to miss a whole bun of that
Because it’s going to be dark I didn’t think about that when I booked our tickets I was mostly just thinking about the fact that I didn’t want to leave too early because I’ve had such bad allergies I was like oh early morning not for me right now we should have
Stayed in shinin yeah and then gone the next morning oh well ride back I one complaint for this train that’s the fact that it’s 11:00 at night and um they don’t have redemp the lights everything’s on full brightness which is very different than when you’re on an airplane but I guess
That’s just because this is a general commuter train so it’s sort of almost like riding the Subway or something like it Mak stops here and there and you get on and then you get off it’s kind of funny just listening to podcast newsing on and off and again like it’s like
Things you would never do on like a US train or on the New York subway CU like we’ve got camera sitting out and stuff like that like we’re just almost too comfortable here going to have to wise back up and be a little bit more cautious when we
Leave here cuz it’s just so safe like you just you can leave a camera sitting on your chair and walk away and it will be there when you get back you could leave it there for day it’s incredible okay we have arrived yes few minutes early oh my gosh when we
Left Shaman it was like 20 something deges C and it is 10 here so dropped a temperature just a little Bit it’s definitely cold I hope he brought enough clothes so this is king So we are officially in unan and it’s 11:20 or whatever and headed off to our hotel and I will say if I’m being honest the luster of the train wore off at about 7:00 about an hour after it got
Dark I was like yeah we probably should have just flown no maybe the train was like half the fun though it it was fun it it’s more fun during the day when you can actually see outside yeah yeah yeah I think for like a a six or eight hour
Train would be okay but maybe a 13-hour train is a little too much yeah that’s just my initial thoughts I’ll sleep on it and let you know for sure that’s the way I feel so everything is done here in China through the app called WeChat that’s how
You book a taxi or a DD that’s how you book the trains you can book a hotel you can pretty much do everything you pay it’s like it’s like everything apps within and out yeah it’s pretty amazing This Is Us right yeah said they’re open 24 hours it’s
Fish okay we made it we’ll give you a tour tomorrow cuz I’m going to Bed well it was like 1:00 by the time we got checked in and got into our room and we crashed hard so we’ve been moving a little bit slow this morning but we are up and going and headed off to our first stop which is going to be the Stone
Forest it is an hour drive and uh I think we’re going to have to take a Dei because it’s too late in the day to try to like book a full tour for like other things I think we’re just going to have time for one Adventure today but I think
It’s going to be a good one and this is a typical Chinese City hotel humid aier little desk TV comfy bed yeah I mean pretty just typical hotel room I think y period but very excited about our next stop because uh it’s an ancient Chinese City it’s the
Buildings and the rooms and everything are much more traditional and it looks very cool one thing that’s interesting is the there’s always seems to be like a a glass shower so yeah when you go to the bathroom you got to shut the curtain cuz you know I mean we spent a lot of
Time together but a little mystery left in a relationship is a good thing [Applause] okay we’ve arrived welcome to the Stone Forest this is not national park right yeah clearly this is not a uh busy season no we are in the off season it’s not like their official big holiday yet
So it is going to be very lowkey and I’ve haven’t been in National Park in so long I’m so excited robot vending machine yeah robot vending machines are very legit they’re like in the malls obviously here at the park that’s the first one we’ve seen that looks like a
Truck though how could you not want something that vending machine so this is the Stone Forest now this is one of those places that sends my imagination reeling because if we could travel back 270 million years we wouldn’t be walking we would be swimming through a shallow sea
But the magic of time wind and water have slowly chiseled away at these chunks of limestones creating this Maze of jagged Spears like you’re in a cave but you’re outside oo that’s a big cave in there oh this wow so cool in there it almost looks I mean
Even out here it almost looks more like mud than Stone especially from a distance but it’s Stone very cool it’s a visual feast and our forign faces are adding to the attraction oh you want me in here too okay okay okay we stick out almost as
Much as the cars surround here which is saying something considering the local attire it’s like a stone Castle but without a roof There are so many different directions to go it’s like being inside of a mze you have no idea which way to go and then sometimes you end up back the same spot and you got to go somewhere else again it’s very cool it’s you can spend days here kid Paradise
This looks like good spot for a little snack looks so appetizing doesn’t it yeah I was about to say yeah me so for our little snack we are going to be having some miso soup so I know that doesn’t look very appetizing but once it’s all rehydrated it is actually pretty tasty
You know got some assorted nuts some yummy dried plum hot tea of course and we’re kind of like on this hidden walkway that’s a little bit off the beaten path so everybody that walks byow neow hello everyone’s so friendly everybody’s so nice every time we’re at the park people
Come up to us and they’re like oh hello thank you for visiting our country I hope you have a good time you know they’re very proud of their country and they’re very welcoming to us and I guess took me by surprise in the beginning but now it’s just like hello
Hello okay I’ll take a photo with you okay yeah let’s do it it’s all Fun guess we’re going up this is always a struggle there’s like a thousand interesting things and I’ve probably captured 2 hours of footage into try and distill it down into something that’s actually interesting to the person that may or may not ever come here does it translate
Into video does it look as interesting it’s always hard to know like are you doing a good job yeah am I doing a good job of capturing this place because it’s freaking magnificent I know H I always feel inferior reminds me of like at the Grand Canyon we shot this amazing
Footage but I never made a video cuz I was was just overwhelmed it was too beautiful it’s too intimidating yeah sometimes you get certain places and you just think I can’t do this justice so then you just you look at what you’ve got and you feel like your story isn’t
Good enough and your visuals aren’t good enough like it doesn’t do it justice and then you just think that’s feels like a disgrace to put something like that that isn’t good enough out there yeah so then it’s a two-minute video montage which might be what this ends up being and
This is so cool look at this even looking back at where we I know it’s all so beautiful jeez bake thin this one’s called Deep and narrow [Laughter] Canyon oh my gosh it keeps going and all the stairs all the stairs that you can see this right here is like a scene out
Of the labyrinth that’s what I I came around I was like where’s David Bowie he’s in space David Bo’s in space wow it’s pretty steep it’s nuts I love it so much these are the tiniest stairs this is like a death trap yeah it’s like you have to go sideways
Because they’re not full steps like it only covers half your foot oh my gosh it’s so quiet it is so quiet it’s like we’re in a different world I mean it’s just it is it’s like completely different climates every little section of this park it is unreal
So this is the largest subtropical Stone Forest in the world and all of a sudden you get here and you’re like why yes it is subtropical sun’s out palm trees are growing give me a coconut somebody the Stone Forest isn’t just a geological formation it’s going and going and going it’s tightly intertwined
With the cultures and traditions of the San people which they are happy to share the S people are thought to have originated shortly after the Tang Dynasty which is only a mere 1400 is years ago and the hospitality traditions and music of the sanding people are a big part of what draws people Here Byebye Byebye a they’re all so nice I mean they’re just so eager and they’re so excited when they see you and so happy to see you here it’s just it’s hard you know you watch everything on like TV and media it’s like politics and such negativity but
You get here and it’s just such a drastically different experience like that’s the experience and that’s in town it’s everybody you talk to like they’re just really happy lovely kind people we haven’t had a bad encounter yet not one only that kind of an encounter so it’s
Very hard not to fall in love with the Chinese people yeah that felt pretty special definitely a and they’re like oh we’ll play music for you yeah like join in D an instrument oh my gosh so cool Yeah they’re uh taking us to a tea shop because we said we wanted to go have tea and maybe buy some tea and rather than trying to give us directions they were like no no no we’ll just walk you over so you know full service at this hotel close
Place they wanted to take us is unfortunately close they like now we’re we’re looking for another option taste which kind of te would you Like Roy I’m not sure if the translation is perfect but it’s saying that the one that we’re having right now is the raw tea and this one is the ripe tea so I know that there’s a different aging process so light mhm okay can you show me how to hold it
Again okay it means you have the power in your hands right mhm power is in your hands is in your hands and you hold it a very specific way and then you turn it like this and this is number five and they said after the fifth time it gets better
And sweeter and it is quite like the first ones weren’t bitter at all it was very smooth and light and now it’s getting more flavorful which just seems crazy we Brew te so differently I think we’ve been doing it all wrong yeah it is 45° today so it’s a bit chilly and
It’s making my nose drip co co we moved inside and now she’s Brewing the second type of P puer tea and um it’s the different process and she’s going to brew it in a clay pot so it’s everything’s specific to that specific tea see you chew it five times yeah it’s
Very different earthy uhhuh bit at all it’s got no but if you like black tea like I think this is like it’s so smooth with like roasty notes sort of like coffee but not at all yeah I don’t know that makes no sense it’s technically red tea but the fermentation makes it
Black at least that’s what I read That’s a tree leaf that is a tree leaf that is huge I thought they would be so small yeah so this tea is fermented 30 to 60 days Serendipity is a splendid thing we thought we were going to just pop around the corner for a
Quick purchase and be on our merry way it’s getting lighter and lighter but our seemingly simple mission was evolving fast would you like to experience the tea making process for yourself oh I don’t yeah we quickly learned tea isn’t just a beverage it’s a window into the world of
Chinese culture we had no clue slowly slowly slow unite your mind and calm yourself and our host had quickly decided they were going to show us the way of tea all [Laughter] right and just like that we went from customers to guests to pupils and the
More they showed us the more we wanted to [Applause] know we had our translator apps working full force but really we didn’t need words to understand it’s very if I may ask are you husband and wife oh yeah yeah the way they practice tea is a form
Of self-expression a show where both the server and the guest perform it’s a ceremony that requires a state of being that felt so opposite of our ingrained insatiable American hurry up ways is tea is a show of Grace peace appreciation personality and even inner spirituality we were so entranced by the
Whole experience oblivious to time and the fact that we had a train to catch delicious very nice well we didn’t expect that we were having way too much fun and now we’re going to be late to catch our train so we’re going to hustle okay we’ll catch up later ah sh J running
Late oh y that was amazing yeah it’s hard to say exactly what’s going in my mind right now because it was such an unique experience so time to digest it come back later yeah I’m Free we’re here end of the line made it to the end of the Line Locals ohow oh this two of you yes how did you know come back you did two doesn’t look so ancient yet no looks very modern right here this side then you go through the gate and who knows yeah cuz there’s no driving in there no you said Casey yes Mickey Mickey yes Mickey
Jess your English is very good oh thank you I’m Ling not I’m practicing my English we have officially made it to the end of this Railway line and to the beginning of our next adventure which spoiler alert starts on the ancient Southern Silk Road which is where we’ll
See you next time so thanks so much for joining us she’s from guon guon they’re really good at cooking the kinds of the dishes yes and I do like CU they just equipped the food original tast
Video “OUR UNEXPECTED JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA (biggest highspeed railway in the world)” was uploaded on 01/07/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Gone with the Wynns on Gretopia