High Speed Train from Xian to Chengdu (Tuesday, August 21st, 2018)

When we finished lunch, we took a twenty minute bus ride from the restaurant to the high speed train terminal. Our tickets had already been purchased for us, and were handed out to us on the bus, so we didn’t have to wait in any lines when we got there. Each of our tickets had our name and passport number on them, and were checked carefully at the gate as we entered the terminal. We sent our bags through the scanner at the entrance and then proceeded in. 

This was our first glimpse of the high speed train we were about to board.

The train terminal was modern, clean and beautiful! The train from Xian to Chengdu has only been running since December, so this is a very new route.  

Oh, it's huge too!

Inside the terminal, waiting to board.

This is where we would say goodbye to our incredible local guide Louise.  We loved her bubbly personality and cheery disposition.  We will miss her.  Jason will continue on with us to Chengdu.

It was only about 20 minutes from the time we arrived until we would board our train, so we waited in line. As we stood there, the line behind us grew quickly, and we were very happy that we were at the front. We had assigned seats, so it wasn’t a matter of seat selection, it was just nice to be able to take our time boarding the train. Our luggage was also being loaded for us, so no worries there either.

Louise lead us to the correct car before leaving us. Jason will be riding with us on the train and will continue as our tour director in Chengdu.

The train was beautiful with plenty of leg room.

The high speed train is very smooth, in fact, I am writing this post on the train. There is no wifi or cellular because of the number of tunnels the train has to go through. As we were leaving Xian, our view quickly opened up from city to open farm land.

I was surprised, that as soon as we approached the mountains, we disappeared into the darkness of our first tunnel. We would emerge periodically for about three seconds and then quickly return to the darkness of the tunnels. The mountains just outside of Xian are very green and very steep, so apparently the only way for a high speed train to travel through is inside the mountains. We later learned that some of the tunnels were 10 miles long.  It took 12 years to build this section of the train.

I attempted to take some pictures of the mountains as we would emerge from the tunnels, but this is the only one that turned out.  We were moving too fast.  Basically, they were steep and green.

 Once we got through the mountains, we emerged from the tunnels into a lot of beautiful farm land and small villages. The farming had now changed from corn to rice fields and lotus paddies.

The train made several stops along the way to Chengdu, some in larger cities and some in small villages.

There was a dining car on the train and carts that would come through with drinks and snacks, but the highlight of our ride was two little kids.

The girl spoke very good English and was incredibly friendly.  The boy spoke no English, but was very intrigued by us and really wanted to keep trying to talk to us.  We had a great time with these two for most of our trip.  The little girl had lived in San Francisco for about a year, and that's where she learned to speak English so well.  She was a tenacious little thing.  She made our day because she reminded us so much of our own girls.  

We made it to Chengdu after about four hours on the train.  We went almost 700 miles.  It was such a smooth ride, we couldn't believe it!

The Chengdu train station was also very beautiful, clean and crowded.

As we left the station, this was the view of the outside.

It was such a treat to ride this train.  I don't know what I expected, or if it met my expectations, but it is probably something we will never get to do again, so I am so glad we had the chance today!