[0:00]China, one of the most talked about countries in the world, yet most people will never visit or even consider it. In the West, it's often seen as unsafe or off limits, shaped by headlines, politics, and a lot of assumptions. In the UK, public opinion has become more negative in recent years with many viewing China as unfriendly or even hostile. Among travelers, it's known for being notoriously difficult with familiar apps blocked, payments confusing, and a very real language barrier. But we wanted to find out the truth for ourselves, so we arrived in China with no guide, a severe lack of Mandarin, but an open mind. These are our honest first impressions. Good morning, guys. You join us from Hong Kong, where me and Eve will be heading into China today for the very first time. We're just waiting for an Uber to take us to the train station. You can get the train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in 15 minutes in the high-speed rail. How crazy is that? Yeah, we're, uh, we're actually very, very close to China here. So, is this a taxi? We've got an Uber on the go. Hey, this will be the last time we're using Uber for a while. Yeah, everything's about to change from this moment. Life's about to get 10 times more difficult we've been told. So, it's a Toyota Oh, it's that big one. Oh, this white one. Okay. Yeah, huge. Cool. Perfect. I wasn't expecting it to be this big, big vehicle. Actually is.
[1:26]Auto door, honey. Let me in. Fancy.
[1:34]Thank you. Thank you. Yes, please. We're heading to Kowloon West station. Wow, we're picked up in style. Look at this. You got like an armchair. This is like an omen of things to come. Bye-bye, Hong Kong. I'd say we had a short but sweet time here. I've loved my time in Hong Kong, really. How are you feeling about going to China? I'm feeling good, but I think there's a bit of a narrative in the West and like the UK where we're from where people say China's like scary. It's like, be careful when you go to China. But, and things are going to change for us, like you can't pay with normal cards, like Normal apps don't work. You can't you need a VPN, WhatsApp, Instagram, like doesn't work. But I think I'm ready for a challenge. Yeah, that's I was just about to say it is going to be one hell of a challenge, but we are so excited. There's ticket machines just here, but we booked this online with Klook. It only cost 7 pounds for one ticket, which is so affordable compared to like flying to a different country. That's a bargain. 7 pounds to get to another country, that's a dirty cheap. So we're just working out where we're going. We're obviously going to have to go through immigration as well. We do Chinese immigration on the Hong Kong side, so hopefully that should all go smooth. It's looking very much like an airport in here. Yeah, I was just about to say that. Oh look, you've got like train departures. Long haul departure trains, so you can go to lots of places, not just to Shenzhen where we're going, departures this way, so we'll head on through. We don't need to get a ticket, do we? Do we need to exchange like, do we need to pick up a physical ticket?
[3:22]I booked on Klook. Do I need a ticket or is it just the passport? No need ticket. Tap your use your passport only. Go inside. Perfect, thank you. We are through Chinese immigration and how beautiful is this? We said it looked like an airport before, but it really does. The whole process of immigration was actually really easy. China has recently changed the visa, so if you're from the UK, like us, you can now come visa-free for 30 days. I have never been to a train station like this before. This is crazy. The only thing that's missing is a cafe. Once you're through this side, there's not really anything, Phillip, you walked through. But there's like cafes up here and up here. Once you're through immigration, there's there's nothing, so I was really hoping we could get a coffee, but we'll have to wait until we're in China.
[4:47]It is a bullet train. It is a bullet train. Whoa, so this is good. Look, car eight, car seven. What are we? We're six, so we've got economy class seats, but you can book like first class I think on this train. We did it all on Klook. It was really easy. Do you know, I'm not sure you'd even need first class. I mean, for the sake of a 15-minute train, Is this, oh, is this number six? Yeah, we think O2, so you think this is it? Yeah, nice. Let's go.
[5:20]First impressions of this high-speed train. Very clean, very quiet. Yeah. Look at the, uh. How light and bright this is. It's got like a funky design, didn't it? Yeah, it does actually feel like an aeroplane really. Yeah. You know, if you see, like, normally you'd have, like, your cabin bags up here. Well, I was hoping that we'd get some really nice views on this train. But Bob's just told me the whole thing is underground. Apparently, yeah. I mean, I might be wrong, but I, uh, I don't think you'll be seeing any, like, beautiful coastline or anything from Hong Kong. Anyway, we're going to get ourselves prepared, so obviously, heading into China now, I need to turn my VPN on so that we can use all our normal stuff. And, uh, I'm quite excited to get there. Yeah, life, uh, life changes now. Roll on the, uh, the China trip. China, China. This is the perfect time to mention our partner, CyberGhost VPN, who are the sponsor of today's video. With over 38 million users worldwide and over 20,000 excellent reviews on Trustpilot, it's one of the best VPNs on the market. As travelers, we constantly run into the annoying problem of being geo-blocked, meaning we can't access the same apps and services as we can back home. Especially in countries like China, where your regular apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube are blocked. This is where CyberGhost VPN comes in. Simply select one of their over 100 locations before you browse to encrypt and reroute all of your traffic through their secure servers. With this, you protect your digital privacy and unlock geo-restricted content, including over 40 streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. So we can still watch our favorite shows wherever we are. A single subscription lets you protect up to seven devices, which is perfect for sharing with family or friends. And using CyberGhost is the only reason we've been able to upload this YouTube video whilst being here in China. And if you use our link in the description down below, you'll get CyberGhost's best deal yet at just two dollars and three cents a month. Plus an extra four months for free. There's also a 45-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it completely risk-free. This is one of our traveling must-haves, and using our link helps support the channel anyway. Anyway, let's get back to the video. Okay, we have arrived here in Shenzhen. And that train was quicker than it said. It's actually arrived about five minutes early. I don't know how that happens. It must be a very extra fast bullet train. Super speedy bullet train.
[7:59]My first breath of Chinese air here in Shenzhen. We have arrived.
[8:08]That train journey was actually really, really easy, and we thought we might have to try and use the, uh, the local taxi app Didi to order a taxi, but I think we've got a taxi rank literally right around here, so...
[8:21]Are we gonna be able to pay? Oh, I assume we pay by Alipay for these taxis. I mean, I see your guess is as good as mine, Eve, but we'll, uh, we'll see how we go.
[8:54]Yeah.
[9:16]Okay. So, this is going to be our first time using using Alipay. Okay, so you can see it on the screen here.
[9:28]I think it's Alipay. Can I do Alipay?
[9:47]Okay, I think 16.5. That would be about $2, I think. 1.60 pounds. Yeah, well, that's literally like less than 2 pounds. That was, uh, that was really cheap. I had no idea taxis were going to be that affordable. That is very, very really incredible. And Alipay worked. If Alipay doesn't work, I think I don't know how you would do China. But look where we are. Look, I mean, I don't quite know what I was expecting from Shenzhen, but look. This is really beautiful and green. Oh, I'm excited. Let's, uh, it's all very high-rise as well. Everything we've seen so far is is high-rise. Let's check out the hotel.
[10:43]I'm not sure. I'm not sure that beep was for you, Eve. Knee-how. Can I, uh, can I buy a photo? Do you have WeChat? WeChat. Yes. Okay. Thank you. We got an upgrade. Yeah. Hey! Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Okay.
[11:06]Oh, yeah. C32. Right, C32. This way.
[11:16]God, it's, uh, it's looking quite swanky this place. So, I don't know if you've got downstairs. I originally booked us a king room with a window, but the translation came through as he's upgraded us to a king room with a balcony, which should be, ah, I mean it was very kind of him. I mean, Yeah, I'm so excited.
[11:39]What does 45 pounds a night get you in Shenzhen, China? Starting off with the balcony that we were very kindly upgraded to. Slightly underwhelming, but very happy for the upgrade. Here, the main room, we have a really nice, quite comfy, Eve. Yeah, comfy. Yeah, comfy double bed. We've, uh, we've been given a room with smart controls as well, which we don't often have. So, obviously it's all in Mandarin, but I have worked it out. If I press that button there. There we go. Look at this. It's, uh, it's very high-tech over here. We'll get that open again. And we have a sink in the room. Sink in the room, and then this is the shower. Do you know, we could kind of do with another light there. It's, uh, it's very dark in the, in the shower. Just the shower in particular. Uh, and then in here, we have a smart toilet with your bidet system and everything. Is that what all toilets are like in China? I don't know. But, uh, big bed here. We've actually it turned on a second ago and played, you know, Chinese TV. Robes as well. Two robes, very smart. And then they told us that the drinks in here in the fridge are free. So we've got these two. Yeah, they look quite cute, don't they? Okay. So two drinks. We've got places. Ah, it's tea and coffee in here. Yes, yeah. Whoa! No. What?
[13:11]It's got condoms in here. Eve, we're in for a good time tonight. Never before have I had that in a hotel room. What the hell? Is, is that normal? I've not. I've not seen either.
[13:28]Well, I hope we're, uh, I hope we're not in a love hotel, but that is, it's actually, it's actually taped down.
[19:48]Okay, we got our food, and we're going to find somewhere to eat it. Yeah, let's sit on this. Oh, what are these? These are like, Oh, Eve, you lit up.
[20:00]What the hell? I was just about to say these are like solar panels, but, Oh, my God.
[20:06]You got different colors. What is the purpose of this? What does it mean? I don't know, but I love it.
